The Importance Of The Conformity Of Uniforms

“Congress shall make no law... prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...”. This is what our first amendment speaks about. The freedom of speech and expression. Schools have been violating this law in the place of school dress codes. There should not be a dress code in school because it violates the first amendment, they do not support creativity and they are expensive.

In 1755, Benjamin Franklin, inventor, author, and founding father of the American government wrote, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Thus, in regards to the debate of the school uniform policy, could it be said, to conform to the masses to secure a little safety; liberty is being forsaken? Uniforms have been around for centuries; yet, only more recently introduced into American public schools in 1979, as a way to combat differences in social status among students. Today, school uniform policies are being looked at as a way to combat violence in the American school systems. Collin’s English Dictionary online defines uniforms as a prescribed

Ever since,Tinker vs. Des Moines in 1969 there has been a debate about students can and cannot wear to school. This Tinker vs. Des Moines Supreme Court Case also along the way within the debate brought in the school uniforms. Three young students wore black armbands to school to protest the fighting in Vietnam. Teachers told the students to take the armbands off the students refused to take off the armbands. As a result, the students were suspended. The parents held a meeting at one of the student’s who were suspended. The parents decided to take this case to the District Court. However, the District Court dismissed the complaint that it was constitutionally wrong ,but the Supreme Court disagreed with a ruling of Seven to two. From then on

Issue: “Does a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest, violate the students' freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment?”

The Tinker vs. Des Moines case helped determined and interpret legal rights of young citizens for the first time. A group of students made a decision to wear black armbands to school to support a peace establishing agreement during the Vietnam War. As a result, the participating students; Mary Beth Tinker, Christopher Eckhardt, and John Tinker got suspended for their actions (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District).The school outlawed and attempted to penalize petitioners for a “silent, passive expression of opinion”, that didn’t cause any commotion (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist). The parents decided to sue the school for disrespecting the student’s constitutional rights of expression.

Cases that involve the First Amendment in school systems have always been around but the issue of finding a balance with these freedoms is

Introduction of Case: In the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case, three students, John F. Tinker, Christopher Eckhardt, and Mary Beth Tinker were all suspended from school for wearing black armbands to school to protest the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The three students who had been suspended from school filed a claim stating that the banning them from wearing the armbands and the suspension was against their Constitutional right, under the First Amendment (Tinker

Schools have very different policy's when it comes to what the 1st amendment says. 2 cases are proof of this, Tinker vs Des Moines is a case where a simple armband protesting the Vietnam war which shouldn’t be an issue gets into the supreme court. This is because schools can enforce things that are a distracting or disruptive to school activity. A similar case to this is Bethel school district vs Fraser is a case where freedom of speech of a student gets taken away from him. This is due to the fact the student was making sexual remarks in a school speech which the principle deemed inappropriate for some students. Both cases directly relate to the first amendment with Tinker vs Des Moines being freedom of expression and Fraser being freedom of speech. Tinkers case is the best

In Des Moines, Iowa in 1968, three students arrived at their schools wearing black armbands symbolizing their thoughts on the United States being involved in the Vietnam War. The principal of each school quickly created a policy banning the armbands. This soon led to the suspension of the students from school. A lawsuit was filed on behalf of the students that eventually made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court. The fact that the schools were regulating the children’s freedom of speech is wrong and unconstitutional.

In recent years the First amendment or the freedom of speech freedom of religion and freedom of the press has been challenged to the Supreme court. The first amendment was ratified December 15, 1791. In recent cases dating back to the year 2000 there has been a variety of cases that have challenged this with school related cases to go to the supreme court. All of the cases which deal with schools allegedly breaking a group or a students first amendment rights. And so in the text below it has specific details and cases on which support the idea of which is how the first amendment affects people in school.

This article emphasizes the First Amendment and its limits. In this article, there are many examples and cases that involve the First Amendment and how it is used. In Tinker v. Des Moines, John Tinker and some fellow students that attended Des Moines public school were suspended for wearing black armbands to school. They wore the armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The school district was afraid of the outcome of the students wearing the armbands rather than acknowledging their freedom of speech The students then brought a suit against the school saying that the suspension violated their rights of freedom of speech. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that the students did nothing wrong. They silently expressed

The Tinker case of 1969 expanded students’ 1st Amendment rights in school and established the Tinker Test for future cases, whereas, if there was not a disturbance, and others were let alone, students First Amendment rights were intact. LaMorte (2012) notes “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” (p. 87). Freedom to express societal, political, and/or economic issues even if they are unpopular, are permitted in school as long as work is not disrupted and there are no threats of violence. Tinker’s right to wear an armband protesting the Vietnam War, a controversial societal issue, was upheld and begin the trend toward promoting students’ 1st Amendment rights in schools.

In December 1965 a few students in Des Moines planned to wear black armbands throughout the holiday season and they planned to fast on December 16th and New Year’s Eve to support a truce in the Vietnam War. The principal and other school officials learned that the students hatched this plan and immediately adopted a no armband policy and students would be suspended if they wore armbands. On December 16th Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt wore their armbands to school and were sent home. The following day John Tinker wore his armband to school and the same result occurred. They were suspended until they wouldn’t wear the armbands anymore. The students sued for violating their first amendment right of free speech. How should individual rights and the common good be balanced when they come into conflict? The common good should be put before individual rights because we have to think of the big picture not this little tiny problem. I think the school was wrong to censor the student’s free speech because they didn’t cause a substantial disruption of education.

One example, of how a government in school district, many students are able to express themselves through what they wear to school, students and teachers are free to speak their minds on public school grounds. They can even wear T-shirts with messages, dye their hair funky colors, and wear jewelry or buttons that make a social statement. But, even with First Amendment protection guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, there are limits in the school setting. And figuring out where the line is drawn is fairly complicated, and more teenagers are facing restrictions as the school’s boards across the country adopt more stringent policies.

Jahn’s best source comes in the form of legal support of freedom of speech in past cases. However, the Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue of school uniforms. Instead, it lets the states decide if there is a need for uniforms or not. Jahn points