First Amendment no big deal

[Freak]

CNN:
It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday.
The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.
Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
"These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous," said Hodding Carter III, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the $1 million study. "Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future."
The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says.
When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.
The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn't know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights.
Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't.
"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects," Linda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said in the report. "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."
The partners in the project, including organizations of newspaper editors and radio and television news directors, share a clear advocacy for First Amendment issues.
Federal and state officials, meanwhile, have bemoaned a lack of knowledge of U.S. civics and history among young people. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, has even pushed through a mandate that schools must teach about the Constitution on September 17, the date it was signed in 1787.
The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut, is billed as the largest of its kind. More than 100,000 students, nearly 8,000 teachers and more than 500 administrators at 544 public and private high schools took part in early 2004.
The study suggests that students embrace First Amendment freedoms if they are taught about them and given a chance to practice them, but schools don't make the matter a priority.
Students who take part in school media activities, such as student newspapers or TV production, are much more likely to support expression of unpopular views, for example.
About nine in 10 principals said it is important for all students to learn some journalism skills, but most administrators say a lack of money limits their media offerings.
More than one in five schools offer no student media opportunities; of the high schools that do not offer student newspapers, 40 percent have eliminated them in the last five years.
"The last 15 years have not been a golden era for student media," said Warren Watson, director of the J-Ideas project at Ball State University in Indiana. "Programs are under siege or dying from neglect. Many students do not get the opportunity to practice our basic freedoms

[Boozer]

Intersting you bring this up.
Friday night on the way to twins a friend of mine and myself had an argument over ammendments and how people interpret them. My friend just graduated from college and is now a history teacher so needless to say it was a pretty heated debate mostly because the way the amendments are written leaves them very open to interpretation and we both interpret them very differently.
It really boils down to one simple fact.
A strong solid civilization is built off of several pillars. The pillars hold the community together and when one topples another one has to carry the added weight. Our civilization at it's peak was built off the same pillars several other successful civilations were built off at the time of being a world power.
Government
Economics
Family
Religion
Education
Today Family and Religion are pretty much gone. In most American homes today children spend their "family" time watching TV or playing video games. Noone has time for family anymore. Religion is just about gone because the liberals have pushed so hard to abolish it saying that it infringes on their rights. I'd be willing to bet that 1 out of 2 American homes today is either atheist, pagan or agnostic. The Education system in America is crumblin as we speak. The people in charge of managing money for education are mismanagin it like crazy and instead of someone stepping in and fixing the problem they just try to push some new incentive to raise tax dollars for schools that ultimately ends up getting mismanaged, wasted, and the kids and teachers never see a penny of it.
This leaves America with only 2 pillars left. Government and Economics. We also have a new pillar in America. The Media. What the media says and does dictates how the majority of how the American people think and live. Most of the information we get nowadays comes from the media.
People my age and younger are realizing that the media has to much power and is completely corrupting America. We want something done about it.
Challenging the media and what they are allowed to say however is a gamble. Obviously we the people have been given the right to know about whatever we want to know about and the government isn't allowed to stop it. Within reason that's a great policy and a right that needs to be protected however we as people have abused that priviledge and now we are paying the price for it because the media tells us whatever they want to in the name of printing a big story. We can allow the government to regulate what the media prints and probably buy or society a hundred years or so as the world power but then the government will abuse their priveledges and everything will become even more of a mess and we'll be right back in the same kind of government so many people lost their lives for. All of our freedom will be lost and the sacrifices people with their own lives made worthless.
So what do we the young Americans do to correct this problem?
The scary part is wondering if we will be able to fix the problem before the world power shifts. Right now the only society I know of that embraces all 5 of those pillars is the muslim community. The same community that we as Americans are for the most part at war with. They can call it the war on terror all they want but it is realy the war on radical muslims. A war that we are losing and are going to continue to lose if we dont shape up.
Young Americans realize all of this but feel so completely helpless that instead of trying to come up with a solution they'd rather just go on not worrying about what happens in hopes that the old men running the country will make things right.
Someone spent 1 million dollars funding this study. That's 1 million dollars wasted to get a pretty obvious answer and 1 million dollars that could have been spent towads fixing the problem not just publicizing it.
CNN:
It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday.
The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.
Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
"These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous," said Hodding Carter III, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which sponsored the $1 million study. "Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future."
The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says.
When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.
The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn't know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights.
Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It's not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can't.
"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects," Linda Puntney, executive director of the Journalism Education Association, said in the report. "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."
The partners in the project, including organizations of newspaper editors and radio and television news directors, share a clear advocacy for First Amendment issues.
Federal and state officials, meanwhile, have bemoaned a lack of knowledge of U.S. civics and history among young people. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, has even pushed through a mandate that schools must teach about the Constitution on September 17, the date it was signed in 1787.
The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut, is billed as the largest of its kind. More than 100,000 students, nearly 8,000 teachers and more than 500 administrators at 544 public and private high schools took part in early 2004.
The study suggests that students embrace First Amendment freedoms if they are taught about them and given a chance to practice them, but schools don't make the matter a priority.
Students who take part in school media activities, such as student newspapers or TV production, are much more likely to support expression of unpopular views, for example.
About nine in 10 principals said it is important for all students to learn some journalism skills, but most administrators say a lack of money limits their media offerings.
More than one in five schools offer no student media opportunities; of the high schools that do not offer student newspapers, 40 percent have eliminated them in the last five years.
"The last 15 years have not been a golden era for student media," said Warren Watson, director of the J-Ideas project at Ball State University in Indiana. "Programs are under siege or dying from neglect. Many students do not get the opportunity to practice our basic freedoms

[Havasu_Dreamin]

Someone spent 1 million dollars funding this study. That's 1 million dollars wasted to get a pretty obvious answer and 1 million dollars that could have been spent towads fixing the problem not just publicizing it.
One million dollars won't solve anything, from the prespective of the government. The company I work for has an annual budget of $1.3 Billion and that is just a very small slice of the pie. The govermment pisses away $1 million. Is it right? no? HELL NO! But the "system" does need to be fixed.

[Boozer]

One million dollars won't solve anything, from the prespective of the government. The company I work for has an annual budget of $1.3 Billion and that is just a very small slice of the pie. The govermment pisses away $1 million. Is it right? no? HELL NO! But the "system" does need to be fixed.
But think about the other 1 million dollars that's spent everyday on stupid studies like this one. They must waste almost a trillion dollars a year on studies that say "American kid's aren't looking at a very promising future and we need to fix it." So instead of saying "Hey maybe we should invest that trillion dollars we wasted on studies last year into fixing the problem." They just wait around for a few and find some new ridiculous thing to study.

[Havasu_Dreamin]

But think about the other 1 million dollars that's spent everyday on stupid studies like this one. They must waste almost a trillion dollars a year on studies that say "American kid's aren't looking at a very promising future and we need to fix it." So instead of saying "Hey maybe we should invest that trillion dollars we wasted on studies last year into fixing the problem." They just wait around for a few and find some new ridiculous thing to study.
Agreed! We all know the "system" is broken, no need to study it anymore, it's time to fix it.
As an example, why is it that we don't make people on welfare work to receive the money they get? Even if it was just going to the park and picking up the trash?

[Her454]

A strong solid civilization is built off of several pillars.
Government
Economics
Family
Religion
Education
Today Family and Religion are pretty much gone. In most American homes today children spend their "family" time watching TV or playing video games. Noone has time for family anymore. Religion is just about gone because the liberals have pushed so hard to abolish it saying that it infringes on their rights. I'd be willing to bet that 1 out of 2 American homes today is either atheist, pagan or agnostic. The Education system in America is crumblin as we speak.
So what do we the young Americans do to correct this problem?
The scary part is wondering if we will be able to fix the problem before the world power shifts. Right now the only society I know of that embraces all 5 of those pillars is the muslim community. The same community that we as Americans are for the most part at war with. They can call it the war on terror all they want but it is realy the war on radical muslims. A war that we are losing and are going to continue to lose if we dont shape up.
Young Americans realize all of this but feel so completely helpless that instead of trying to come up with a solution they'd rather just go on not worrying about what happens in hopes that the old men running the country will make things right.
Someone spent 1 million dollars funding this study. That's 1 million dollars wasted to get a pretty obvious answer and 1 million dollars that could have been spent towads fixing the problem not just publicizing it.
Excellent points. I also think that the US is viewed as a weaker country for our lack of embracing all 5 pillars, especially family values. In my opinion, EVERYTHING begins at home, period. We are in a different society than our grandparents and its sad. The days of hard work, responsibility, family unity and respect are all days of the past and a direct result of so much of this failure.

[Havasu_Dreamin]

The days of hard work, responsibility, family unity and respect are all days of the past and a direct result of so much of this failure.
Preach it sister! :cool:

[Her454]

Preach it sister! :cool:
LOL, dont get me on my soapbox... :D

[TopCat]

Well your concern is great BUT there are 10 amendments inthe bill of right last i checked and i don't think focusing on 1, be it maybe the most important, buy indicating we need more media type classes is even close to the answer. Maybe a better approach would be to teach better in general civics, history, etc. at a time when a historically our youth are leaving high school unable to read, write, add, substract etc. How could you expect them to hav a passion for journalism or almost anything else except maybe going to the mall. What does the tv tell them; you're cool if you wear, eat, drink whatever, No i'm sorry in this one particular case the 1st amendment might take a back seat

[TopCat]

Topcat, I trust you are just making fun of all of us illiterates with all of the mispelled words, incorrect grammer and bad sentence structure in your last post. LOL :confused:
RioIncluding myself, but I trust the point didn't escape you. :notam:

[Seadog]

My problem with the media is their emphasis on perspective over reporting. I attended a focus group session at the local paper where they fed us pizza and asked us what we wanted to see changed. We all agreed that we wanted more accurate and timely reporting, fact checking, improvements on spelling and grammar, and more balanced perspectives.
A few weeks later, I read about how they had another focus group tell them to add more of certain type features and other things that must have been spoon fed to the group. Obviously, they did not want to hear what the public wanted, just an echo of what they wanted.
We have a journalism school here and almost to a person, the faculty and students are egotistic left wingers. In Oklahoma, that is saying something.