Oklahomans don't know their First Amendment rights
No, the First Amendment doesn't grant the right to own a pet or drive a car. Property rights and the right to bear arms aren't in it either.
Oklahomans' ignorance of their fundamental federal rights is demonstrated on a video shot by my team of OIDJ students in the past week. The print story discusses the disappearance of civics education in schools.
We didn't have time to include video of the students' other questions, which included:
Who are Oklahoma's two US senators? (Tom Coburn's gotta work on his name recognition. Surprising.)
Which Oklahoma court hears appeals of criminal convictions? (No one knew about the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Not surprising. But still disappointing.)
How many justices are on the Oklahoma Supreme Court? (Most either didn't know or said eight. Some guessed to get the correct number of nine.)
Makes for an interesting story.
Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Journalism
joey.senat@okstate.edu