Who’s On First?

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By: Jennifer Dayton

First test ideas – belief is the result – in secular life. Education must celebrate individual expression, while meeting new challenges of belief systems based on disinformation. If it does not, conspiracies will continue to influence elections and possibly lead to violent unrest, intelligence failures or at its worst, martial law. Widening economic inequality provides fuel to conspiracies calling for anti-establishment instability. It’s not just a national issue – it is relevant to each of us with social media accounts.

Freedom of speech is first on our Bill of Rights and says nothing about regulation of private company restrictions of speech, nor should it. Voluntary action has been taken by private social media platforms. Freedom of speech applies to government restrictions, but there are legal exceptions. An exception is the use of « fighting words » to cause an immediate breach of the peace. Unless Americans conserve established principles, no one will have freedom of speech. We live in exceptional times, when we have to resort to legal exceptions to first amendment protections. For example, the US Supreme Court will soon hear a case to decide whether public K-12 schools may discipline students for consequences of off-campus speech.

Twenty years ago in the wake of 9/11, citizens constructively demonstrated patriotism prevailed over deep distrust. Ten years ago, citizens constructively worked to end a closure of government over deep distrust. Democratic norms provided stability, allowing bipartisan problem-solving to work. Today, calling for election fraud investigations, despite no evidence and court dismissals, is destabilizing. One established principle remains undefeated: that judicial decisions on elections apply universally, without regard to allegiances.

Beyond the public sector, it should concern us, when democratic norms fail. Private sector leaders have spoken loudly, favoring stability that in self-interest gives government a chance to work, minimizing risks for investment and economic recovery. On the brink of adulthood, schools shape future leaders for the private sector and we should foster their commitment to democracy’s success.

Our new generation must be educated differently. Before reaching voting age, children are often afraid of events they don’t understand. For their sake, let’s join together in building the confidence of future voters in democracy and countering contempt for government itself. Civics is a full high school credit in nine states and a half-credit in ours. However, in Connecticut, all elementary and secondary schools, whether public or private, must offer instruction in government at the local, state, and national levels.

Our state social studies frameworks are customized by local schools. In Greenwich, I hope they place more emphasis on the century we are living in, covering all aspects of our electoral process. Critical thinking should be woven into all academic disciplines, so that students consuming information – whether quantitative, historical, economic or scientific – develop independent thought. Regardless of what is said or written in any domain, it’s testing consequences of ideas that matters.

In the rising generation, many lives will intersect with constitutional issues, not just those with careers in advocacy or policy-making. Only one third of states make any kind of civics exam a graduation requirement. Average results within every state collected by the Center for Civic Education, show Advanced Placement (AP) US History exam results have mean scores below a “3,” the attainment generally acknowledged as worthy of college credit. However, competence at graduation are a result of hands-on experiences in constitutional principles at the earliest grades.

The original mission of schools was to create effective citizens. It’s often been said that schools cannot solve every social ill, but the first call that sounds, should be to form savvy citizens. Schools create opportunities for learning citizenship’s duties. But that’s not enough. We need new rules of the road in education, new skills in deliberation, for a world of unreliable information. That means competence in not just tolerating but testing opinions, identifying insider-versus-outsider persuasion, patriotically respecting judicial decisions and experiencing the ongoing work of democratic reform. Freedom of thought comes first before freedom of speech. Without independent thought, our Fourth of July will lose its original, patriotic meaning.

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