[hr-education-na] USA: Study suggests more civic education needed on First Amendment

Dear colleagues,

News item below is taken from the recent newsletter of the Constitutional
Rights Foundation (CRF).

Best wishes,

Felisa

-----

WASHINGTON, DC--A new study suggests America's high schools are failing to
give their students an appreciation of the First Amendment's guarantees of
free speech and a free press. Before making their report, researchers
questioned more than 100,000 high school students, nearly 8,000 teachers,
and more than 500 administrators and principals.

The two-year, $1 million research project, titled "The Future of the First
Amendment," was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Among its findings:
*	Nearly three-fourths of high school students either do not know how they
feel about the First Amendment or admit they take it for granted.
*	Seventy-five percent erroneously think flag burning is illegal.
*	Half believe the government can censor the Internet.
*	More than a third think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it
guarantees.
*	Most principals think their schools are doing a good job of teaching the
First Amendment.

"These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous," said Knight
Foundation President and CEO Hodding Carter III. "Ignorance about the
basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's future."

The report can be downloaded at: http://firstamendment.jideas.org/downloads.php


Source: CRF e-News
Volume 4, Number 1, March­April, 2005
http://www.crf-usa.org/e-News/e-News_4_1_text




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