First Amendment In Schools Research Paper

The Melton v. Young case is about a high school student that was suspended for wearing a jacket with a Confederate flag. The issue that was discussed is, whether or not the school officials could suspend a student for wearing Confederate flag. The clothing sparking racial tension was also discussed. The racial tension from the previous year was an argument for the defense because it can be said that the jacket could have refueled this. The defense also stated that the Melton family was informed of the new rules and chose to break them. The plaintiff’s argument was that the student’s suspension was unconstitutional and the confederate flag is a part of his heritage. The district court ruled the school’s dress code policy unconstitutionally

You may have heard about the $150,000 shirt in 2004 that was owned by Alan Newsom. The shirt was one of the reasons for Newsom v. Albemarle case that went to court. The shirt Alan Newsom wore was from an NRA shooting sports camp. He wore the shirt to school in hopes of encouraging other students to go to the camp, but he was told to turn the shirt inside out for the rest of the day. Later that same day Alan wanted to take them to court. When Alan appealed the court finally said that the shirt was not violent nor dangerous in any way.

As seen in previous cases like Tinker vs. Des Moines, students have the right to political say, unless it causes disruption at school of students are promoting something that goes against the law. In the case of Tinker v Des Moines the students were not promoting anything illegal but showed their thought on the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands (Tinker). Argued in court by Kenneth W. Starr in the Morse v. Frederick case, he gave the idea that the foundation for school censorship was the case of Tinker v. Des Moines (Morse). The Justices responded back saying, that case was a different scenario as the students weren 't doing anything against the law while Frederick was encouraging the use of marijuana which was illegal (Morse).

When you think of dress code in schools, the 1969 case “Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District” comes to mind. It is by far the most cited and discussed

The Tinker versus Des Moines court case involved three minors, John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhart. These three wore black armbands to their schools to protest the Vietnam War and were suspended following this action. Circuit courts and the Court of Appeals in Iowa ruled that the black armbands were inappropriate attire for school. This case was then brought to a higher-up court. Eventually, this case was brought before the Supreme Court. The students believed that in appealing to the rulings of the separate courts they were protected under the 1st Amendment to show their freedom of speech and symbolic freedom as well.

In public I can speak or express my feelings minimal restrictions. As for in a school zone I am not always available to do so. This where the amendment does not have 100% full affect. It has restrictions as to where you are, what you say, and what actions are taken after saying these things.There are plenty of restrictions as to what i can say, talk about, or wear. I can’t fully express anything that I want and its due to the security and general welfare of other fellow peers. A lot of class work has to be censored and cant be used for the sole purpose of education. We too, students, are persons under the American Constitution . So so this extent, i can say that our government has altered the first amendment.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech”. Some people in today’s time would argue the first amendment is one of the most important listed in the Bill of Rights. Many forms of speech are protected by the first amendment that one wouldn’t think would be such as flag burning and “adult videos”. Over the years there have been many different court cases that have debated and fought the forms of speech that are protected.

School Dress codes do not allow students to completely express their individuality. Schools want students to be able to think for themselves and create a sense of who they are, but it is not easy when they are forced to abide by rules that take away from from that. It should be a place of expressing ourselves freely in a learning environment without having to worry about what we wear as an interfering issue. The fact that the school system cares more about the student dress code than their education is an issue in itself. Schools should promote dress code individuality because of religious aspects, mental health, and human experience.

But when an eighth-grade Logan Middle School student refused to remove his National Rifle Association T-shirt because a teacher said it violated the dress code, he was suspended. In response, the student’s mother has filed a federal lawsuit against the Logan County Board of Education and 10 employees, arguing the punishment violated the student’s First Amendment rights.

The idea of free speech on college campuses and the complications of it stem from those on campuses expressing views that don’t align with popular views. Implications for students who use the idea of free speech as a method for hateful actions and comments should be reprimanded, but the question remains as to whether schools should enforce tougher limitations. The freedom of speech on college campus expands to the freedoms of religion, assembly, press, and protest as well. Freedom of expression allows students to show their own political, social, and cultural views. Removing freedoms of speech and expression have consequences deeper than surface issues. Free speech and hate speech can be classified as different topics and when arguing for one, we can also criticize the other. Free expression and free speech on campuses are crucial for sparking important conversations about equality and social justice, and the suspension of free speech and expression may have dire consequences on college campuses.

The 1st amendment is fundamental in a democracy, it gives each individual their opinion about a certain subject and gives the people the "power" to speak out when they find something wrong. For example, they can speak what they find wrong with our Representatives, without the retaliation or censorship of the government. You might think that you can go down the street and say whatever you like without anybody telling you can't. Hold your horse right there be aware that you can say what you want but there is certain things that the 1st amendment doesn't cover. The Supreme Court has some cases where it decided where the 1st amendment was appropriate and where it wasn't.  For example, Brandenburg v. Ohio 1969, where a KKK member, promoted taking

In Des Moines, Iowa, a group of individuals met at a home to discuss ways to protest the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The group decided beginning on December 16th and lasting until New Year’s Day, the members of the group would fast and wear black armbands to show their opposition to the war. School officials became aware of the students’ protest and implemented a policy that any student wearing a black armband would be asked to remove it. If the students did not remove the armband, then the student would be suspended. The suspension would last until they returned to school without the armband. Three students were suspended until they returned to

In the “Bethel School District v. Fraser” case, Fraser believed that the school violated his first amendment “freedom of speech” rights. Fraser gave a speech with some inappropriate content in it and the school gave him a three day suspension because two teachers warned him before he gave the speech. Fraser took it to court and the justices said they would shorten the suspension and let him have his right to speak at graduation because the school was taking away his freedom of speech.

It 's fair to agree with a policy that claims stringent dress codes increase the emphasis on academics and reduce the pressure of socioeconomic status; however, these dress codes violate the students First Amendment right to freedom of expression and the parents’ Fourteenth Amendment right to raise their children in their own way. In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District upheld the right to freedom of speech of students to protest the Vietnam war by wearing black armbands. The case explained the problem that “students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” (Student) As students, we are free to express ourselves through what we wear. As students, we have every right to proclaim our beliefs

Have you ever gotten dress coded? Well, I have, even though what I was wearing wasn’t even bad. Schools have always had a problem with the dress code because students want to wear what they like! First, everyone expresses themselves in many ways. When teens express themselves through their clothes they shouldn 't get punished for it. Second, a dress code should not harm anyone 's religion or heritage background. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about getting dress coded for the way they look because if it was how they were raised they shouldn’t have to get looked down on for it. Although, it can help with kids and teens getting teased. Kids don’t just get teased for their clothes, it could be anything and that will never change. Teens should be able to wear clothes they want and not what the schools want.