Future of the First Amendment: The Digital Media, Civic Education, and Free Expression Rights in America's High Schools

Findings from the high-profile John S. and James L. Knight Foundation-sponsored surveys of over 100,000 high school students in 2004 and 2006 provided a wake-up call to those interested in preserving the future of free expression rights in America. These studies documented the current lack of appreciation for free expression rights among the nation's high school students, and thus raised serious questions about the vitality of those rights as this generation reaches adulthood. In The Future of the First Amendment, the scholars who conducted the Knight studies identify a number of important connections and relationships that education reformers should account for as they seek to raise the status of the First Amendment among the nation's youth.

This book documents and explores the ramifications of First Amendment education and student media activities-both traditional and digital-on student support for free expression rights. Linking these curricular and extra-curricular activities to the next generation's tolerance for free expression rights, it provides guidance to educators and policy-makers on methods of improving the next generation's appreciation for these rights which are so central to the health of American democracy.

Kenneth Dautrich is associate professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut and senior partner at Validata Research and Consulting.
David A. Yalof is associate professor of political science and director of curriculum development and assessment at the University of Connecticut.
Mark Hugo Lopez is research assistant professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.