Over the years, there have been countless student protests. There have been protests that were against school budget cuts, ensurement of road safety, better gun control, wars, and many, many more issues.

Some were successful, leading to change in legislature, education, or the morals of society, then there are the ones who unfortunately made in impact in terms of media, but not much of anything else. Regardless of the failures and successes of student protests, one of the usual criticisms directed towards them are, “Aren’t you too young to protest?”

The First Amendment gives us the freedom of speech and assembly–we can say almost anything we want, and we can protest what we want. To deny us of these rights are unconstitutional, and you could even say it’s the works of a dictator to deny their people of those rights.

People say that our opinions and political beliefs do not and should not restrict us from speaking out, so why should our age? Why is it young people that we look down upon, and not the 40+ year olds who occupy our government?

You could argue that these young people–kids, teenagers, or, to some, young adults who are just now starting college–don’t know what they’re talking about, but that can also apply to those with power, or really just anyone. Nobody knows everything. Scientists don’t really know how the universe came to be, historians don’t really know if the Hanging Gardens of Babylon truly exists or not, and people don’t really know if Bigfoot exists or not. So why does it matter? Why does my age limit the extent of my rights? Once I was born, I was also born with the inalienable rights that the Constitution had given me.

People seem to forget that we’re the future. Whether we’re protestors, activists, or just normal youths, we are what will replace the older generation as the years go by. Whether you like it or not, we’re still going to be around, we’re still going to speak, and you can’t stop us solely because you think we’re too young to do so.