Persuasive Essay

This document supports limiting online student speech because the court ruled that even though it happened out of school, the school’s reason was strong enough to justify their actions toward K.K.

By the time young adolescents reach high school, they have gained basic knowledge of the world around them. It is during these four precious years that these students define their own opinions. These opinions are often repeated in their school newspapers, yearbooks, and even directly in class. Unfortunately, there are multiple instances when these students have had their opinions and statements censored.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.” Indeed, free speech is a large block upon which this nation was first constructed, and remains a hard staple of America today; and in few places is that freedom more often utilized than on a college campus. However, there are limitations to our constitutional liberties on campus and they, most frequently, manifest themselves in the form of free speech zones, hate speech and poor university policy. Most school codes are designed to protect students, protect educators and to promote a stable, non-disruptive and non-threatening learning environment. However, students’ verbal freedom

In the pursuit of education, students strive to learn and develop their understanding of the world that surrounds them. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the school administration to provide the means to that end. Yet, there is a polarized divide among schools and their interpretation of freedom of speech. This occurrence is experienced primarily at the university level but can be seen at all levels of education. At the epicenter of this dispute is the notion of censorship, specifically whether or not it is feasible to restrict what can and cannot be said by faculty and students alike. Advocates of freedom of speech assert that censorship violates our First Amendment right, a liberty that is inalienable. Proponents also argue that

The court case Bethel School District No.403 v. Fraser occurred in 1986, about a decade after the Thomas court case. In this case, a high-school student was giving a speech to promote his friend to the school’s election board. In this speech, he used explicit language and vulgar graphics to promote his friend as a candidate. The school swiftly responded by suspending the student and removing him from the list of candidates for graduation speakers. Like all the other cases that came before, the student decided to sue the school district for violating his first amendment rights of free speech. The court ultimately decided to side with the school district stating that they were not violating the student’s first amendment rights. Although there is not sufficient information regarding scholarly debate in this case, it did establish a very important precedent that would be referred to in the future. It was the idea that vulgar and lewd speech made directly on campus may be prohibited by schools because it goes against the traditional values of public education (Fijolek). After this ruling, the rules regarding free speech blurred even further, as it unknowingly complicated the concept of “on-campus speech” when the internet and social media arose a decade later.

Being an athletes is one of the best-paid jobs on Earth. Being that they are paid so much the cost for the consumer is very high. The prices of tickets and sports memorabilia have been steadily rising over the years. The average ticket prices for the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL all rose 5% to 10% this year, according to Jon Greenberg, executive editor of Team Marketing Report. (Mihoces).

Tinker, 393 U.S. at 511. Thus, discomfort, hurt feelings, embarrassment, or disapproval of an unpopular viewpoint do not justify a school’s restriction of silent, passive expressions of student speech. Id. See Emmett, 92 F. Supp. 2d at 1090 (holding that a student cannot be suspended for non-school sponsored website featuring mock obituaries on the basis of fear of disturbance); and Tinker 363 U.S. at 512 (finding that a school cannot restrict students’ free speech to avoid discomfort and unpleasantness of an unpopular viewpoint when the school suspended students for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War); and J.C., 711 F. Supp. 2d at 1107 (finding that a school cannot suspend a student over a YouTube video because of a teenager’s hurt feelings, rather it must be something more than “ordinary personality conflicts”); and Burge, 92 F. Supp. 3d at 1060 (holding that a teacher’s upset or angry feelings about a student’s comments on Facebook, such as “she should be shot,” was insufficient for a substantial disruption). Any words spoken in class, the lunchroom, or on campus that deviate from the majority can cause a disturbance, but the Constitution asserts it is imperative that students’ take the risk of voicing unpopular opinions.

Des Moines Independent Community School District applies to the speech of students on their social media accounts remains to be unanswered by the Supreme Court. In fact, the court denied the case of Taylor Bell, who was suspended and sent to another school due to a “threatening, intimidating, and harassing” rap song he wrote that included negatives about his school at the time. If the court took this case it would have set a precedent for student social media cases all around. Instead we are left to ponder the application of the constitution and how suppression of speech should affect the media. So far, courts have mostly sided with the administrations of schools, rather than the students who believe their rights have been violated. Although In some cases, like the one of college student Navid Yeasin, Tinker’s case has been upheld, while in others, such as the case of college student Craig Keefe, it has been disregarded. It depends on the case’s details and how offensive and frightening the posts seem. Although courts try to justify rulings with pure facts, opinion is a prominent source when deciding if a post is too extreme or not. Within the controversy, the panel has came to one consensus regarding if Tinker v Des Moines should apply to social media. If a student posts something about a staff member that is dangerous and potentially harmful then that should be a very serious offence and have serious consequences. Although,

In an era where school violence seems to have become an alarming trend, schools across the country face a never-ending battle where they must walk a thin line between providing safety to their students without restricting or prohibiting their freedom of speech and expression. Unfortunately, the case of Riley Stratton is one of several examples where schools have overstepped their authoritative bounds by disciplining students for expressing their own thoughts and opinions off school campus.

In, On the Repression of Free Expression, Mike Bloomberg argues that freedom of speech is needed on campuses. Bloomberg also believes it is not right to take away the privilege of learning from students, just because of other individual students. “we cannot others the right and privileges that we demand for ourselves” (Bloomberg.104). They cannot have campus wide trigger warnings over one individual student. Condensing what students could learn, is not helping their education. Professors should be allowed to teach and discuss the topics they have to without fear. “Ideas can be dangerous” (Bloomberg.105). Not everyone’s opinion will be one to agree with, nor everything a person has to say, but people have to adjust to the real world where everything is not sugar

The three essays, “On Racist Speech,” “Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus,” and “Thinking Further about Facebook” serve the purpose to outline various incidents in which regulation of the First Amendment. In the first two essays we see regulation as a safeguard to protect against racial discrimination and in the final essay cyberbullying is brought up as a downfall arising from lack of regulation. Although touching on different subjects all three essays recognize that there is a problem with the liberties given by the First Amendment right of free speech.

According to Nat Hentoff, if we allow censorship on the college campuses the rights of the students have been taken away. Hentoff gives us examples of colleges that have censorship on campus but these campuses have taken the extremist route. They do not allow the teachers to teach the students what hate speech is and what they can do to protect themselves.

Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.

“Your assignment is to write a persuasive essay and present it to the class in a week. You will be graded based on how convincing it is. Today we will be choosing topics,” announced Mr. Bowerbank, my 7th grade English teacher and ruler of classroom 110. My class simultaneously groaned at the prospect of work. I simply lifted my head with intrigue as it was already May and about time we had our first essay. He then proceeded to give examples of topics we could choose and gave us some time to think before we had to tell him our topic. My classmates were already rushing to tell the teacher their idea lest someone else steal it. That meant the usual abortion, death penalty, or drug use topics were out. I really couldn't think of anything and the teacher was slowly making his way through the remaining students like an executioner beheading criminals in a line. I have always thought that he would make a marvelous supervillain if he had a curly mustache, a tophat, and a cape. Eventually my name was called. I slowly dragged myself over to his desk. Even sitting down, he still seemed to tower over me. “What is your topic Cindy?” As usual in such desperate times, my mind turned to food. “Waffles are better than pancakes.” I figured that a waffle was just a differently shaped pancake with a nicer texture. “Hmm. Excellent topic. I look forward to your essay!” I survived to live yet another day.

Why spend money that is really needed for other things? Why live uncomfortably? Why be trapped in this hole called a home that belongs to another person? Why not live free and peacefully? When a person rents he or she usually throws away money that could be used to purchase something that belongs to them. Money is not easy to come by so why pay out hundreds toward something that is not benefit to the person paying it out. There is no good explanation for making a decision like this. The best option in a situation like this is to buy a house. Buying a house is a better option than renting an apartment.