The reason that the first amendment exists and that every United States citizen is guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to assemble, freedom of press and the right to petition the government is because the citizens in the 1790’s demanded it. They wanted an amendment to the constitution that guaranteed them the freedoms that they were deprived of by English rule or they said there would be no deal with the government.

Now, 200-plus years later, US citizens all over the country are giving up their rights and freedoms because they are not fighting hard enough for them – especially students.

According to the court case Tinker v. Des Moines in which students were allowed the freedom to petition peacefully in schools, students “do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Senior scholar Charles Haynes of the First Amendment Center, at the Free Spirit Conference in Washington, DC, said that school administrators have three fears; fear of ideas, fear of difference and fear of disruption.

Fear of ideas – “[School administrators] censor controversial ideas. The censor art they don’t like and create an environment that turns students off from learning,” he said.

Fear of difference – An Arkansas public middle school administrator told a student he could not talk about gays and was forced to read passages from the bible. The student sued the school and won.

Fear of disruption – A Pennsylvania student was expelled from school for rap lyrics posted on his personal website from home. Administrators called the lyrics terrorist threats and harassment. Again, the student sued and won.

“The solution is more freedom, not less freedom,” Haynes continued. “They problem is not that the students have too much freedom. The problem is students have too little freedom. Students have too few opportunities to practice freedom.”

The government (or in students case, the administration) cannot be allowed to censor.

John Siegenthaler is the founder of the First Amendment Center and founding editorial director of USA Today. He said, “Any administrator that [censors] is shortsighted… and I don’t like it.”

Journalist Helen Thomas has covered every president since John F. Kennedy and coined the phrase “Thank you, Mr. President” which she used to end press conferences. Thomas said, “journalism is a public service. If he [administrator/president] can’t be questioned he can rule as a dictator or king.”

That simply cannot be allowed. In my short time as a student journalist I have learned, with first hand knowledge, the freedoms that many students can’t even name. Free press is something that citizens wanted, but soon after the media was said to have too much power. Pick one. Do you want to know what is going on and how the country or school is being run? If so, the press needs the power to ask the questions and report the truth. Do you want the government and administration to rule without being questioned, where the citizens don’t know what is happening and therefore has no voice? If so, then the press has too much power.

In 1991, Colin Powell quoted the idea flawlessly. “The most effective means of ensuring the government’s accountability to the people is an aggressive, free, challenging, untrusting press.”