Many teenagers are indifferent to the First Amendment.

In a nationwide study of 100,000 high school students released early this year by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, about three-quarters of those surveyed said they either don't know how they feel about their First Amendment rights or they just take them for granted.

But at some schools, the principles of the First Amendment form the basis of student life. These First Amendment Schools, launched in 2002 to be "laboratories of democratic freedom," according to their Web site, www.firstamendmentschools.org, are funded in part by the nonprofit Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum. The latter is a nonpartisan foundation dedicated to protecting First Amendment freedoms through information and education.

These 20 schools include elementary, middle and high schools, both public and private. Each is dedicated to providing students and staff with opportunities to practice democracy and uphold the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

Is student life different at First Amendment schools? Students from two of these say it is. City Academy is a charter middle school/high school in Salt Lake City. Fairview Elementary School is a K-5 public school in Modesto, Calif. Students at both schools say they receive more attention and have more input than in other schools they have attended.

Learning how to use it

They also learn much more about the First Amendment. Ruby Winters, 18, from City Academy, says that in a traditional school, "You've skimmed over the First Amendment, unless it's in American government or U.S. history, and you just go over the technicalities of it. You don't go over how to use it in constructive ways and how it applies to society and yourself."

At City Academy, she says, "We go over the First Amendment a lot. We even talk about different parts of the Constitution as it relates to certain issues we've been dealing with."

In general, these students find their schools to be more intimate and teachers to be more accessible. "Here they have after-school programs and other programs that help you (at) your class learning level," said Rose Moore, 11, of Fairview. "It helps us learn the rights that we have to respect other people, and it also teaches us that we have to respect ourselves."

Students attending First Amendment schools also get to put those rights into practice. At City Academy, students drafted the school's constitution, which all students and staff reaffirm each year. They also have a First Amendment advisory board.

"When we have our advisories, we discuss current issues and our opinions on them. I think that's where the First Amendment really plays a part because we have freedom to express ourselves and to tell everybody what we think without being persecuted or shut up. Most schools don't do that," said Ruby.

City Academy students learn how to correctly exercise their First Amendments rights. "I think that the First Amendment is a good thing to have, but a lot of people don't understand it enough to use it properly. There are a lot of cases where people aren't using it at all when they have the right to because they don't know how to," Ruby said. "And then there are cases where people are using it in trivial ways, which is not the right way, and they give it a bad name."

The students agree that the perfect place to practice their First Amendment rights is at school. "You need to be able to have input on your education. I mean, you have to go there every day," said Libby Giles, 15, of City Academy.

The right to free speech

At Fairview, students don't discuss the First Amendment in depth, but they spend a lot of time understanding and exercising their rights, especially freedom of speech. "Everybody has a different opinion. So yeah, we think that we should be able to express our opinion, said Juan Reyes, 11.

"Like if you have something to say, people listen to it," added Santiago Sanchez, 11. "They will let you say it because they say you have the right to disagree."

But do these students believe they can say anything at any time? Most of the kids said no, especially if profanity is involved. "A lot of kids think the First Amendment means that they can just use any kind of language they want. There's a lot of offensive language they think is part of the First Amendment, and I don't consider that something that should be protected," Ruby said.

"You have to be respectful of others, agreed Libby.

Input on school issues

Similarly, the First Amendment students feel free to exercise their freedom to assemble and petition. Students at Fairview have had input on many issues, including the food served in the cafeteria. They also mounted a petition drive to dissuade an ice cream vendor from selling toy guns on the side, after a student was suspended for carrying one of the guns to school.

"The school lets you protest against something you don't like, and at the other schools, they really don't care that much about you," said Jacky Prietto-Garcia, 11.

But some rules at Fairview are not up to debate. Like most schools, profanity, clothing associated with gangs and disruptive, illegal or unsafe behavior is forbidden.

City Academy students meet to discuss global events and organize protests. "We're able to express our opinions as far as protesting goes with some of the issues that are going on, like the war in Iraq and things like that, which you really don't do in other schools," Ruby said.

They also exercise their rights to petition with school administrators. "For a while they took away all our off-campus rights because they didn't think we were responsible enough to have them. And you know, at a normal school, that'd just be the end of it and we wouldn't have off-campus rights. But we talked about it, and there were more concessions," Libby said.

She also explained that City Academy teachers are open to suggestions from students. "You can go to a teacher and say, 'Hey, I think this would be really cool if we worked at it this way and maybe we could do less worksheets,' and usually the teachers will be open to assessing what the kids think should be done in class."

Enjoying school more

Since First Amendment schools are relatively new institutions, most students have attended a traditional school at one time. All said they were happier at their First Amendment school.

"I wanted to go to a First Amendment school because at my other school you had to wear uniforms," said Rose. "They had no student council, no freedoms, no freedom of speech."

Ruby said students had little involvement at her previous school. "Your opinion really didn't matter at that school. It was mainly just based around learning and everything, and there wasn't any freedom as far as running the school or anything like that. We had no say in policies, and at City Academy, the kids play a big part in what goes on in the school."

Contrary to the nationwide survey, the students said they think freedoms provided under the First Amendment are fundamental to the American way of life.

"I think the First Amendment is basically the backbone of America," said Libby.

"I think it's perfect," said Daisey Prietto-Garcia, 9.

REPORTERS: Millie Cripe, 12; Steven Thompson, 14.

Copyright 2005 Y-Press

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The First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.