February 6, 2005: What's All This Liberty Stuff?

This story describes how (for instance) 75% of the students currently in high school don't even know what the First Amendment is; many think that the government should be able to censor publishers; and almost half think it already can censor the net. The full findings are here. Be very afraid - and support student media in your local schools, because there's nothing like BEING a publisher to teach you about the rights . . . and responsibilities . . . that go with First Amendment protection. Administrators need training too. For instance, 99% of high school principals agree with the general idea that people should be able to express unpopular opinion, but fewer than half think that student media should be able to report freely on controversial issues.
-- Steve Jackson

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