Students fail 1st Amendment

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | February 1, 2005 | Marion Baillot

[neverdem]

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The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Students fail 1st Amendment

By Marion Baillot
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 1, 2005

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American high school students lack knowledge and understanding of the First Amendment, a study released yesterday suggests.

    More than a third of the nation's high school students say the amendment -- guaranteeing citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and the right to petition the government -- goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

    Hodding Carter, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the survey, said "these results are not only disturbing, they are dangerous."

    "Ignorance about the basis of this free society is a danger to our nation's future," he added.

    The survey of 112,003 students found that half said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without governmental approval of stories. Thirty-two percent of the students interviewed said the press has too much freedom. Furthermore, 17 percent said people should not be allowed to express unpopular opinions.

    Half of the students wrongly thought that the government can censor the Internet.

    The survey also showed a wide indifference to basic freedoms, with nearly three-fourths of high school students either not knowing how they feel about the First Amendment or acknowledging that they take it for granted.

[Poser]

Well duh! This is news? Hodding Carter needs to find something better to do.

[CSM]

Seems consistent with the Press' interpretation of the 1st and the liberal interpretation of the 2nd.

[Jokelahoma]

Only 32%? Man, the NEA still has alot of work to do, getting that leftist message out!

[MadAnthony1776]

"It suggests that First Amendment values can be taught."

Taught by who? If taught by someone with liberal values you could end up with them believing freedom of speech is allowed only if you agree with what I do. If not, then it is hate speech or racist or whatever, depending on the subject matter.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

...guaranteeing citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and the right to petition the government.

I have to take exception at this statement. We The People already have these rights. The First Amendment states that governments do not have the right to infringe on or legislate these rights away from us.

The Constitution is a document that delineates powers the government has and does not have with respect to a number of rights that are endowed to us by the Creator. That among these are (but not limited to) Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

[JustAnotherSavage]

"17 percent said people should not be allowed to express unpopular opinions."

That sad opinion is also held by too many adults.

[prion]

These data keep coming up, and I'm not sure how to interpret them. Maybe it's politically corect kids wanting to prohibit un-PC speech. But maybe it's not-so-politically correct kids annoyed that the media don't control themselves better. It's not good news, but I can't quite make up my mind how bad it is.

[Justthefactsmaam]

Why is it surprising that U.S. students are ignorant when it comes to knowledge of our history and government? Most public school kids here in Washington State, for example, spend the first SEVEN years of their formal schooling learning about Native American History. It isn't until seventh grade that anything else is introduced! For the most part, one year of U.S. History in high school is the most significant exposure to this important material that most American kids get.

It has been downright unnerving to watch, year after year, my kids study the lives of some obscure Native American Chief and not even know who Thomas Jefferson is. They have made simulations of huts, made maps of the migratory path of specific tribes, heard endless times how awful The White Man is - you get the drill. Mostly cool and important stuff to learn once, but it's year after year after year. Never mind that my children's Irish ancestors suffered the Penal Laws from the British and had thousands of acres stolen from them. So the descendants of these oppressed Irish get to sit and hear about how horrible the European White Man is. Over and over and over. What's up with that?

I swear it's the liberals who try to coax the flames of racial hatred in this country. I am wondering if really they have a problem with self-loathing (they don't want to teach our kids about their great nation, because they really think America is a bad place).

In this nation, most of us came from folks who were persecuted or oppressed. Most of us came from people who weren't here when the land was taken from the Indians. Most of us had parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who were trying to put food on their tables and a roof over their heads when slavery or its aftermath of racial ignorance occurred. Most Americans have no slave owners in their family history. Yet our kids are taught as if that is everyone's legacy.

The important contributions of the forefathers of this great nation are today downplayed in public and most private schools. The "feel good" liberal agenda proponents want instead for our kids to be experts in building huts from grass and mud.

[Publius Valerius]

Does that surprise you? How many people on this very board talk about censoring pornography or the content of television shows?

Broad, unequivocal freedom of the press is not something that too many people really cotton to. Start talking about things like child porn, and you'll see people take a whole new view of freedom of the press.

[Publius Valerius]

Half of the students wrongly thought that the government can censor the Internet

Wrongly? I don't know about that...The Nuremberg Files comes to mind.

[Born Conservative]

[B4Ranch]

Lots of times I will post something unpopular on FR just to see what the reaction will be. Last night I posted "Fry the big fish, too ^"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1334022/posts

As expected, it took damn near 50 posts before the thinkers started coming out of the shadows and a debate actually started.

These dizzy broads that scream just to see their 'name' in print need to be regulated to a different side of FR. perhaps, the brainless, high emotion side. They don't even think before they post...... "Follow the crowd" seems to be their motto.

How in the hell can we ever expect to get the good ideas in print for the Congressional staffers to give to the legislators?

[Labyrinthos]

American high school students lack knowledge and understanding of the First Amendment, a study released yesterday suggests.

I don't know which is worse: The study or the article about the study. Nothing in the article indicates that the students lack knowledge or understanding of the First Amendment, although I don't dicount that possibility. What the article indicates that a percentage of high school students disagree with the extent of First Amendment protections as defined by the SCOTUS over the years. In other words, they may understand, but simply disagree.

Half of the students wrongly thought that the government can censor the Internet.

The Government can and does censor the Internet. Want proof: Publish a website that contains top secret classified information or offers for sale a guaranteed cure for AIDs or cancer, and I guarantee the government will shut the website down.

[moog]

American high school students lack knowledge and understanding of the First Amendment, a study released yesterday suggests.
I don't know which is worse: The study or the article about the study. Nothing in the article indicates that the students lack knowledge or understanding of the First Amendment, although I don't dicount that possibility. What the article indicates that a percentage of high school students disagree with the extent of First Amendment protections as defined by the SCOTUS over the years. In other words, they may understand, but simply disagree.

Half of the students wrongly thought that the government can censor the Internet.

The Government can and does censor the Internet. Want proof: Publish a website that contains top secret classified information or offers for sale a guaranteed cure for AIDs or cancer, and I guarantee the government will shut the website down.

Interesting comments...

[heleny]

a percentage of high school students disagree with the extent of First Amendment protections as defined by the SCOTUS over the years. In other words, they may understand, but simply disagree.

Interesting possibilities.

Maybe students see school as an example of government control. In schools, students lose many rights that aren't politically correct. They may not be allowed to speak out against, for instance, (whatever the name is for) homosexuality-acceptance week, while homosexual students are allowed to speak out against regular students all the time and can prevent a "straight"-acceptance week.

Perhaps the students are simply recognizing the way our government works, or perhaps the students realize it might not always be a good idea to let our enemies say/publish anything they like here. Despite the guarantees of the 1st amendment, government may still infrige upon these rights (such as freedom of speech) during war.

[Labyrinthos]

The rebellion syndrome.