(no subject)

[frandroid]

A lot of people, like in this column, have lamented that in a poll, 33% of Unitedstatian teenagers think the first amendment goes too far. Starting from that, these pundits say that "America" is going down the drain.

Excuse me? Since when does one statistic at one time form a trend? What did teenagers think of the 1st amendment in 1990? 1950? I mean, teenagers say a lot of stupid things, I wouldn't be surprised if the rate was similar or even higher in the past.

Comments

[sabotabby]

In my experience, children tend to say what they think you want to hear. Case in point; I've been proofreading a well-known children's magazine, and one of the regular columns is a survey on hot button issues for 9- to 13-year-olds. (e.g., "Should schools have dress codes?" "Is it fair that they banned snowball fights?" "Should there be ratings labels on CDs?") The most "conservative" answers almost always come out on top. ("Yes, kids dress really inappropriately for school these days.") I don't think that they actually think that (judging by the little Brittney Spears clones I see running around), but your main concern at tht age is placating your parents.