Kids these days! One in three high school students thiks the First Amendment goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. That's somewhat better than the August of 2002 poll that found nearly half of Americans in general thought the same in an even more terrorism-fixated time. (Those numbers later dropped.) But it should be 0%, not 33%.

Half of high school students thought that the government should be able to censor the news. Only 83% of students thought people have a right to express unpopular opinions. 75% thought that flag burning was illegal, and about half thought that the government could regulate what it thought was indecent content on the Internet.

The survey was conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut and questioned over 100,000 students, 8,000 teachers and 500 administrators with the sponsorship of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Foundation president Hodding Carter III said "These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous. Ignorance about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future."

Unfortunately I think these results are just symptoms of a much larger problem: students are not being taught basic civics. They're not learning the fundamental principles of our republic. And if they're lucky enough to learn what we hold true, they're not taught why. It's all well and good to teach kids that the First Amendment is important, but equally important is explaining why expression free of government interference, a free press, and neutrality with respect to religion are all so important. It's vital to get kids thinking objectively: what if the next viewpoint to be censored is yours? How can you have an informed populace voting intelligently then holding their politicians to task without a free press?

An ignorant public is an easily-controlled and manipulated public. We should stress with students that unless they want politicians controlling their lives, they have got to understand our rights, our government and its processes. They've got to take an interest and participate!

---Nick

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