02/02/2005: 
Criminally Absurd
Freedom of what?
from The Knight Foundation
A new national study, the largest of its kind, says America's high schools are leaving the First Amendment behind.In particular, educators are failing to give high school students an appreciation of the First Amendment's guarantees of free speech and a free press, say researchers from the University of Connecticut, who 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.
