Home > Key Findings > Finding 1
Key Findings- (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)

Click here for a PDF of the Key Findings section of the report.

Key Finding 1

High school students tend to express little appreciation for the First Amendment. Nearly three-fourths (73 percent) either say they don't know how they feel about the First Amendment, or they take it for granted.

"Schools don't do enough to teach the First Amendment. Students often don't know the rights it protects. This all comes at a time when there is decreasing passion for much of anything. And, you have to be passionate about the First Amendment."

-Linda Puntney
Executive Director, Journalism Education Association

After the text of the First Amendment was read to students, more than a third of them (35 percent) thought that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees. Nearly a quarter (21 percent) did not know enough about the First Amendment to even give an opinion. Of those who did express an opinion, an even higher percentage (44 percent) agreed that the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.

The graphic shows that teachers and principals are more likely to personally think about their First Amendment rights rather than take them for granted, but just 27 percent of students personally think about them. Thirty-seven percent of students either have not yet formed an opinion or are unwilling to express their opinion.

The rights guaranteed by the First Amendment: Do you "personally think about them?"Do you "take them for granted?"

	This web site is produced by J-IDEAS
	J-IDEAS is funded in part by the John S. and James  L. Knight Foundation's High School Initiative and Ball State University.		J-IDEAS Department ofJournalism Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. 47306 (765) 285-8923 Terms of Service