Survey Finds Students Ignorant Of Basic First Amendment Rights

GOPUSA ^ | 2-1-05 | Jimmy Moore

[FlyLow]

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- In a new study of high school students ironically released the day after the historic democratic elections in Iraq, basic freedoms such as the freedom of speech and of the press found in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution were found to be unimportant to them.

Commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted last Spring by the University of Connecticut, the survey of 112,003 high school students, 327 principals, and 7,889 teachers from 544 public and private high schools found an ignorance concerning fundamental constitutional rights in the United States by the leaders of the next generation.

It is said to be the largest such study of its kind to be conducted and cost $1 million to conduct.

According to the survey, more than one-third of respondents believe newspapers need "government approval" of their stories before they can be published with only about half stating they believe in unfettered freedom of the press. Another 13 percent said they did not care.

When asked if they believe the press has "too much freedom," again one-third said it does and 37 percent said it has just the right amount. One out of ten respondents said it has too little.

Additionally, three out of four respondents said they believe flag burning is against the law. However, a 1989 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court found it to be protected free speech under the First Amendment.

[theDentist]

Public High School students? Ignorant? I thought they knew it all, taught by other know-it-alls? Sheesh.

[MKM1960]

All the better to deny them those rights when the Dems are in charge. I think this may be the problem with most of the young skulls full of mush at DU. They have no idea what the Constitution says.

[thoughtomator]

I bet not one is unaware of the phrase "separation of church and state", though.

[dandelion]

Here's a question: what were the questions? I don't see them listed anywhere on the website or in this article. This makes extremely suspicious - I believe that many of these students are responding to the Old Media's clear biases.

Concerning leaking classified information, or troop movements, or damaging information which may get someone killed, a lot of us believe that the Old Media is in active partnership with the enemy to damage America. Is this what the survey approached? If so, why are they not releasing the questions of the survey?

Without access to the questions of the survey, the results make no sense. I refuse to pass judgement on these kids until I know what it was they were asked...

[PeterFinn]

"Additionally, three out of four respondents said they believe flag burning is against the law. However, a 1989 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court found it to be protected free speech under the First Amendment."

Oddly, it is the progressive City of Boston that made the fine for beating the crap out of a flag burner a $1 fine.

[jjmcgo]

What a great country. The Hurricane has the freedom of speech to insult the freedom of speech clause in the Constitution.
It's not surprising students don't know their First Amendment rights. Their taught by liberals who disapprove of free speech, They like regulated speech. The libs hate the second, fourth and tenth amendments too.
When I worked as a reporter, I covered an illegal teachers' strike in Florence, N.J. I was talking to students on the public sidewalk in front of the school when the Principal came out and threatened the students for talking to a reporter and threatened to have me arrested for trespassing and for "talking to students under the age of 18 without their parents' permission. I asked her to call the police so we could get that part of her charges resolved. She didn't.
I told her it would be instructive for the students if she could tell us where in the NJ legal code or U.S. statutes that law appears.
Then, I asked the kids what they thought of government officials who cite non-existent laws to threaten them. She left but not before telling the kids that she had plenty of time to deal with them later.
That's your public-school civics education for you.

[mewzilla]

They polled the students and teachers?

I wonder how the teachers did? Doesn't look like they broke that down for the survey.

[ORECON]

No surprise here. The majority of Americans including judges also don't know what is in the Constitution or any of the amendments. They also have no concept of the original intent of the documents. They rely on the MSM or a survey to tell them what the documents mean. If they read the documents and the original intent from the writings of the time they were ratified, we would not be discussing what the Second Amendment means now.

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[scory]

You got that right.

We just witnessed the congress, president and supreme court all endorse a bill that specifically limited free speech and provided for fines and jail time if a person dared exercise certain forms of political speech at certain times in an election cycle. We have witnessed several states pass "hate crime" laws that punish unpopular thoughts and the supreme court has upheld these laws.

High school students being ignorant of our rights is the least of our problems. A majority of our government is just as ignorant (or just don't care) of our constitution.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

> what were the questions?

http://firstamendment.jideas.org/findings/findings.php

Both the survey question regarding government approval of news stories and the coverage of that question were faulty:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/002617.html#002617

[dandelion]

Thankee kindly and btw cool blog!

[freepatriot32]

its even worse then that the supreme joke err umm court just ruled that no search is unreasonable as long as the cops find something illegal during the search. Unreasonable searches: Court sticks a nose in our business

[bad company]

Survey Finds Students Ignorant Of Basic First Amendment Rights

Yeah, but I bet they all knew how to use a condom, the importance of Kwanza, how nice it is that billie has two daddies, know that they are all going to die from global warming ..........................

[Sgt_Schultze]

Correct. Students have no problem with restriction of speech on the MSM because they live with PC restrictions themselves. Students are punished for their free speech. Students see citizens punished for their crimes and held to higher standards for their reasons for committing the crime - Hate crimes. Folks are punished for their thoughts.

That's why students agree with restricting press speech - they are themselves controlled with respect to free speech. It is the natural order of their lives.