When in doubt, pick George Washington

Ken Paulson spoke to us today about the first amendment by giving us an extensive, eye-opening quiz on what we do--and more importantly don't--know about our own constitution. I was surprised to know that I could only come up with three myself, four as a group. Speech, religion, and press are the first three I think about.

The two I couldn't identify, a right to petition the government and to assemble, are rights I didn't realize I had. There is a very real possibility I had heard these two in elementary school, but not since.

Why not?

It seems scary we can't recite ANY, much less the first, amendment of our own constitution. If we live here day-to-day and gripe on social media about the injustices in our government, shouldn't we at least know our rights to know WHY we're griping? To know what we can DO about these injustices, whatever they are?

This may not be directly related to journalism, but they are thoughts that came to me during this session. The information I heard was almost entirely new to me, and it makes me wonder why we don't talk more about these freedoms and our constitution in general in our schools. If you learn something once when you are in elementary school, is that something you will remember for a lifetime? I don't even remember how to do long division; how should I remember the constitution and bill of rights if I never hear it again?

Our forefathers would be shocked to know that 3 in 4 Americans cannot recite all five freedoms in the first amendment. George, we need your help! We need to be reminded of what we stand for, of our rights, of our freedoms. So they don't get taken away.

Sharon Northington
McCracken County High School
Paducah, Kentucky