Students In Charge

1. Set Focus 
Pose this essential question: Why should young people have a say in deciding their nation’s future?

2. Read and Discuss 
Have students read the article, marking key ideas and questions. Then ask them to answer the following questions, citing text evidence:

• Why did protesters work to overthrow prime minister Sheikh Hasina? According to the article, why were young people less likely to support her regime? (Protesters were angry about a job quota system that gave a large percentage of well-paying positions to descendants of the soldiers who fought in the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan. According to the article, newer generations are more removed from this war and do not have a strong emotional connection to Bangladesh’s political past.)

• Why is the interim government installing young cadets and scouts in traffic circles? (The collapse has led the police, who fear reprisals for their attacks on protesters, to go into hiding. To reintroduce society to “a uniformed presence,” the interim government is relying on young cadets and scouts to help keep order.)

• In the final section, the authors describe how a “single gesture encapsulates all that has suddenly changed in Bangladesh.” What do they mean? (They mean that young people now have more authority than the soldiers who served the old regime, and who were given the special privileges that caused the protests in the first place.)

3. Core Skill Practice
Assign, print, or project the activity Tying Texts Together. Have students use it to synthesize information from this article and the article “A History of Campus Protests” on pages 18–21.

4. Writing Prompt
Have the protesters changed Bangladesh for the better? Write a brief essay explaining your opinion. Support your points with details from the article.

5. Classroom Debate
Should protesters work with previous government officials to rebuild Bangladesh?

6. Quiz & Skills
Use the quiz to assess comprehension.