High School Students Value Free Speech but Feel Uncomfortable Speaking Up
RealClear Education | Samuel Abrams
Today’s high school students strongly appreciate viewpoint diversity, have studied the 1st Amendment, are open to free speech and don’t favor cancel culture or censorship, yet censor themselves. “The findings of the Knight Foundation’s just-released report on high schoolers’ attitudes toward free speech should worry us,” Abrams warns. “The report…finds that high school students censor themselves at levels currently seen on collegiate campuses…”
As for the data: “Only 19 percent of students said that they were very comfortable voicing disagreement with ideas expressed by the instructor or by other students. Another 36 percent were somewhat comfortable, meaning that just over half (55 percent) of students were comfortable disagreeing with their teachers and fellow students…”
Abrams explain the dichotomy at play— “High school students regularly report that they crave dissent in dialogue, yet they are uncomfortable expressing it themselves for fear of being shunned or canceled.”
What will the consequences be, and what can be done? As Abrams says, “As many of these high school students will prepare for the workforce or collegiate settings, they are being conditioned to keep silent rather than dissent or question others, putting the vibrancy of our democracy at risk. It is time for families, communities, and education professionals to demand better and embrace the debate and discourse that comes with real education.”
Related:
The Kids are Alright (Persuasion, 6/15/22)
