Posted in Homeschooling
Last month, USA Today ran an article by Greg Toppo. It gave a summary of the results of a survey of high school students. Of the responses, fully one third of the high schoolers believe the press enjoys "too much freedom." Still more -- 36% -- believe newspapers should get government approval of stories before they can go to press. Apparently the future of America's Bill of Rights is in more danger than we thought.
Government control of the press is something unheard of in America. But it has been all too common in totalitarian states such as China and Soviet Russia and in Central American banana republics. The power of a free press was not lost on our founding fathers. They knew that an informed citizenry has the ability -- though not the guarantee -- to maintain a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That some high schoolers are now disagreeing with this foundational concept of American liberty should be triggering all sorts of alarms, but it's not. This shows we're in an even deeper, darker problem.
The questions that should come hard and fast haven't come at all. Questions such as...
I'd put this on the shelf with all the other reasons why we homeschool, but that shelf is overloaded and about to fall off the wall.
Government control of the press is something unheard of in America. But it has been all too common in totalitarian states such as China and Soviet Russia and in Central American banana republics. The power of a free press was not lost on our founding fathers. They knew that an informed citizenry has the ability -- though not the guarantee -- to maintain a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That some high schoolers are now disagreeing with this foundational concept of American liberty should be triggering all sorts of alarms, but it's not. This shows we're in an even deeper, darker problem.
The questions that should come hard and fast haven't come at all. Questions such as...
- Why do they think the government should control the press? Where did they get that idea? Their peers? Their teachers?
- Is it ignorance or a willful, conscious belief that the constitution is wrong in this respect?
- What other freedoms are in danger? Freedom to assemble? Freedom of speech? Freedom of religion? The right to arm bears? ...just seeing if seeing if you are paying attention...
I'd put this on the shelf with all the other reasons why we homeschool, but that shelf is overloaded and about to fall off the wall.
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