Student 's First Amendment Rights

Citizens in America are born with a various amount of rights. One of these rights include the freedom of speech and expression. However, school administrators have the ability to restrict a student’s expression. The Supreme Court Cases ‘Bethel School District v. Fraser’ and ‘Frederick V. Morse’ gave schools the right for the administrators to discipline children when they see fit. Students should be able to express themselves in any way without fearing that their school administrators will discipline

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

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 1969, a group of students filed a lawsuit against their school district claiming that their First Amendment rights were violated because the school district wrote a policy that prohibited them from wearing black armbands in a silent protest of the Vietnam War. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) ruled that students are entitled to their First Amendment rights as long as they are not causing a disruption to the school environment. This paper outlines the procedure and rulings in the case as well as other legal rulings that have expanded on when censorship of students is protected in public school settings as well as provides a personal reflection on how such matters can impact my future as a school administrator.

As the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech to all Americans, there needs to be some sort of limit on when students go overboard. There are many different types of speech in which it can cause disruptions in the classroom when teachers and students state their own opinions that don’t always go with what the others agree with. Things such as the place of where they speak these things are affective to whether their claims are legal or illegal on any school campus. When students cause a disruption, even across the street from a school supervised event while promoting illegal drug use like Joseph Frederick did, it needs to be stopped as soon as possible whether it goes against the freedom of a student's speech or not.

The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States guarantees its citizens freedom of religion, free speech, a free press, the right to peacefully assemble and the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. A public high principal holds a position of oversight of a government run facility. A public school principal has a duty to uphold the Constitution. A high school principal may allow students to continue a tradition of beginning graduation ceremonies with prayer, as long as certain conditions are met. The students (not the school or any of its employees) must initiate the prayer. A student (not a teacher or school employee) must be the one to recite the prayer. Students must be allowed to participant voluntarily when praying. Any student who elects to remain silent or asks to be excused during the prayer must not be sanctioned or punished for their non-participation. Essex (2012) states, “If student prayer is initiated solely by students with no coercion or involvement by school personnel, it is permissible and does not violation the separation of church-state in the First Amendment” (p. 176).

Students don't have the same First Amendment rights they have in the public compared to school. Four major cases were brought to the Supreme Court concerning students' First Amendment, Tinker , Fraser, Hazelwood, and Morse. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Only one ruled in favor of the student that being the first one, Tinker which set the stage for the rest. Students' First Amendment rights have changed since Tinker expanded upon students' right to being constricted because

A more recent case, J. S v. Bethlehem Area School (2000), is more relevant to the issues today. This court case involves a student who was expelled from the school for creating a website that included derogatory and threatening comments about members of the school’s administration. The Supreme Court ruled that the school’s actions were deemed justified due to evidence proving an obvious disruption of the school environment. In the courts closing arguments the following is stated, “Regrettably, in this day and age where school violence is becoming more commonplace, school officials are justified in taking very seriously threats against faculty and other students.”(Herbeck, 2010)

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that every person in the United States has the right to exercise his or her own belief, or none at all, whatever their choice may be. Our nation's forefathers who were not of the same religious upbringings themselves recognized the greatest way to defend religious freedom was to retain the government out of religion so they generated the First Amendment to secure the separation of church and state (American Civil Liberties Union, n.d.). This important liberty is a main motivation why the U.S. has achieved to avoid a lot of the spiritual battles that have divided so many other states separately.

Today we learned about the legal rights of student bloggers. Public School Students have the First Amendment rights, and according to the Supreme Court, public school students don't "shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the school gate." People who go to private school also have the First Amendment rights, but those rights only protect them from the government censorship, not private censorship. Which means your freedom of speech is only protected from the government and it is not protected from the private school you attend. Remember a public school can censor or punish students' on-campus speech. Although the Tinker decision recognized that students have free speech rights on campus, the court also held that

Bruce Ojos, first year principal at said Wisconsin high school is contacted by local police chief to inform him that a group of students have been arrested and taken down to the station after a near fatal event at the local park. Police were contacted when reports were made that “there were men dressed in fatigues and armed with automatic rifles stationed at the top of a town hill. When the police arrived at the site with their guns drawn and demanded that the men drop their weapons. The “men” just laughed. The officers pressed their demand, circled the hill, and aimed at them. At that point, the men dropped what turned out to be toy AK47s and hit the ground as instructed. The “men” were students.” (Teacher Dismissal For Cause) Upon arrive at the

This collection of opposing views on school shootings shows different topics and situations as to why shootings occur on school grounds. For example, one topic discusses how bullying is a common denominator in nearly all school shootings. This finding differs from the rest due to the fact that it discusses different reasons as to why school shootings

In third quarter after the Parkland school shooting, Hamilton students planned a walkout to protest current gun laws. The school stated that it would not allow school officials to endorse or restrict our right to protest. However, some teachers stayed in class and failed to follow instructions to allow their students to congregate on the football field for the protest. Other teachers restricted students from protesting by planning tests during the walkout. Predominantly, teachers encouraged students right to practice their rights, nonetheless, students had to act disobediently in the interest of rebelling against politicians endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

As an educator, it is extremely important to know educational policies. On top of the knowledge, it is also imperative to respect the rights granted to students in the democratic society. Attached above is an article, published by the first amendment center, regarding how the first amendment is employed within public schools. The first topic in the article is titled speaking out in school. Here I learned that the school cannot limit the student’s freedom of speech, unless it is hindering the environment to learn, and even then, there is a lot of grey area. Here the school must be able to provide substantial evidence that the student’s writing, speech, or expression would cause great disruption. This also ties directly into school dress code and uniforms required by the school corporation. Students, in many

Have you ever wondered why schools have the right to regulate student’s freedoms? Not only the fact that your child is under eighteen, you're letting your child walk onto the premises, which means, your child is under the schools watch. Yes, the school has the right to regulate my freedom.