# Good news for the Bush Administration
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 31, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680 "2005-01-31T22:47:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/1 "2005-01-31T22:47:19Z")
[High School students think 1st Amendment “goes too far”](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145931,00.html)
Jesus wept!
I try, I really do try to make my students understand why their rights are important. But things like this just make me want to quit teaching and go hide out in a monestary somewhere. ☹
---
### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/2 "2005-01-31T22:53:40Z")
> [@Silenus](#):
>
> Jesus wept!
Copious tears. It is sad to see the American experiment evaporate right before our eyes.
---
### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/3 "2005-01-31T22:57:14Z")
Ok. Im renting a van and moving to Canada. I’ll have room for 7 Dopers. Who’s coming?
---
### Author:  [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/4 "2005-01-31T23:00:02Z")
It does my heart good to see that the youth of today really know what’s important, and that the public schools are doing a great job of teaching what matters to this great country of ours.
Sorry, just practicing. I don’t think I’d do well in prison.
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/5 "2005-01-31T23:01:11Z")
I’d be more alarmed if I hadn’t been seeing the same kinds of stories for decades (literally). In fact, I suspect that the situation is better now than it has been during most of our history. A full 83% of the students said that one should be allowed to express unpopular views. I’ll bet you’d have gotten a lower percentage during the 1950s, and lower still during the 1910s. We should, of course, work on getting that last 17%!
---
### Author:  [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/6 "2005-01-31T23:02:17Z")
I taught high school journalism for a while. High school principals, in general, do not want their students exercising freedom of speech, and discourage teachers from getting uppity ideas in the kids’ heads. They’ll learn about it in college, maybe.
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/7 "2005-01-31T23:35:38Z")
Wasn’t there a group that went around the downtown area of some major US city(ies) with the text of the Bill of Rights (untitled, but word-perfect) and asked the person-on-the-street their opinion of it? IIRC, most people said it sounded like some Communist manifesto.
---
### Author:  [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/8 "2005-01-31T23:40:17Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Wasn’t there a group that went around the downtown area of some major US city(ies) with the text of the Bill of Rights (untitled, but word-perfect) and asked the person-on-the-street their opinion of it? IIRC, most people said it sounded like some Communist manifesto.
I recall that, as well, though I can’t say when it happened, or where. People were asked if they’d sign a petition supporting the untitled Bill of Rights, and most refused, labeling it dangerously radical.
---
### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/9 "2005-01-31T23:41:54Z")
Isn’t that the same age group that was supposed to turn out in record numbers last year? The same group that wound up having one of the LOWEST turnouts in history?
I’m not worried.
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/10 "2005-01-31T23:47:52Z")
> [@Early Out](#):
>
> I recall that, as well, though I can’t say when it happened, or where. People were asked if they’d sign a petition supporting the untitled Bill of Rights, and most refused, labeling it dangerously radical.
Yes, that’s my main problem. I can’t remember _any_ identifying details and all the relevant search terms bring up thousands of Google cites; way too many to go sifting through them, anyway.
---
### Author:  [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/11 "2005-01-31T23:49:37Z")
The story I heard was that a college professor sent some students to a park where people were picnicing, on the 4th of July (circa 1950?). They asked people to sign a petition to the govt demanding a list of rights. The list was the bill of rights in modern language. A few people recognized the petiton as the bill of rights, but most did not. Most of those who did not, didn’t sign. Thought it was too radical, went too far, was communistic, etc.
---
### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/12 "2005-01-31T23:52:14Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Wasn’t there a group that went around the downtown area of some major US city(ies) with the text of the Bill of Rights (untitled, but word-perfect) and asked the person-on-the-street their opinion of it? IIRC, most people said it sounded like some Communist manifesto.
Well, The Man Show once took a camera crew around asking women to sign a petition to help end Women’s Sufferage.
Got a lot of signatures, from what I saw…
---
### Author:  [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/13 "2005-01-31T23:57:57Z")
[Putting on my flame-retardant briefs]
Time to raise the voting age to 21?
[keepin’ on my flame-retardant briefs]
---
### Author:  [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/14 "2005-02-01T00:00:06Z")
> [@Loopydude](#):
>
> [Putting on my flame-retardant briefs]
>
> Time to raise the voting age to 21?
>
> [keepin’ on my flame-retardant briefs]
No good. There are as many 21-year-old dumbasses as there are 18-year-old dumbasses.
---
### Author:  [@BabaBooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BabaBooey)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/15 "2005-02-01T00:03:41Z")
> [@Loopydude](#):
>
> [Putting on my flame-retardant briefs]
>
> Time to raise the voting age to 21?
>
> [keepin’ on my flame-retardant briefs]
But we have no idea how juniors and seniors compared to freshmen and sophmores in this voting. I know a lot of people that matured pretty significantly in their last two years. But yeah, the results are still pretty disturbing.
---
### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/16 "2005-02-01T00:04:35Z")
No screw the 21 thing, you should be able to pass a test in order to vote.
/wish I was joking ☹
---
### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/17 "2005-02-01T00:04:35Z")
The latter portion of the linked article speaks to the issue that students aren’t being taught about civics, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights. If children don’t learn how vital these documents are to them as individuals and how much effort went into these cornerstones of the Republic, can they be blamed for indifference?
Perhaps it has to do with their relationship to current events. As a junior high and high school student, Vietnam was in full swing, the civil rights movement was still fresh in the minds of educators, and we were encouraged to question and challenge. Some of my teachers were fresh from the college campus and carried their passions into the classroom.
I disagree with the thread title-ignorance isn’t beneficial to any administration or society.
---
### Author:  [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/18 "2005-02-01T00:05:29Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Wasn’t there a group that went around the downtown area of some major US city(ies) with the text of the Bill of Rights (untitled, but word-perfect) and asked the person-on-the-street their opinion of it? IIRC, most people said it sounded like some Communist manifesto.
All political and legal documents sound like a Communist manifesto. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/19 "2005-02-01T00:18:35Z")
> [@SPOOFE](#):
>
> Isn’t that the same age group that was supposed to turn out in record numbers last year? The same group that wound up having one of the LOWEST turnouts in history?
>
> I’m not worried.
I thought that they did turn out in higher numbers, and maintained the same proportion of overall voters that they had in the last election. Is this not correct?
---
### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680/20 "2005-02-01T00:24:33Z")
> [@BabaBooey](#):
>
> But we have no idea how juniors and seniors compared to freshmen and sophmores in this voting.
Correct. [Here’s the survey, complete with an annotated question list.](http://firstamendment.jideas.org/downloads/future_final.pdf) (note: 456K PDF file) It doesn’t appear to break down the data that way, though I suppose if one were diligent one might make a rough inference from the number of classes taken which the authors of the study thought relevant.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-news-for-the-bush-administration/287680.md?page=2)