Educators foster talks on freedom of speech

Robert Kobzi’s students are learning two things simultaneously in their fifth-grade classroom at Arroyo Elementary School: parts of speech, and freedom of speech.

Kobzi, who teaches mostly English-learner students at the school in Pomona, leads his class through a unit in constitutional law every year. When he gave a presentation Saturday in UCI’s educational conference on the 1st Amendment, he pinned some samples of his students’ work on the classroom wall — including a poster from three girls who wrote, “It’s important to know our purposes because if we didn’t know them the governor would take advantage of us.”

“They got an A,” Kobzi told the group of fellow educators who had come to learn new tactics for working civil liberties into the classroom.

The daylong conference in UCI’s social science department, titled “Freedom of Conscience: Cornerstone of America’s Constitutional Liberties,” featured presentations by dozens of educators and consultants who have experience bringing America’s founding principles to students.

As many of the speakers noted, it’s not always an easy task — especially since schools themselves deal with so many issues of freedom, from banned stories in school newspapers to controversies over Bible clubs and gay-straight alliances.

The conference, a first-time event at UCI, was sponsored by a number of groups, including the Religion in American History Institute, the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Orange County Department of Education and the UCI School of Social Sciences. In attendance were about 100 teachers, ranging from elementary through high school levels.

Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of UCI’s coming Donald Bren School of Law and an attorney who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, gave the opening address for the conference.

In a nearly hourlong speech, he talked about how freedom of expression was essential for a democratic society, but also cited a number of cases throughout history — including that of American socialist Eugene Debs, who was imprisoned for protesting World War I — in which the Supreme Court failed to honor those ideals.

“We don’t need the First Amendment to protect the speech we like,” he said at one point. “We need the First Amendment to protect the speech we don’t like.”

Chemerinsky also touched on the upcoming presidential election, which he said would likely result in the Supreme Court becoming more conservative if John McCain prevails.

The judges most likely to retire soon, he said, were in the moderate or liberal minorities, meaning that even if Barack Obama replaced them with like-minded people, the balance of power wouldn’t shift.

“I don’t think this election is going to make the country more liberal,” Chemerinsky said.

VOICES

“The words ‘freedom of conscience’ don’t appear anywhere in the Constitution, but I have no doubt that when the framers of the Constitution met in Pennsylvania, freedom of conscience was high on their minds.”

— Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean of UCI’s Donald Bren School of Law

“You don’t have ‘Happy Hanukkah.’ You don’t have Ramadan signs when that happens. It has to be a neutral thing. Even when 90% of the students are Christians, you have to carry water for those who aren’t.”

— Karen Claborn

A retired teacher at Valencia High School in Placentia, explaining some schools’ reluctance to post “Merry Christmas” signs on campus

“It’s important to know our purposes because if we didn’t know them the governor would take advantage of us.”

Fifth-grade student poster displayed by Robert Kobzi, a teacher from Arroyo Elementary School in Pomona

“They got an A.”

— Robert Kobzi

Referring to his students’ work on freedom of speech

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.