ladies and gentlemen, we're having problems.
on consideration, i'm not entirely sure i agree with the researchers' conclusions, though. i tend to think it's less a matter of not being given any outlet, and more the fact that no one is teaching them what happens when censorship does happen. to say nothing of the fact that most high school media is censored anyway.
the cancellation of high school newspapers is important, certainly, but i don't think it's worth the hand-wringing because it's simply not relevant to this situation. what is relevant is to teach students what happens when the minority is silenced, and the government is allowed to be unassailable. teach precisely why the "founding fathers" considered it so important to guarantee the freedom of speech, of the press, of religion, and of the right to gather in our most basic document of government.
they don't break it down by race, but i'd be curious to see how many non-white kids were involved in this study. or even white kids. show the black kids, the irish kids, the italian kids how things would have been different had the first ammendment never been written, or had been watered down. hell, even the poor kids. anyone remember when owning land was a prerequisite to voting priveldges? to say nothing of "free, white, and 21."
eh, on the other hand, maybe the next generation will be so apathetic that it will only be the people who actually believe in the democratic process who vote anymore. does anyone believe in the democratic process anymore?
oh hey. hello, iraq. welcome to the club. now there's a country who knows what happens when you have a forcibly silenced minority and an unassailable government. maybe we just need to ship our high school kids over for some interviews with the kurds.
Monday, January 31, 2005
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Youth apathy has been around for a long time. Hello, we are the apathetic generation! Reality Bites, and every other Wynona Ryder movie where disaffected youth don't respond to societal pressures basically says the world is going on out there and the youth are nicely protected from it. Yeah it would be good to teach the students about what heppens when a minority is silenced but add that to the talks against racism, drunk driving, sex education, career planning and the need for literacy amounts to more rules and regulations of life that turns kids off. Telling kids they need to focus more on free speach amounts to them looking at you funny and them thinking "I don't need to worry about it because it won't affect me. If it ever does I'll deal with it then." The only way they are going to appreciate free speach is to live in the world like the apathetic ninties teens did. So yay student newspapers, but boo people who think these kinds of studies are going to set the future in stone. Wait until they move out and get a job and the governement limits their access to resources. If they try and express their views, then they are going to have to worry about free speach in a BIG way. Then watch them look accusingly at angst wridden teens.
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