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A recent survey showed that America's knowledge of their First Amendment rights is not exactly what we would call "up to par." So, to start out I am going to give a little refresher course on the First Amendment. The First Amendment is the first in a list of ten, which make up our Bill of Rights. This Amendment is especially important because it outlines those basic freedoms that we as Americans possess and sometimes take for granted. The First Amendment 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." In other words this Amendment gives us the freedom of religion, speech, press assembly and petition. This means we can practice whatever religion we want, say whatever we want, write whatever we want, we can meet up together and discuss a problem we have and we can also ask the government to change something we aren't happy with. This all seems pretty simple right? So, why are studies finding that most of America isn't completely sure of these rights, especially high school students? Well, some think it is a lack of interest, others may want to point the finger at educators, personally I think it might be a combination.
Recently a survey was conducted to test America's knowledge of the First Amendments and related information concerning our rights and government. It found that people don't know as much as they probably should about these things. We are talking about the rights that we possess as Americans; this is not something to be apathetic about.
The survey found that 99% of adults couldn't name the five rights that the First Amendment guarantees. To me this fact is a little disheartening, if these adults aren't even aware of the rights they possess then how can they make use of them. Another of the facts pulled from the survey is that 75% of students believe that flag burning is illegal and another 49% believe that the government can censor what is being put on the Internet. Since neither of these things are true it seems a little funny that that many students believe those things. Why would they believe, where did they get those ideas since neither is true. Is it misinformation passed on through family or educators or is it a fear that has been passed on?
Lastly, I want to talk about the issue that seems most serious to me. The survey reported that only 51% of students feel that news should be published without government approval. 25% think that student publications should require administrative approval, especially when talking about controversial issues. This thought became a fact when in 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled students were not entitled to broad First Amendment protection and that schools could censor content. This fact bothers me the most out of all the others found from this survey. How are we supposed to learn about our rights if we aren't allowed to practice them all through high school? I am not sure why everyone was so surprised at the little knowledge that students possess of these rights. Students are not aware of these rights and may not have much interest in them because they have not gotten to truly experience these rights. Perhaps if schools started spending more time on and putting value in the rights that we as American possess then they might find students will start caring a little more.
For more information on the First Amendment check out First Amendment Center
- Jen Mosher (Email Me!), VP of Business Development
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