Out of Our Element
Editor: Grace Corey
How well does our student body know the five freedoms?
Around two years ago, the Freedom Forum Institute (FFI) conducted a study on the average American’s Constitutional knowledge, as a part of the studies they've done annually since 1997. More specifically, their knowledge of the five basic freedoms guaranteed by our first amendment.
Naturally, The Green and White Review staff was curious how our student body stacked up against the national average. It was expected that we would do better. Most students have studied the Constitution more recently than the average American adult. In addition, our survey was multiple choice, while the FFI’s study was done via phone call. Both of those facts gave our respondents an advantage. The question was how much better. Let’s take a look at the results.
Now, the current national statistics may vary from the ones used in this article, as the FFI's 2020 stuy was released just before this article was published. That said, The Green and White Review received 36 responses. 462 students attend this high school, so 7.8% of all students responded. Only 15 of 36 got a perfect score, or 41.7%. That is significantly better than the one percent who identified all five in the original study, or rather, 1 person out of 1,007. That said, no one in our study got a score of zero. 29% did so in the FFI’s study.
In our study, there was a three-way tie for which of the Five Freedoms was correctly identified most often. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, and the Freedom of Religion, at 88.9% of all responses. In the FFI’s, the Freedom of Speech was the one most often recalled, at 64% of the time. None of the others were remembered more than 29% of the time. The Freedom of Speech is also the one correctly identified by the respondent who only recalled one.
The one recalled the least often is the same in both studies. The Right to Petition, ours at 52.8% and the FFI’s at 4%.
The real question is whether or not it matters whether or not an American knows what rights are in which amendment. It depends somewhat on the amendment. For example, the Third Amendment, which prevents citizens from being forced to quarter soldiers in their homes. That issue doesn’t come up at all in the modern era. However, the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment come up quite frequently.
All in all, our student body did better than the national average.
New weather extremes prompt new storm name list, and other news.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is almost through the list of names for Atlantic tropical cyclones this year, once again. In prior years, the protocol in such an event was to go through the letters of the Greek alphabet. As there was a record amount of hurricanes in 2020, the WMO decided to do away with that system and introduce an alternate list of names.
Currently, 2021 is set to be better compared to 2020. Around this time last year, we were at 23 named storms and 8 hurricanes. This year we’re sitting at 19 named storms and 7 hurricanes, although experts expect that in October more storms will form and be potentially dangerous enough to earn a name.
You can find the list of names here. You can find the list of alternates here.
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A volcano is erupting on the Spanish island of La Palma, located in the Canary Islands archipelago off the coast of Morocco. The eruption began September 19 and lava has been flowing westward ever since. The lava flow has destroyed an estimated total of 600 properties.
The Spanish government has approved a 10.5 million euro aid package ($12.3 million), which includes around 5 million euros set aside to buy houses. The rest is intended for furniture and essential household goods.
The eruption was preceded by a seismic event, and has been ongoing since September 19. The Canary Islands Volcano Institute has suggested the eruption could last between 24 and 84 days. The lava flow reached the ocean on the evening of September 28, which could potentially cause explosions and clouds of toxic gasses.
The island’s last eruption occurred in 1971, a much more minor event that lasted three weeks.
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Forest fires in California have destroyed over two thousand houses and seriously threatened the massive trees in Sequoia National Park.
More than 2,000 firefighters were sent to combat the Windy Fire burning. To the north, two separate fires merged into the KNP complex, and spanned over 73 square miles. That was the fire that threatened the national park’s trees, although giant sequoia located near the Windy Fire were also threatened.
The trees were saved due to the park’s practice of prescribed burns, as well as fire-resistant material wrapped around the bases of some trees. Sequoia National Park was forced to close temporarily, as has Kings Canyon National Park nearby.
The Fawn Fire burning is a case of suspected arson, and a suspect has been arrested. The woman told authorities she attempted to boil some water while hiking so as to purify the water. She was concerned it contained bear urine. She claims that she drank the water after her attempts to start a fire were unsuccessful and carried on.