First Amendment In Schools

As American universities and colleges grow their demographics, diversity and ideas there is a continued and an accelerated debate regarding freedom of speech within these higher education institutions. College campuses are struggling to simultaneously provide a learning environment that is inclusive to traditionally unrepresented students while also providing an environment that allows for ideas to be challenged and debated no matter how offensive or controversial.

Many colleges have enacted speech codes in which students are governed in what they say so that they don’t offend their peers. However, according to an expert by Lukianoff and Haidt, “ It is creating a culture in which everyone must think twice before speaking...Don't teach students what to think; teach them how to think.” Students must learn to stand up for themselves. Nevertheless college campuses are a place for learning, students should be able to hear criticism, take criticism and learn how to deal with it in a peaceful way. In workplaces, in society and in rooms where hate speech is being used, students should be able to stand by what they believe in and fight for their claim with confidence. Lukianoff and Haidt point out that “Rather than trying to protect students from words and ideas that they will inevitably encounter, colleges should do all they can to equip students to thrive in a world full of words and ideas that they cannot control.” Again, offenses will be thrown out there all around you, you just have to learn how to deal with it. But where do you draw the line and say enough is

“Free Inquiry? Not on Campus” by John Leo is an important essay that shows exactly how important it is to protect people's political views and opinions. In Leo's essay, he elaborates how times have changed and how we live in more of a liberal left-wing society and because of this everyone has to be more politically correct. Leo talks about the social change universities and colleges on how they used to promote free speech, but now are more like the speech police telling us what's opinions you should have on any given subject and any other opinion is considered wrong. Leo gives an example of this and writes “in October 2007, for instance, a student mob stormed a Columbia University stage, shutting down speeches by two members of the Minutemen, an anti-illegal immigration group.The students shouted they have no right to

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution authorized citizens with the freedom of religion, speech, press and assembly. This amendment also goes to the college students. However, colleges limited the students constitutional rights by enforcing the “free speech zones”.  Colleges are places where it enable students to encounter new and challenging ideas through open debates, but free speech zones limited this. You can only express your ideas in the free speech zones, nowhere else. This can be related to burning the flag (an action that intended to make a political point against a country or its policies), if you can’t express your ideas anywhere you wants, doesn’t it also indicates a person can’t randomly choose a place to burn the flag, it have to be in a specific area. Both theses is a way to express your rights as a citizens of U.S. Therefore, colleges shouldn’t restrict the political speech of students to free speech zones.

The First Amendment gives the citizens of the United States their most important rights: the right to freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, and the freedom of assembly. Over time these rights have worked themselves into the everyday lives of United States citizens. However, there are still places where our First Amendment rights may be compromised. In the school system, finding a balance of respect and freedom of speech and press is as difficult as learning out to tightrope walk. One wrong step and you could be compromising the learning environment of the entire student body.

In the first amendment, it is stated that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof.”. From this, it made clear that the founding fathers’ original intent was for the Government to take a neutral position with respect to religion; the Government was not to favor any one religion over another. “Almighty God we acknowledge our independence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parent, our teachers and our Country. Amen.” In 1951, that prayer was conducted in class every morning in all New York public schools as ordered by New York State Board of Regents; it was called a “nondenominational prayer”. The short prayer was created with the intent of developing students’ moral

Freedom of speech is a fundamental American freedom and a human right, and there’s no place that this right should be more valued and protected than in colleges and universities. A college exists to educate and to advance a student 's knowledge. Colleges do so by acting as a “marketplace of ideas” where ideas compete. It is important to be able to compare your ideas with everyone else as it helps to open your mind to other people’s views and can give you a different perception on things. In the article “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukiankoff talked about how too many college students engage in “catastrophizing," which is in short, the overreaction to something. They also said that “smart people do, in fact, overreact to innocuous speech, make mountains out of molehills, and seek punishment for anyone whose words make anyone else feel uncomfortable.”(Haidt) Many colleges have the belief that prohibiting freedom of speech will resolve such issues. But instead, colleges should take a different approach on the matter by teaching students how to properly utilize their Freedom of Speech which will help to resolve future conflicts and misunderstandings.

Unquestionably, Morse et. al. v. Frederick (2006) argues “[…] the school punished Frederick without demonstrating that his speech threatened substantial disruption” (Morse et. al. v. Frederick, 2006, p. 1). This argument from Morse et. al. v. Frederick (2006) demonstrates that court recognized it was a First Amendment violation on the school. However, Morse et. al. v. Frederick (2006) provides the decision from the Supreme Court stating “[…]

If a student says, “I am going to shoot you” during recess to his friends, does the school have a right to take disciplinary actions? Is it a violation of the student’s First Amendment? School officials can restrict speech activities on any student in a school if it has been established there was harm or threats made against others, including teachers. Although the First Amendment states freedom of expression, school officials may punish students for expressing their personal views on school grounds. With the case of S.G. v. Sayreville Board of Education [1], a school’s right to discipline a student was questioned by parental guardianship.

I agree with the decision of Tinker because the protest did not interrupt the teachings of the school. The the majority opinion agrees that if the students’ First Amendment does not interrupt the teachings of the school, it's okay. The dissenting opinion by Hugo Black says “The truth is that a teacher of kindergarten, grammar school , or high school pupils no more carries into a school with him a complete right to freedom of speech and expression that an anti-Catholic or anti-Semite carries with him a complete freedom of speech and religion into a Catholic church or Jewish synagogue”. This argument doesn’t work because both a place of religion and school have different purposes. An anti-Catholic would interpret the teachings of a Catholic church. While all that Tinker did was wear a black armband that caused no disturbance in the teachings of the school. The ruling for Bethel v. Fraser is correct because Frasers use of sexual innuendo was to a crowd who was unaware. The court ruled, saying “A high school assembly or classroom is no place for a sexually explicit monologue directed towards an unsuspecting audience of teenage students”. I agree with the decision since the audience were not aware of what was going to happen as. Around 600 14 year olds were present for the speech.

In this court case, Frederick filed a civil case against Morse for suspending him from school for displaying a banner during a 2002 torch relay as this amounted to suppression of his rights to free speech under First Amendment.

The 1st amendment right in question is whether the schools suppressing of Mr. Harper’s speech was in direct violation of the 1st Amendments freedom of speech and the freedom exercise rights. The freedom of speech through expression of any concept, thought, idea, or notion on medium is protected as long as it does not inflect harm upon others. An applicable test to apply in a case of this nature would be the Tinker Test. The tinker test is employed to determine whether a school’s disciplinary actions violates students’ First Amendment rights. In this case the test would figure out whether the students’ religious banners and or posters distributed other students’ classwork or the rights of others. In addition to the Tinker Test, the precedent

After listening to the presentations based on the amendments within the Bill of Rights given by the students of room 144, the Bill of Rights should be amended. The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution and was established in the winter of 1791. The Amendments compile a list of laws and rights followed by the citizens of the United States. Although the First Amendment allows people to say whatever they want, the Bill of Rights should be amended because people should have the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures and should have the ability to avoid cruel or unusual punishments.

School’s First Amendment The First Amendment is the right to have freedom of speech. It allows people to speak out about topics that they believe in. The First amendment is very important to have. Without the freedom of speech, a person’s opinion would be ignored.

Freedom of speech is more than just words, it is posters, petitions, rallies, protests, and more. This lets opinions be shared and spread to make a difference in the world. The problem is that in schools there is a limit on the amount of freedom of speech students can have. How are students supposed to feel like they have a voice when they are being told that they can only speak of certain topics? By what means could student be educated on their rights like the First Amendment if they cannot have full access to that right at all times? Students are brought together by freedom of speech, schools should not be stopping that. It is essential that freedom of speech in schools should not be limited because it gives students a voice, it educates them on their rights, and it brings students together.