Posted on 02/01/2005 2:39:42 PM PST by Coleus
Survey Finds Students Ignorant Of Basic First Amendment Rights
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
February 1, 2005
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.
Hodding Carter III, who serves as the president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reacted to the survey results by declaring them as not only "disturbing" but also "dangerous."
"Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future," Carter exclaimed in a synopsis of the survey.
Analysis in the report by Journalism Education Association Executive Director Linda Puntney shows that high school students are lacking in their education about the U.S. Constitution.
"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment," Puntney lamented in the report. "Students often don't know the rights it protects. This all comes at a time when there is decreasing passion for much of anything. And, you have to be passionate about the First Amendment."
These survey results have renewed debate by state and federal lawmakers over the importance of civics studies in the schools.
The survey found that the absence of basic government tenets in our schools has led to a lack of understanding of the democracy our forefathers fought and died to defend.
But not everyone is stunned by the study's findings.
Jack Dvorak, who serves as the director of the High School Journalism Institute at Indiana University in Bloomington, said many established journalists are "often unaware of a lot of the freedoms that might be associated with the First Amendment."
"Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes," Dvorak remarked in a statement.
He continued, "It also tracks closely with recent findings of adults' attitudes. It's part of our Constitution, so this should be part of a formal education."
Other interesting findings in the survey include three-fourths of respondents admit they take their First Amendment rights for granted and half of respondents think the government has the ability to censor Internet content.
More information on the 90-page "The Future of the First Amendment" survey can be found at The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation's High School Initiative web site.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
I dare anyone to find any president before 1900 using that word (democracy) in any offical writings or speeches as a reference to the type of govt. of our great country. I bet they won't find any.
Those public school teachers who incessantly whine about the great job they're doing with no pay and boohoohoo really should stand up and take a bow! Dumping US history classes for condom-fitting on pickles sure has improved the quality of our citizenry!
I like the shorter title better-
Survey Finds Students Ignorant
What a glorious day for "Swimmer Ted", his public school goals are being achieved!
"Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future," Carter exclaimed in a synopsis of the survey.
When I was 18 back in 1972, I didn't know the "basics of a free society" either. These are kids for goodness sake. Now if someone did a similar study of persons at 30 and they still did so poorly, then I would start getting worried.
I'm not dlamming teachers but I am annoyed at their "mine don't stink" attitude, as if their profession is beyond criticism. Each time I've engaged in debate about the qaulity of public teachers and their pay rates, the other person always descends into personal attacks or non-seqs, like "Gee, I guess I didn't know all us teachers are millionaires, thanks for telling me!" and that kind of pointless bull.
I disagree with the title. It is not that the students are "ignorant" of the 1st amendment protections, its that they do not SUPPORT them.
We are a form of democracy, but not a pure democracy. Pure democracies don't work.
I shudder to contemplate the results from a similar survey concerning the SECOND Amendment
Some years ago, I did a little research: I examined over thirty grade-school and high-school level American history and "government- civics" type textbooks used throughout the Nation.
Of the ones I looked at, ~30% of them did not even mention the Bill of Rights in passing, much less discuss it.~ 45% of them mentioned the Bill of Rights but did not deliniate or explain it at all, although some of them had an image of one of the original documents (which was too small to actually be read)..
Only two of them actually reproduced the complete and exact text of the Bill of Rights. One of them, the oldest I found, published in the early 1960s, got it right, and explained them in a manner most of us would approve.
The other, the newest that I examined, published in the late 1990s also reproduced the Bill of Rights text, then went on to explain what it meant...... from, of course, a very leftist, revisionist historical perspective. For instance, according to the authors, the First Ammendment guaranteed freedom of speech and insured "freedom FROM religion", and that the Second Ammendment was an outdated concept that should be gotten rid of because it was the primary cause of all the violence in the USA.
What's in YOUR children's American history and Government text books?
The response to that question was "There are TWO Amendments???"
?.................what is a 'student'?
D'OH!
I have heard many people make hay out of this "we are not a democracy we are a representative republic" line. One guy even snapped at Rush about this and Rush said something to the effect "Don't you think I know we're not a democracy?"
Fact is we ARE a democracy. We also are a republic. Democracy simply means that there are no blood lines involved in political appointments, and that people vote on laws directly or through sending representatives to vote for them.
The 1998 edition of the Random House Websters dictionary even gives the US an an example of a democracy.
My copy of the Constitiution says that Congress must guarrantee to the states a Republican form of government.
"Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property and in general have been as short in their lives as as they have been violent in their deaths." Madison in Federalist Papers #10
For further information on Democracies try The Sequence of Democracy by Alexander Tyler written 1770. It's amazing how close it comes to what we have today.
Sorry, a democracy is simple majority rule and has nothing to do with "bloodlines". A representative government is by definition a Republic. This was intended by the founding fathers as a means to allow the minority to have a real voice in the government.
Read The Federalist Papers
Read the Debates in Congress on the Bill of Rights.
You asked the only meaningful question.
If one in ten freepers has read even one of their childrens textbooks (skimming does not count) I would be surprised. No I would KNOW they were lying.
Americans do not raise their kids. They let the other kids do it. That's why Asians come here and clean up. They actually control and direct thier children. An abhorent concept to an American.
A rebellious Asian child it simply not tolerated in a majority of Asian societies. Once representative democracy takes hold in Asia ... we will be the third world.
It is the Democratic Peoples Republic ;-)
Yes, I recall a number of those...DDR among many others. I think it might have been Reagan who destroyed the DDR. Without firing a shot.
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