CBS News鈥� 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� featured an education story for the second week in a row. Last week, it was that many viewers鈥攃ertainly her critics鈥攃onsidered a disaster for the U.S. secretary of education.
On Sunday, from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who are among the leaders of the student movement for gun control and other measures after the Feb. 14 shootings that left 17 dead.
Alfonsi asked the students why they believe they can succeed in effecting more changes in laws and attitudes than, say, the parents of the victims of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 students and six adults.
Alex Wind, called a 鈥渟elf-described theater geek鈥� by Alfonsi, said, 鈥淭he thing about it is we are the generation that鈥檚 had to be trapped in closets, waiting for police to come or waiting for a shooter to walk into our door. We are the people who know what it鈥檚 like first-hand.鈥�
The answer of Cameron Kaski, another Stoneman Douglas student leader, was a little snappier as he referenced the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo., which resulted in the deaths of 13 students and teachers as well as the two student perpetrators.
鈥淲e鈥檙e the mass shooting generation,鈥� Kaski said. 鈥淚 was born months after Columbine. I鈥檓 17 years old, and we鈥檝e had 17 years of mass shootings.鈥�
Other students in the interview were Jaclyn Corin, David Hogg, and Emma Gonzalez, who became famous at a rally days after the Parkland shooting for her speech with the tagline, 鈥淲e call B.S.!鈥�
Gonzalez explained that she earnestly believes she went viral in part because of her close-cropped haircut. 鈥淚 think it was a little bit the hair,鈥� she said. 鈥淟ike, you know, just iconically you think of the picture and you think of a bald girl.鈥�
Alfonsi showed the students preparing for this Saturday鈥檚 March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C., and many other cities.
She interviewed Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son Joaquin was among those killed in the Parkland shooting. He said the power of the student leaders should not be underestimated.
鈥淭he difference between this tragedy and others, if you ask me, is that this generation is used to getting answers right away,鈥� Oliver said. 鈥淵ou think they鈥檙e gonna wait for six months or a year for anybody in Congress or anybody that needs to to make the right call?鈥�
Alfonsi agreed, saying, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e hard-wired to do things quickly.鈥�