'As we create important, meaningful work, our opinions and voices should be treated with respect, regardless of how old we are.' OpEd
I saw this comment while frantically combing through Facebook before the bell rang for class. Myhad gone live that week, and it had become a sort of ritual for me to check responses on social media in-between club meetings, quizzes, and homework. I had written about a highly politicized topic, so I was braced for scathing pushback. But scrolling through the thousands of comments, I realized that almost no one was discussing what I had written; instead, almost everyone was discussing my age.
In the comments section under the article, someone suggested I get a summer job in the real world instead of typing up fake news, throwing in a “Don’t you have a math test to study for?” Another told me, sympathetically, that my young, impressionable mind had been brainwashed by my parents, the comment peppered with “sweetheart” and “child.
As it became clear that my age had sabotaged my writing in real time, I wondered how many stories have gone untold because of responses like these. How many young writers have written a piece that is important to them, only to be met with scorn and condescension? How many valuable stories have been lost in the shuffle of “You’re a kid”? And how many more will have the same fate?
When we aren’t being told that we lack the life experience and wisdom to write, we’re getting dismissed as too childish, ignorant, or naive to know what’s going on; too influenced by outside forces to be able to think for ourselves. What, on the surface, may read like the casually cruel comments so often thrown around the internet is symptomatic of a deeper issue: Young writers aren’t taken seriously.
Our writing is routinely discounted, not because of the message, sources, or anything regarding the actual content of the piece — simply because of our age. Despite this, young writers are covering topics that have a direct impact on us: At the same time that we’re growing up, navigating adolescence, and figuring out our place in the world, we’re also writing about it. Who is best suited
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