You you From the beginning laws affect our lives and we affect the law But how? Do we really understand the law? How much do we know about our rights? responsibilities What happens when a student asks citizens to support the Bill of Rights protection against self -incrimination? Urging that he adopted a resolution stating that people should not be forced to testify against themselves.
No, why not? Well, I usually don't sign anything without my husband's consent well, there's very little here no, I don't think so I don't have time Oh Excuse me, sir Would you be willing to sign a petition to the president urging that he adopt a resolution stating that people shouldn't have to testify against themselves? Well, I don't usually I don't usually get into I don't have to get involved really Let's say that again No, thank you very much.
I'm in a hurry right heck.
Yes.
Hell no Would you be willing to sign a petition to the president urging that people not be forced to testify against themselves Many Americans have very little understanding of the Constitution and of the Bill of Rights in particular Is it entirely their fault? What have our schools done to teach the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Students have been asked to memorize them not to understand them Only when students have a deep awareness of the meaning of justice liberty equality responsibility Authority will they be effective citizens who realize how fragile is the rule of law and How easily it can be shattered? No, oh no No I don't know they should testify.
I don't know.
I don't know our basic rights are being threatened I definitely think there is a threat to freedom of speech today The Bill of Rights has been under attack and other things such as gun control legislation I believe that Congress should have more power than the president I think the amount of money spent has a lot to do with how the elections turn out.
I have most Most sincere confidence in most politicians represent me on many issues today troubled young people some are big Some are small most involved law Will young people seek solutions within the framework of the law if they understand the potential for change within our legal system They will exercise lawful means to make their influence felt as citizens And if we just let the environment go that means we're letting ourselves go Sooner or later, we're not gonna be able to breathe and who cares if you can't breathe You're not gonna be able to get involved with all the other things that we Put our minds to the drug problems becoming very serious because it's moving from the city to the suburbs law and order are emphasized Much more than justice now law and order or not is somewhat It's made to be good But somehow it's changed around for certain people that they don't have to follow law and order as other people have to follow it I believe in change through the system change is very necessary.
I think the thing that young people have to counteract is the apathy which has been Sort of inherited from our older generation and demonstrations are essential And if you can't work within the system, then obviously you're gonna have to work without it if that means Demonstrating our out now confrontation The judge always advises the defendant of his rights But it's much too late to learn about the law when you appear in court Every day young people come before the court and for the first time they discover what their rights are Today there is an urgent need for law related studies in our school.
He's got to let me in Gentlemen gentlemen, just a minute.
Don't be so hasty try to look at it from each other's point of view That's right.
Think about how the deer feels.
It wasn't his fault that he lost his hat Why should the deer have to go to the end of the line now and miss that I'm getting impressed himself Yeah, but think about how Eddie feels.
He didn't know you were here before It's not his fault the deer got out of line Besides Eddie may never get to come back to the Wizards birthday again.
So it certainly won't be fair to Eddie if he lets you back in Well, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna let me in or not? Yes, Eddie What are you going to do? I'm not sure it's just so hard to know what's fair The deer was here first and he probably waited longer than I did but I'm here now Should I give up my spot just because he decided to come back? What is the fair thing to do? Boys and girls in the film One of the last pictures that we saw said what's fair? Do you remember that? And Eddie had quite a problem there at the end, didn't he? What did he have to decide? Who remembers? Chancherelle, what did he have to decide? What was fair and what what were the things that he had to decide from? Michelle I guess to give the Dear the present or temple hand to keep it.
Yes.
Was that quite a difficult decision for him to make? All right.
Let's pretend something Let's pretend that Eddie just really couldn't figure out an answer because that was a hard thing to decide So he called us up here and he said I've got a terrible decision I have to make I wonder if you can help me with it And we said, all right, we'll try now, let's see if we can come to some decision about their problem Julia What would you decide? I would decide See Eddie wouldn't be there too much longer.
The deer is always there.
So Eddie should get the present What would you do? I think he should share it with him And then if it's more than one thing he takes part of it And the deer can take the other part and but if Eddie didn't want it he could just give it to the deer All right, so they would share it they would each get some do you think that that could cause another problem that they would have? Think that would come to that.
Yeah, what would that new problem be? Alexandra it would be which person want what if they both wanted the thing? And what if they couldn't split then what do you think it would be worth trying that solution to the problem? Yeah, but they might not be able to do it Does anything ever happen to you that kind of reminds you of this? filmstrip Law studies must start when the child starts school Basic concepts of law like fairness offer youngsters the opportunity to improve their moral judgment as well as their ability to reason The teachers art is to find materials that the child can understand Okay today we're gonna play a game and for lack of a better name We're gonna call it the buckle game because these are buckles and I want each one of you to take one so I will Start with Jimmy and with Philip take one pass them along and as soon as everybody gets one play the game What's the object you need an object you need rules You have to know what to do with it Okay, let's get some rules then Jimmy Let's start with you give me a rule the kinds of things that I try and Do with my kids in the classroom is to get them to think and to learn how to make decisions.
I want them To see why we need rules But I also want them to have their opinions and to be able to voice their opinions and show reasons for their opinions based on the concepts of law They relate so beautifully that it carries out into the hallway.
Sometimes the discussions have started in the classroom.
They get very emotionally involved I don't drill rights into kids though I do Incorporate the responsibilities that go go along with every right that the kids have and the kids realize that you know there are conflict situations in the world and in their everyday lives and the conflicts are resolved by two people sitting down and compromising or discussing them or having a Neutral party to help resolve the conflicts and isn't that the basis of law to begin with? I said that games need rules but they need rules that are reasonable, sensible, not contradictory, organized, have some kind of purpose.
Okay, I will give you a purpose to a game that we're going to play and I will give you the rules that you have to follow When it gets back up to the front the team that's the quietest with their hands raised wins, okay? Easy, easy directions, rules, purpose, everything you said you needed.
Ready, set, go.
Oh, hold it, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
I forgot to tell you a rule.
Okay, come back to the front again.
And this time would you pass it with your left hand over your left shoulder? I forgot to tell you, okay? Ready? Okay, got it in front again.
Left hand over the left shoulder and then up to the front, right? Everybody's all set on the rules.
Ready, set, go.
Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I forgot another rule.
Bring it up front again.
I don't have any more rules.
What's the problem? They keep interrupting us and saying, oh, I forgot to tell you this rule.
So tell them.
So I have to tell you all the rules first? All the rules right now.
All the rules.
Every rule.
All of them together.
Okay.
All right, let's try all of the rules.
Ready, set, go.
There's a winner.
There's a second.
There's a third and there's a fourth.
Okay, sit down.
No subject is more relevant than the law.
Students are involved in living issues of immediate concern to them.
Juvenile law, environmental law, drug law, consumer law.
The right to assemble peaceably on the streets.
The right to dissent.
The Tinker case dealt with a high school student who was forbidden to wear a black armband to school in protest against the war in Vietnam.
Students discuss the issues.
You think that's right? No, but that's a different story.
That's a different story.
You're not going to hurt anybody.
It's a different story because it's bad in my case and good in our case.
We're doing the issues group and we decided that the people have the right to speak that have dressed however they wanted.
I think that the principal had a right to say that they shouldn't be wearing the ambience because the discussion was that if you wear a shirt and this person doesn't like a shirt, then does that give them the right to clobber you? Well, they said that the shirt isn't telling anyone that they're in a separate group.
The ambience are.
And I think they can express being in a different group where they don't have to say they're in a different group.
Just them knowing they're in a different group is good enough that they don't have to cause them trouble just to prove that they're in a different group.
They want to prove that they are in a separate group.
And I think that a little black piece of material strapped around your arm couldn't cause a riot.
If it did, I don't think that these three people should be balanced.
Well, it might be.
Well, it might.
So they should sort of compromise having maybe outdoor recess but not during the classes.
Well, it would be more apt to have an outdoor recess.
But they can go say in one part of the playground, the other one, the other.
And they can do sculpts one of their separate ways.
I know, but they don't want to be two different groups.
They want to be all together and they want to get as many people to join them as they can.
Why do they want to be all together? They're not trying to annoy these people.
They just try to tell them, prove to them that they're in this group.
Like Catholic people, they may wear a cross to prove that they're Catholic or something like that.
And you can't go around and club them.
What Ann said is right.
They're just expressing themselves.
If the other people don't like it, they could just leave and tell them they don't like it a lot.
And the same thing.
The other people are expressing themselves too.
Well, because they're not for it.
They're not wearing them.
Yeah, but they got to consider.
Law -related education also can open to our students lawful ways of initiating change, both in the school and in the community.
Peaceful change can be very encouraging to students who have seen violence in the streets, fail to bring change.
Or take something out of context which is detrimental to either their position as a legislator or my position as a lobbyist.
I'm finished.
I said, what steps, you know, you have to take to become a lobbyist? To be a lobbyist, you need really two things.
You need a client and you need a cause.
Anybody can go to Trenton and lobby.
You can lobby for your own interests in Trenton.
You walk in to Trenton, you walk up to a legislator, and you say, Assemblyman Florio, if that might be the case, I'd like to talk to you for a minute about a problem we've got.
And you are a lobbyist.
Senator, we understand that you're opposed to the legislation.
Are there any questions that I might be able to answer for you? Yes, I don't feel that the 18 -year -olds are old enough to really have the vote.
I don't think they're capable of knowing what they're voting for yet.
Well, our feeling is that with television, the media, participation in the classroom, that 18 -year -olds are as equally informed as their parents are.
Yeah, but they're still kids.
18 -year -olds, they're still kids.
You're only as young as you feel, Senator.
In all seriousness, though, we have to draw the line someplace.
18 -year -olds are a vital part of society today.
With the 18 -year -olds...
Assemblyman Yates, can I have you for a few minutes? Oh, yeah, sure.
I'm Ronald McNigley of the 40 Cross High School.
Peter Pickney from the North.
Hi, Peter.
Nice to meet you.
We're from the Institute for Political Education, and we'd like to discuss with you the bill in front of the assembly to lower the majority age from 21 to 18 for assembly members to debate.
The purpose of the party's procedure basically is to maintain order within the chamber.
There's also the basic language at any public meeting.
Ms.
Elizabeth Brennan introduces the following bill, to ensure newsmen the right of free press, whereas a requirement of free press is the privilege of newsmen to keep their sources of information confidential, and whereas this privilege...
Basically, this bill provides newsmen the right to keep confidential their sources of information, but the purpose behind this bill, I feel, goes a lot deeper than that.
Professor Paul Freund of Harvard Law School has identified three important purposes served by law studies in the schools.
First, they help develop moral and ethical reasoning.
Second, they help students appreciate and understand the legal system, which affects so many kinds of transactions between people.
And third, they can give the kind of legal information that is important for young people to know.
Do you feel that it's the fault of the person that leaked it out about anything like this, or the fault of the person that printed it? I see no fault at all.
I think the public has a right to be informed.
I mean, time.
We are now open for speaker against the bill.
Number three, you have the floor.
Four minutes.
Thank you.
This bill protecting the sources of newsmen, the information will be fine, provided that...
Before students can learn, teachers must learn.
In exciting in -service training classes, teachers learn by doing, by case studies, simulation exercises, and social dramas, the techniques they'll later bring to their own classrooms.
Lawyers and law students can play an important role.
They have a great opportunity to participate with educators in teacher training programs and in development of curriculum materials.
So a trial began, a trial that Yosarian or Alice in Wonderland could appreciate.
She scared me.
How did she scare you? She bit me.
My wench.
She stuck me with pins.
She pinched me, she stuck me with pins, and she even tried to make me write my name in the devil's book.
Then another time she came to me in the form of a wolf, and I knew it was Sarah all the time.
Why do you hurt the children, Sarah? I hurt no children.
Who hurts them then? I don't know who hurts them.
They say you hurt them.
You accused me falsely.
Have you made a contract with the devil? I've made a contract with no one.
You have never written your name in the devil's book? I've never done no such thing.
Why do you torment the children, Sarah? Torment children? I do no such thing.
Well, who torments them? How do I know who torments them? You accused me falsely.
Why have you made a contract with the devil? I have made no contract with the devil.
You know that God will you to speak honestly here? I speak honestly.
I'm God -fearing.
You pray? Yes, I pray.
To whom do you pray? I pray to God.
Which God? I pray to the only God.
That'll be all.
I am innocent as an unborn lamb.
I have been accused falsely.
Sarah Good, this court must review the evidence and take under advisement the testimony given and ultimately render a decision.
In the meantime, you will be remanded into the custody of the jail.
I ask you seek your God.
Look at the horrors that took place in 1692.
Given a fall of China in 1950, an Algerian case, and some sagging of our economy happening all at one time, we're capable of horrible things, calling our witches communists this time.
Are you going to load it that way though? No, no, I think we'll be careful against loading it the other way.
Dan, do you see this kind of technique as having some appeal for the young girl you described to us earlier who cannot read and who has a very real learning problem? Could you appeal to her through this kind of teaching techniques? I think that it is really good because where kids cannot read, many times they are compensated by the fact that they can dramatize it, you know, act it out.
So now let the jury consider their verdict.
No, no, sentence for a spurious Jesuit.
Off with their heads! Are there any safeguards we have in our judicial system, in our courts, nowadays that would prevent something like what we saw and what we participated in? David? You have to have a lawyer when you're in trials.
What else should you have, Vinnie? You should know your Bill of Rights.
Anyone have any questions? Mr.
Lindner from Washington University, a law court will be coming and discussing those questions and hopefully answering these questions for us.
Today we are here to prove that Mrs.
Denkins is guilty of the charges brought upon her.
We know that...
We are here to prove...
Throughout the country, lawyers and law students are beginning to visit classrooms to help students.
Attorney William Gibson, a leader in the movement to bring law -related studies into the schools.
You give the youngsters an opportunity to analyze what is a trial, who are the parties, what are their roles, what are the problems in conducting a trial, what is the intent, what is the objective of a trial.
In other words, that they should undergo surgery before they're given an opportunity to really conduct one.
Then let them go with a problem and let them design the trial themselves.
Make mistakes, excellent, good, but let them walk out of the classroom not saying, gee, you were a great judge, well, how did you like me as the prosecutor? Well, but have them going out.
I disagreed with that point of law.
I think, you know, or I thought, or, you know, I don't think the jury should have believed Mary.
You know, you remember when she said such and such? Then it has meant something.
Also, when they go from this kind of experience into a courtroom, they can quickly move into what is happening without sitting and wonder about this mystery before.
And that the defendant was at fault.
I'm not sure if we actually proved that the plaintiff actually was at fault or not, but I guess that's what the jury found.
See, these are questions that the jury has to decide.
They have to determine who's telling the truth and who to believe.
Is there another question? Yes.
Under what condition can a court decision be appealed to a higher court? I spent about a year in law school trying to start on learning the answer to that question.
Through direct contact, students learn about the justice system, and the adults learn about students and their problems.
Together, they can learn respect and tolerance for diversity.
Every community has its own unique needs and interests.
Their programs are and should be different.
But they have this in common.
The more people involved, lawyers, policemen, prosecutors, judges, parents, the more enduring and vital the program.
Dark brown.
Dark brown? Alright.
What are we going to use this description for? We're going to use it to report to the police, right? If the tunnel moves in and the place is already wrecked up, and when he moves out, it's still wrecked up.
He shouldn't have moved in anymore.
It's not the tunnel's responsibility.
It's the landlord's responsibility.
But look, it's wrecked up.
The landlord's got to clean it up before the tunnel gives him some money.
We have an attorney from our community.
And what I would like to do this morning is take up two or three legal cases that involve advertising and the concept of false advertising.
The American Bar Association wants to help ensure that law studies are taught in all of America's schools.
Joel Henning, director of the ABA's Youth Education Project.
Lawyers can do a lot.
They can convince others of the need for law -related education.
They can help organize projects.
Most important, lawyers and law students can volunteer to participate in teacher training programs.
This is the only way lawyers can have a large -scale impact on the student.
There are not enough lawyers ever to reach the nation's classrooms.
And the teacher is the most critical link in the educational chain.
The American Bar Association's Special Committee on Youth Education for Citizenship has this goal, to see that students in elementary and secondary schools get a thorough education in law -related studies, at least as thorough as they get in mathematics.
We support the work of others, educators, state and local bar associations, and agencies of our legal system in developing programs and materials.
We play a service role.
We want to help lawyers and educators set up programs that meet the concerns, the needs, the interests of their own community.
We publish a directory of law -related educational activities so people can discover what is already going on and can benefit from the successes and failures of their colleagues in other communities.
We publish a bibliography of law -related curriculum materials to help teachers and lawyers find books that are useful in classroom activities.
We also publish a series of practical guides on how to establish and support these projects.
We hold regional conferences and small workshops around the country to bring educators, lawyers, government agencies, and other community groups together and help them get started.
Law -related education seems to work best when the state or local bar and other organizations work hand -in -hand with the school.
Several excellent projects around the country are developing curriculum materials and sponsoring teacher training institutes.
We work closely with them and refer interested people to those best suited to their needs.
All of our materials and services are available for the asking.
If the organized bar and educators work together, we think this is one educational reform movement that not only can, but will succeed.
It's not just a dream.
We have seen it work in classrooms throughout the country.
One of the most beautiful things that I've seen is when I went into one school and the youngsters there were, I was told, were disadvantaged, they were low on the scale in reading, and that they didn't have much of a future.
Well, after about three or four classes with these youngsters, it was my pleasure to see a youngster come up to me and say, I can think! I can think! Did you? I can see it! Did you hear what I said? You know, I can think! That's what he was so startled by.
But he had started something which is significant in learning.
Is when you know what you're ignorant about and you start to speculate about it, you're beginning to learn.
And what he would do, as all the youngsters would do, and I call it what if, the child was able to say, but what if...
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