Student Activist: 'We Are Going to Make a Serious Difference'

 

The recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, claimed the lives of 17 students and teachers. It also started a wave of protests among young people across the country.

These student activists¹ are calling for stronger gun laws in America. They have held demonstrations² and gone on day strikes from school. They have spoken on television, used social media to spread their message and met with President Donald Trump³ and other elected officials.

Sofia Hidalgo is one of those students. She is 15 years old and a student at Albert Einstein High School in the state of Maryland. She sat down with VOA Learning English’s Bryan Lynn to discuss her generation’s new sense of activism following the Parkland shooting.

Bryan: First of all, [if] I could get you just to say your name and your school and what you’ve been up to for the past week?

Sofia: My name is Sofia Hidalgo. I go to Albert Einstein High School, and this week we have participated...in a school walkout on Wednesday to march for the need of gun control.

Bryan: So, with all of this activism that now seems to be coming out and driven in large part by students and young people, what do you think trigger that?

Sofia: I think specifically because the Florida shooting was in a school, that triggered the activism in other students in high schools around the country…realizing that this happened at that school [and] it could happen at my school, as well. So I think that once we realized that this could happen to us, as well, that it was time for us to make our voices heard to ensure that it never happens again, because this is a serious tragedy.

Bryan: And there have been a lot of school shootings in the past, unfortunately. Why was this one different, and specifically with you, how did this one affect you different from the other ones that have happened?

Sofia: Well the other school shootings in the past, I was a lot younger. It happened before I had gotten into politics, into activism. I had started getting involved when we did a school walkout when Trump won the presidency⁴. And my school and the schools around me did a massive school walkout for that. And then the women’s march. And those two -- that walkout and that march -- is what triggered me and the people in my community, as well, to start being active.

...Especially when we are younger, parents seemed to sugarcoat things that are going on. I know that I never used to watch the news and I did not have a Twitter before and I did not have a Facebook before. So I didn’t see anything expect for mere⁵ rumors⁶ of ‘oh a shooting happened’ but then that was it. And it was definitely sugarcoated by adults. And so now that I have social media and now that I was a big part in the women’s march and was very active in the school walkout…I understand more about what had happened.

Bryan: Have you personally felt unsafe in your own school?

Sofia: Sometimes. I think about it, but we actually have armed police at our school as a lot of other schools in this area…I trust my community and I trust the policeman and we also always have drills once a month of what to do in serious situations. So I know what I need to be doing and how to stay safe in those situations.

Bryan: One of the proposals that has come up from the administration is to arm teachers, to try to prevent mass shootings like this. What’s your feeling on that?

Sofia: Well, I think that proposed solution is an excuse to give more money to the NRA [National Rifle Association]. By arming the teachers you’re just distributing even more guns. And this is not the solution that we need. We need to be restricting the sale of guns not increasing them. And by arming the teachers you're trying fight fire with fire and that’s not a solution. That is maybe a temporary one, but you need to attack the problems at the root and not build on top of it, and by arming teachers you’re just simply building on top of a problem. And the teachers are not there to defend the lives of us…they’re there to teach and we’re there to learn.

We’re not there to expect that it’s going to be our last day. We’re there to say ‘I’m going to come here in the morning, I’m going to learn, I’m going to go home and do my homework and do it again tomorrow.’ Not [think] ‘what if today there’s a school shooter and my teacher needs to pull out their gun?’

Bryan: And at your school do they do any metal detectors⁸ or anything like that?

Sofia: No. Not at my school. [I] heard an argument once that was talking about their school that had a metal detector⁷ and they said, like, ‘why do we have new metal detectors and old school books from like the 1990s; that we should be putting more of the money into the arts and into our textbooks and into getting us access to computers than we should into arming the teachers or arming the people at our school or trying to like claim that the kids are carrying illegal things with them. We need to be funding the schools and not funding, like, giving more money to the NRA.

Bryan: There's been a lot of talk over the years about gun control and, you know, there are very strong sides in the U.S. on both sides of the issue, obviously. And there's a lot of money involved and lobbying and all of that kind of stuff. What do you hope to accomplish -- you and other students, other friends of yours -- through these marches, and the activism that's coming up now? Even though this has taken place in the past, do you think it’s a different time now?

Sofia: By these marches, we’re hoping to accomplish, like, a change in mentality⁹, so that people realize that we do have a voice, and even though we cannot vote yet, that we’re going to still - that we’re going to keep pushing so that people who do vote, can vote in a way that will protect all of us when we grow up. And that they understand that my generation is pushing really hard, and that when we are able to vote that things are definitely going to be changing.

My generation is incredibly active and even though we cannot vote yet, when we can we are going to make a serious difference.

Bryan: Well thanks so much for coming to Learning English. Good luck with your efforts from here.

Sofia: Thank you.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

6 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

8 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

9 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。