There was a real interesting article in my local paper last week.
High-schoolers are largely indifferent to the First Amendment and misinformed about the rights it guarantees, according to a survey of 112,000 students released this week.Nearly three-quarters say they take the First Amendment for granted or don't know how they feel about it, and a third say it goes "too far" in the rights it gives Americans. Half wrongly believe the government can censor the Internet.
…The $1 million, two-year study also found that half of American high school students think the government should be able to approve newspaper stories before readers see them, and three-quarters mistakenly believe flag burning is illegal.
…The survey "confirms what a lot of people who are interested in this area have known for a long time," he says: Kids aren't learning enough about the First Amendment in history, civics or English classes. It also mirrors recent findings of adults' attitudes.
The last line above (emphasis mine) places the blame pretty squarely – stupid adults. Probably their parents.
I’d also like to point out the author choice of words in the 2nd paragraph quoted above – the “…it goes "too far" in the rights it gives Americans” line. This too is a common misconception. See, the Bill of Rights doesn’t grant us any rights, it Protects them. We already have them – they are those ‘inalienable rights’ the Declaration of Independence talks about. The Bill of Rights (and the rest of the Constitution) is designed to protect those rights.
Posted by Clancy at February 8, 2005 4:01 PM