vw, good on you!

Lee, sounds like a real PITA. I'm hoping for backups somewhere.

AmyLiz, it's been so long since I've been in school or my kids, I can't say what's "normal" homework for a seventh grader. It varies so much from school system to school system. One thing I'd like to put forward for consideration in the seeming lack of homework for a poetry unit is that a lot of the work may be getting done in class in a way where you, as a parent, are not going to see tangible results. I know in ninth grade I had very little take home work during those portions of the curriculum. We wrote extemporaneous poems during class that were read aloud as soon as we were done or handed in right then and there. We read famous poems aloud and discussed them. We were put into group sessions to write things that may or may not have been handed in, but we were actively doing something with the skills. But that wouldn't have been evident at home. Did you get a copy of the syllabus when your son started the year/semester? Perhaps having a look at it would give you a better idea if the amount of homework is appropriate for the unit.

This article is making me hyperventilate:

Jan. 31, 2005 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- The way many high school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech.

It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday.

The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories

Right. I'll just be hiding under this rock, then. Someone wake me when the world is sane again?

Anyone want to take up a collection for Buffista Island?

What the fuck is going on in high schools? When I was a high school journalist (not THAT long ago) there was a first ammendment lawsuit. Granted, the Supreme Court did say that the first ammendment doesn't protect high school newspapers the way it does real newspapers, but at least the kids filed the suit and were learning the importance of fighting to keep those freedoms. This was only 15 years ago.

Have the kids been beat down that much since I graduated??

Almost makes you think those shitty public schools aren't happening by accident.

Anyone want to take up a collection for Buffista Island?

Well, there's a couple hundred in the F2F fund. How big an island do we want?

[Oooh, pretty.]

Have the kids been beat down that much since I graduated??

The rest of the article implies that it is the lack of school newspapers (funding for them, that is) that is causing the ignorance. Still, it scares me that, even if we were to start educating students on the Bill of Rights tomorrow, there will still be this big bunch of (soon to be) voters who think it is no big deal.

Trying to keep the bile from rising.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

I can see the going too far part. Not that I think they go too far, or that I have a right to dictate what newspapers print, but a good example of controversial newspaper content are the newspapers that publish lists of people arrested for drunk driving. There's that line of the public's right to know, the press's right to publish and the individual's right to privacy. We quibble in the courts about it endlessly. I can see high school students being very concerned with that last part of the equation, they tend to be very touchy about their "rights," particularly as to what they do, who they do it with, etc. being kept their own business and no one elses. Also, how deep an understanding of the first amendment can a high schooler have if he only just then is told the "exact text of the First Amendment" right before they answered the survey? Sounds like America's schools are falling down on the job if they haven't heard it by then. And I'm more worried about that than what the high schoolers think.