Scary?

I don't know what to make of this:

[W]hen told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

Or this:

The students are even more restrictive in their views than their elders, the study says.

When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did.

Here's what I find potentially disturbing.  When I was in high school (not all that long ago), it seemed like everyone that I knew was competing to be a non-conformist of some kind.  People had different ways of rebelling against whatever they felt like rebelling against, but there was always a sense that they were rebelling against authority of some sort.  This trope, the rebellious teenager who feels like he's being kept down by the man, has been around for as long as their have been students.

Implicit in that trope is the idea that you want more free speech rather than less.   I have things to say.  My principal won't let me wear a Radiohead t-shirt to school or dye my hair or grow it long, or piece my nose.  He's bad, because he's stepping on my freedom to express myself. 

In fact, I had a flap with the administration at my high school, who wanted me to cut my hair after I returned from a year spent in Russia.  I remember writing an incredibly intelligent and well thought-out essay in the school newspaper considering the history of males with long hair, and arguing that the administration was confining itself to an arbitrary historical viewpoint, blah blah blah. 

The idea that 17% of high schools students, then, think people should not be allowed to express unpopular views is very disturbing to me, because it seems to represent a very different world than the one I went to high school in.  Most disturbingly, it makes me feel old. 

The article says,

Federal and state officials, meanwhile, have bemoaned a lack of knowledge of U.S. civics and history among young people. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has even pushed through a mandate that schools must teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the date it was signed in 1787.

Which is fine, and I'll second their bemoaning, but it misses the larger point.  It's not important that a high school kid can tell you what day the constitution was signed; it's a question of (I can't believe I'm saying this) values.  And if only 2/3 of high school students think that newspapers should be free of government censorship, American society, as a coherent entity, has really failed to incucate its value system, to lay the groundrules for being a human being in this country.

-- Michael

Comments

[Musing Michael]

I have to wonder how carefully constructed those adult surveys were, too. I mean, if they just flatly asked respondents whether they supported the First Amendment without any double-checking or repeat questioning using slightly different wording, I'd be very surprised if the support figures didn't turn out to be on the high side. The high school students' answers are probably reasonably accurate (at least within the survey's margin of error), but the adults' responses are probably going to be influenced by a perception that there's a "right" answer, and not wanting to give a wrong one. Unless the survey corrected for that.

Because when you get right down to it, an awful lot of adults don't seem to think the First Amendment is all that cool, either. Look at how often they've tried to pass some kind of pornography filter on the Internet, despite the fact that the ink on the president's signature never has time to dry before a federal court challenge is filed (and always granted). And how many people think the Patriot Act is just fine and dandy?

The funny thing is, I felt a lot freer in France than I do in America these days, and they don't have anything like our Bill of Rights. I'd love to see the Chicago Tribune putting an editorial cartoon like the one from Le Monde I photographed here on its front page (or even on its editorial page), but I doubt they would. And if they did find the intestinal fortitude somewhere, I don't doubt that there would be whole hordes of people writing in to excoriate them for their bad taste in failing to give the preznit their full support.

[DavidByron]

I really wouldn't worry about those numbers. They are pretty meaningless without evidence of a trend. 83% sounds high, so do the others. Where's the evidence that kids of 25 or 50 years ago would have answered any different?

Apparently half the kids thought that the media needs to get permission from the government before printing anything..... smart bunch. Now if only the left could figure out that's the way things work.... Of course it was phrased as "should...?" but I imagine alot answered as if it asked "Does...?" They are basically just saying what happens; the media these days really does only print what Bush says it can.

[AG]

Well michael, I know we've had our differences in the past, but this one I agree.

I think that people especially teens become trapped in their quest for non conformity, being rebelious. In seeking to break past the system they trap themselves in a self created system.

Or it could just be a historical trend. Perhaps they are too worn out for seeking to break the cycle.

[Cheryl]

It is obvious that United States schoolchildren must be genetically predisposed towards ignorance.

Sorry, I just thought it strange that Buckwit had not commented on this one, so I figured I would chip in for him.

[Gary]

This is not surprising. What with all the "left behind" people out there.

Way before we had a clever tag line, America's educational system was failing miserably.

We are not just talking about Math and English. I am talking about Geography, History, and Civics.

The parents of these kids were clueless. The kids are clueless. And now, teachers are only concerened with the the scores of tests on the basic "R's".

Not surprising. Not at all.

But very, very sad.

It's no wonder we have a county where people believe in "intelligent design" and a PresiDummy named George.

They are too stupid to know anything else.

They have been horribly "left behind!"