MAYBE WE NEED TO HAVE YOUNG PEOPLE STUDY THE FIRST AMENDMENT AGAIN

USA Today on Monday had an interesting article that I had to share with you here.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation commissioned a survey last spring which was conducted by the University of Connecticut's Department of Public Policy to study how people felt about First Amendment rights. The survey interviewed 112,003 students nationwide, as well as over 500 school administrators and principals and 7,889 teachers.

The results were not really surprising, when you think about it.

The first question was: Do you agree or disagree that newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories? (emphasis mine)

Only 51% of students agreed. Furthermore, the survey of students shows that 31% believe that newspapers should get "government approval" of stories before publishing, while 13% have no opinion. Among teachers and principals, 80% agreed with the statement that newspapers should publish freely.

The second question: Do you agree or disagree that musicians should be allowed to sing songs with lyrics others may find offensive? (Again, emphasis mine)

Among students, 70% agreed, while 58% of principals and 43% of teachers agreed with the statement.

Also, 74% of students said people should not be able to deface or burn an American flag, and 75% mistakenly believe that it is illegal to do so. It's not. Half believe the government can censor the Internet. Thay cannot. More than a third think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and company are turning over in their graves as we speak! The idea of students not minding if gangsta rappers sing "F**k The Police" or about abusing women, but support the idea of newspapers getting government approval to print stories...a true contridiction.

This has not been a "golden age" for student journalism, as approximately a quarter of schools across America don't even offer media programmes to their students

But this shows that our students need to be taught about the First Amendment --- as well as the rest of the Constitution --- something that is apparantly not being done (or well enough) in our schools.