Images flashed across CNN News on Jan. 23, 2002 that U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl had been kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. It was only several weeks later that it was determined he was dead after a videotape was released of his slaying. Pearl was only 38. Following Pearl’s death, journalists across the world knew that he died as an expense of telling people the truth, and that the truth isn’t valued around the world as much as it is in America.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution promises its citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, or the right to complain to government. Without these freedoms, the duty of a journalist to report the news without any biased opinions and restrictions would be forever lost.

Apparently, when told 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, as reported in a study recently conducted by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Our forefathers had common sense when they established the First Amendment because they realized how important it is to be able to put into writing what you want to say and not be killed for it simply because it is your opinion. Could you imagine not being able to say and write what you felt? Welcome to the reality of individuals living in other parts of the world such as China and Iraq.

Ordinary people risk their lives every day by printing little pamphlets that simply report the news. What people die for in other countries, we citizens of the United States of America take for granted and do not use to our advantage. The First Amendment could never go “too far” simply because it is the way our society revolves, and without it, the United States of America would no longer be united.

Nowadays, more censorship is being placed upon high school newspapers, and teens are agreeing that in the end it may not be a bad thing. When asked whether people should be allowed to express unpopular views, 97 percent of teachers and 99 percent of school principals said yes. Only 83 percent of students did. Currently, students are more restrictive in their views than their elders, and in essence maybe this is why teens are forming into more conservative individuals.

In the eyes of an innocent child, a typical hero would be a famous sports star or a favorite action figure in a comic. Ten years down the road, a child may call Daniel Pearl a hero, or other people who have truly fought for what they believed in and died in the process of doing so. A hero is a person who is not only admired for their athletic skills and acting ability, but also for what they stand for and the lengths they are willing to go to fight for it.

Judge's Comments:
Nice, clear, succinct writing style. You used solid information/figures to prove your point-and you gave us the sources of the numbers! Yay! We need to know that. Hopefully, you make some people think. Good job.