By Dennis Brown

(Dennis Brown is a journalism teacher and adviser at Huntley High School near Chicago.  Here, he comments about his summer experiences and the new Knight study about high school students and the First Amendment.)

Like most teachers, my summer months were busy. . .I shuttled two children to swimming lessons, worked on many home improvement projects, and prepared for the upcoming school year.

But from June 22-27, I had an experience that only comes once in a lifetime. 

I was given the opportunity to attend the Street Law Supreme Court Summer Institute for Teachers in Washington D.C. The institute, which took place at Georgetown University Law Center, was a five-day seminar on the U.S. Supreme Court. It included sessions led by Supreme Court experts, journalists, authors, and lawyers, all of whom gave me and the other teachers in attendance an in-depth look at the workings of the Supreme Court.

The highlight of the institute was a reception that was hosted at the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts. He took the time to speak to the group as a whole, share stories, and answer questions about his coming to the Court, and his experiences during his first term.

During his speech to the group, the chief justice told us how much he respects and admires the work that all of us do with students every day. He stressed the importance of teaching civics and constitutional law to high school students, who will become the backbone of our democracy.  

His words that evening rang especially clear for me, not only because I am a high school law teacher, but also because I am a newspaper and yearbook adviser.

Anyone who advises publications knows that high school journalism isn’t just a glorified writing program. Students who participate in journalism learn writing, but also management, business, politics. . .lessons that go beyond just learning how to put together a news story.

But more importantly, students learn about their rights: the right to free speech and freedom of the press. They learn that they have a voice in their community, one which can be controversial at times, but also influential and powerful.

Over the years, my students have written many articles expressing their opinions about important issues. Seeing them take their first steps as adults and exercise their First Amendment right has been exciting and a little nerve-wracking at times, but it’s always been worthwhile.

When the results of the original Knight study were announced last year, the results looked discouraging. High school students didn’t seem to know or care much about their First Amendment rights. Seventy-five percent of the students surveyed thought flag burning was illegal, nearly 50 percent believed the government could censor the Internet, and many students did not think that newspapers should publish freely.

The follow-up study completed in the spring of 2006 has shown improvement: Students in 2006 are far more likely than they were two years ago to take classes dealing with First Amendment issues; more students support First Amendment protections for news media; and, students are more likely to favor the right of high school students to report in their own student publications without school officials’ approval.

Even so, we as educators need to recommit ourselves to teaching these rights to our students. It is vitally important that the students understand that they too have a voice and that the freedom of speech is something they need to cherish and exercise.