For More First Amendment Study News - Go to www.jideas.org/news.php |
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| Visit this site for tips on how to teach the First Amendment in your classroom. http://www.teachfirstamendment.org/ |
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| ASNE - Scholastic journalism site for teen journalists, teachers, guidance counselors, and the editors of professional newspapers. Where to go to start a newspaper. www.highschooljournalism.org |
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| SPLC - Provides legal advice and information and low-cost educational materials for student journalists on various legal topics. www.splc.org |
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| RTNDF - The High School Electronic Journalism Project seeks to identify, inspire, train and challenge the next generation of diverse electronic journalists and First Amendment advocates. http://www.rtndf.org/ |
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| Channel One Network is the pre-eminent news and public affairs content provider to teens. Channel One's mission is to spark debate and discussion among teens, and also discussion between young people and their parents and educators, on the important issues affecting young people in America. http://www.channelone.com |
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| '07 survey shows Americans' views mixed on basic freedoms: nearly two-thirds say founders intended ‘Christian nation’; support rises for limits on campaign contributions. http://www.fac.org |
| Future of the First Amendment | |||||||||||||||
| Home > Report 9-17-07 It's time for parents to pay attention to First Amendment learning | |||||||||||||||
| It’s time for parents to pay attention to First Amendment learning | |||||||||||||||
Warren Watson You consider yourself a good parent. You work, cook and clean. You stay informed about the world around you. You understand the issues. You vote. You press your school-aged kids to finish their homework and mow the lawn. At times, you beseech them to put their iPods and cell phones aside and engage the world. You’re ready to launch them into life after all. You teach them about right and wrong, and about social graces. You show them how to tie a Windsor knot and that a good necktie should extend down to the belt and not climb up the chest. |
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You read about a new national study from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that shows that most kids have never heard of Constitution Day, despite the fact that schools receiving federal funds are required to teach the Constitution and its Bills of rights on this day – and do not. You learn that youngsters like yours do not know about the First Amendment or take it for granted. You learn that our beleaguered public schools are leaving the First Amendment behind – and have been doing so for years – and focusing more closely on discipline and safety and math and science and standardized tests -- at the expense of the learning of civics. You look harder at the survey results. You realize that parents like yourself have a greater knowledge of the First Amendment than their kids. Your realize that nearly half of parents like you strongly disagree that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. Only one in four students believe that way. You have always believed in tolerance and learn that 62 percent of the parents surveyed believe that people should be allowed to express unpopular opinions. You are disappointed to learn that fewer than half (43 percent) of students feel that way. And you learn that only 26 percent of kids surveyed believe that newspapers should be allowed to publish without government approval of a story. Fifty-six percent of your fellow parents believe that. You are concerned about what you read. You know that many schools are failing to instill an appreciation for the First Amendment. You wonder what to do. You decide to have a conversation with your school principal. What more can be done in the schoolplace, you think? Who else can act? You decide that maybe parents themselves need to be more proactive, that schools can’t do it all. So, you put down that PDA, turn off the TV and go to your child’s room to talk about the ideals of a democracy: freedom of speech and press and religion and assembly and petition. You ask your child to stop texting her friends for a moment … …And you decide to put first things first. You decide to talk about the First Amendment and what it means to you as a parent – and an American. (Warren Watson is director of J-Ideas, Ball State University’s scholastic journalism and First Amendment institute. For the last three years, J-Ideas has maintained the Future of the First Amendment study archive, partnering with the Knight Foundation and researchers Ken Dautrich and David Yalof. Watson has spoken to more than 30 groups about the study and written dozens of articles about the First Amendment and its important role in schools.) |
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