At the time of their awards, Oscar winners and
Heisman and Pulitzer winners get headlines. But a few years later, most
of us can't name even a handful of them. Yet almost any of us can name
the teachers who really mattered to us, the ones who made a difference
in our lives, the ones who lit the fire for learning and pushed us to
think for ourselves.
In looking over the results of a
recent survey on what America's high school students think about their
freedoms, I'm reminded of the influence of teachers. Along with
parents, they are the ones who will instill in every generation the
respect and appreciation for the "Five Freedoms" guaranteed in the
First Amendment: freedom to worship as you believe and without a
religion endorsed by the government, freedom of speech, freedom of the
press, freedom of assembly and freedom to ask government to meet the
people's needs.
Student responses to our 2006 survey
aren't easy to fit into neat categories. Their attitudes are as hard to
characterize as teenagers themselves. Forty-five percent of American
high school students think the First Amendment "goes too far in the
rights it guarantees," yet a substantial majority also believe
offensive song lyrics shouldn't be censored. They overwhelmingly
believe that burning the American flag as a political statement should
not be allowed but also that newspapers should not be censored by
government nor especially high school newspapers by school authorities.
But the best news out of our recent survey is that, compared to our
initial survey of two years ago, high school students today are more
likely to take classes that teach and discuss First Amendment freedoms
-- and that more of them are in classes where teachers require students
to
read a newspaper or watch television news.
The
initial "Future of the First Amendment" survey
of more than 100,000 students, some 8,000 teachers and 500
administrators found that government censorship of news and the
Internet had high approval ratings. Teachers, for their part, were high
on censoring music lyrics, though they largely disapproved of
government censorship of news. In that survey, three-fourths of the
students either didn't know or didn't care about their guaranteed
freedoms.
That grabbed a lot of headlines and comments ranging
from newspaper editorials to Dear Abby and from Rush Limbaugh to Boston
Legal on television.
"...there’s evidence that both students and teachers are starting to re-examine their fundamental freedoms."When we checked in again with students
and teachers this year, we were heartened to find improvement in
students' education and knowledge. That's good news, because the ability
to discuss many points of view is at the heart of the First Amendment.
The framers of the Constitution had it right: There is no better way to
be informed citizens than to have a healthy debate that includes many
points of view so that people can act in their own, enlightened
self-interest. That was true in 1776, and it's true today in our world
of so many sources of information.
Our
new survey shows there's evidence that both students and teachers are
starting to re-examine their fundamental freedoms. I hope so, since we
live in times when our phone calls and Internet records may not be as
protected as we thought, and when our access to basic information is
being pulled back from public view.
If we want
America's next generation to not take our Five Freedoms for granted,
teachers are the answer. And there's help available. Any number
of Web sites -- including www.teachfirstamendment.org,
www.constitutioncenter.org, www.firstamendment.jideas.org -- provide
teachers, administrators, students, parents and government officials
with tips, lesson plans and ideas for discussing and understanding the Constitution.
Freedom is like a
muscle in your body. If you don't use it, it gets weak; but if
you exercise, it gets stronger. Freedom House, a human-rights
organization in Washington, estimates only 17 percent of the world's
people enjoy real freedom of speech and of the press. We are lucky to
be among that small number. Let's stay that way by making sure that we -- and our kids -- understand and use those freedoms.
Alberto Ibargüen is president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
