February 01, 2005

High-School Autocrats

Posted by Kieran

This report of a survey of more than 110,000 (!) students at 544 high schools has been getting a lot of play. The survey found that one in three high schoolers think the First Amendment “goes too far”; that three quarters believe that flag-burning is illegal; and that 36% of them thought newspapers should get “government approval” before publishing stories in the newspaper.

The White House issued a statement congratulating American students not just for their views on constitutional law, but also for their “accurate characterization of the relationship between the Executive branch and the White House Press Corps.”

OK, I just made that up about the White House. But the study is real. Further reading of the full report reveals the usual smorgasbord of opinion that surveys like this typically bring out. For instance, substantially more teenagers believe that “musicians should be allowed to sing songs with lyrics others may find offensive” than believe that “newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.” Even better, whereas only 49 percent thought that newspapers should be able to report without government approval, 58 percent said that school newspapers should be able to report controversial issues without the approval of school authorities. I guess it all depends on who you think The Man is — the Prez or the Principal.

Posted on February 1, 2005 12:56 AM UTC
Comments

From the cnn article:
Federal and state officials, meanwhile, have bemoaned a lack of knowledge of U.S. civics and history among young people.

Have you ever seen a high school US history textbook? These students have spent all of their lives being indoctrinated about the absolute good of the US government in all things. It’s no suprise that students in the middle of this love the Government.

Posted by Andrew McManama-Smith · January 31, 2005 10:25 PM

Nearly everything about highschool, and that age cohort generally in this society, strongly encourages conformity, so I’m not completely shocked by the result — are there any previous studies one could compare this to and see if this is a new phenomenon?

Now, if these numbers persist as the kids go through university or the work world, well, then that’s pretty grim.

Posted by Jonathan Dursi · January 31, 2005 10:33 PM

This study says more about principles and teachers than students. How can so many of our educators believe that musicians should be censored? WTF? Who are these educators who believe in checking with The Man before adding fuck to your song?

Just kidding. These types of polls are absolute crap, but fun to play with.

Posted by jet · January 31, 2005 11:03 PM

If this survey’s anything like the ones I filled out in high school, there might be a strong correlation between the results and the dirty pictures one can draw by filling in the dots.

Posted by Sven · January 31, 2005 11:39 PM

This survey means absolutely nothing, since as you point out the students (as a statistical mass) clearly don’t have proper political opinions yet, not the kind that encompass society as a whole. They only want freedom of the press for the press that means something to them, like school newspapers and Chingy CDs.

In thirty years, they’ll be parents, they’ll have had some interaction with the real world and they’ll realise that real newspapers can be just as important as school ones. Their answers will become the same as those of the current “adults”, and their teenage kids will be knee-jerk patriotic yet wild for the anti-American rhymes of Chingypatapong Shaft-Lee.

Posted by Mill · February 1, 2005 12:26 AM

I dunno, these statistics seem to mirror what I see in my undergrad classes: we want absolute freedom as individuals and consumers, but we think that everyone else should be reined in.

Posted by Jackmormon · February 1, 2005 02:49 AM

Seems to me there were similar results from studies of the general public, going back to the 1950s or 1960s.

Posted by Randolph Fritz · February 1, 2005 05:24 AM

Exactly. It’s the “you’ll pry my arguably constitutionally-protected gun and my right to the confederate flag from my cold, dead hands, but I’ll do everything in my power to get the government to ban your arguably constitutionally-protected naked lady art” syndrome. The only difference is that instead of guns, high school students have Eminem and the school newspaper, so the absurdity is thrown into sharper relief.

Posted by Mill · February 1, 2005 08:04 AM

The results for school principals are pretty interesting, too.

Posted by John Quiggin · February 1, 2005 08:28 AM

There would be no need for constitutionally entrenched protections if lots of people didn’t want to restrict liberties.

Posted by Otto · February 1, 2005 01:24 PM

There would be no need for constitutionally entrenched protections if lots of people didn’t want to restrict liberties.

Posted by Otto · February 1, 2005 01:26 PM

Of course, it takes an enlightened citizen, looking out for the liberties of others, rather than just taking license for himself, to avoid many of the conflicts we see today. Let’s hear it for self-control!

Posted by UMS · February 1, 2005 08:58 PM

I remember similar studies from previous years. I think they’re all basically in the “let’s get all hysterical about The Youth” category. Except here the angle is that they’re all little fascists, rather than “they can’t find Canada on a map”. You can’t take these things seriously.

Posted by radek · February 2, 2005 12:32 AM
Followups

→ A Problem and A Solution:.
Excerpt:

The Problem:

First Amendment no big deal, students say Study shows American teenagers indifferent to freedoms

The Solution:

Read more at The Volokh Conspiracy

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.