Vital as the First Amendment is to our form of government and the freedoms it engenders, it is barely addressed in most high schools. It is usually buried in American Government, in most states only a semester course in the senior year of high school. Studies by the Freedom Forum and the Knight Foundation confirm that many Americans do not understand the rights and responsibilities the First Amendment brings. Study of the First Amendment, journalism, and the role of a free press needs to be expanded in the curriculum. It should be a subject that is a required test element under ESEA in order that schools address it in a more comprehensive manner.
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