Introduction: Social media is revolutionizing the way we communicate and interact with one another. For better or worse we are connecting in ways that simply did not exist a decade ago, and those connections are presenting schools with increasing number of challenges. School districts shoulder the responsibility for the well-being of today’s students and with the advent of social media, districts are at the center of legal issues concerning student’s freedom of speech and a school’s responsibility to provide an appropriate learning environment. Over 40 years ago the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that defined student free speech rights within the framework of the public schools, but the Tinker decision, or any of United States Supreme Court’s other student free speech rulings, could not anticipate the impact of student off-campus use of the Internet would have on the school environment. “In this cyberspeech setting, the two-pronged Tinker framework yields only meager guidance for analyzing off-campus student speech.” (Crawford, 2013) Definitions & History: Before any discussion of student free speech can begin a clear definition of social media must be established. Social media is a Web 2.0 technology that allows users to actively share and create information online. Merriam-Webster defines social media as”… forms of electronic communication (as web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content.” Digital technology offers students a false sense of security by providing cyber-walls to hide behind. Social media provides student the sense of being alone. However the reality is they are visible t... ... middle of paper ... ...st Amendment Protections. El Paso: LFB Scholarly Pub. Hull, M. (1999). Censorship in America : A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif:ABC-CLIO. Silverglate, H. A., French, D., Lukianoff, G., & Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, (. (FIRE). (2012). FIRE's Guide to Free Speech on Campus. Second Edition. FIRE's Guides to Student Rights on Campus. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Banks, G. (2011, July 18). As social media expand, rulings evolve for students and teachers expressing freedom of speech. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved May 3, 2014, from http://www.post-gazette.com/home/2011/07/18/As-social-media-expand-rulings-evolve-for-students-and-teachers-expressing-freedom-of-speech/stories/201107180190#ixzz30tCKfc Tinker v. Des Moines. (n.d.). Tinker v. Des Moines. Retrieved May 5, 2014, from http://cases.laws.com/tinker-v-des-moines
In the Tinker v. Des Moines case, the students’ first amendment right was violated. They were not able to express their opinions freely. The first Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise of thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the right of press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” (Classifying Arguments in the Cas...
In the world today, Freedom of Speech is taken to a different level than what one may imply verbally. With social media, political debates, and the outpour of sexual orientation the First Amendment is exercised in its full capacity. Protecting Freedom of Expression on the campus is an article written by Derek Bok expressing his concerns regarding the display of a confederate flag hung from a window on the campus of Harvard University. The Confederate flag to some is a symbol of slavery and to others it is a symbol of war, or perhaps known as the “Battle Flag”. In this paper one will review Bok’s opinion of the First Amendment, clarity of free speech in private versus public institutions and the actions behind the importance of ignoring or prohibiting such communications according to the First Amendment.
This is just down right wrong because it’s unwarranted to give the right to do such a thing to schools and not to government. Thesis Schools have more rights than the government to affect and restrict the 1st Amendment and freedom of speech. Annotated Bibliography Hudson, David L., JR. " First Amendment Center. "
Background- Well limiting a person’s speech online certainly isn’t a thought that just came out of the blue. It started as people, particularly young students, and their use of technology to freely share their thoughts on social media sites. And what became of it was more of bullying one’s peers online than just sharing one’s innocent opinion. But schools are meant to be a safe learning
At this point in a college freshmen’s life, they have been in school for 14 years. Throughout those 14 years, freshmen have learned the Bill of Rights like they’ve learned how to walk and the first amendment the way they’ve learned to talk. The first amendment has been engrained in a child from the first history class in 5th grade, to the fifth history class in 9th grade and the eighth class in their senior year. In those eight years, a student has the first amendment in their head to bring to college and express themselves how they see fit and how they have been socialized to do so. According to Dinesh D’Souza, Stuart Taylor and Tim Robbins freedom of speech has been inhibited and taken out by politics and political correctness and fueled heavily by the societies need for preferential treatment.
In “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” Dana Fleming presents an essay concerning the safety of social networking sites and how Universities can deal and prevent problems. This article is targeted towards school administrators, faculty, and a social networking user audience who will either agree or disagree with her statement. I believe Fleming presents an excellent, substantial case for why she reasons the way she does. Fleming gives a sound, logical argument according to Toulmin’s Schema. This essay has an evident enthymeme, which has a claim and reasons why she believes in that way. Toulmin refers to this as “grounds."
In his essay “Protecting Freedom of Expression on the Campus” Derek Bok, wrote about an incident at Harvard University where two students displayed the Confederate flag and to retaliate another student displayed a swastika. This started a discussion at the University of whether to prohibit such forms of expression. Bok claims that freedom of speech on campuses should be valued above the protection of a student’s feelings. In addition, he argued that censorship will not resolve this issue; only educating the students and having discussions was the solution. But such solution may not be enough. For instance, in an article on The Odyssey Online, it was written that “Speech codes are necessary to have on college campuses because they help promote a safe and positive learning environment for all students regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds”. (Raddatz) They suggest that by enforcing speech codes, it will foster a better environment for minority students and will prevent more serious hate crimes from occurring.
Thesis and Road Map (Give three reasons why you think that schools should/should not be allowed to limit students’ online speech.)
In Camille Paglia’s essay “Free Speech and the Modern Campus”, Paglia discusses her views on free speech on college campuses and how she believes that the idea of free speech has changed over time. The essay was published back in May of 2016 on the website SmartSet. Paglia talks about the current controversies regarding free speech on campus and how it is the second wave that erupted while she has been teaching college. Along with her many details that she lays out in her essay, she also gives many examples of the violation of free speech rights. She gives her reasoning for why the problem of free speech has returned and who there is to blame for the outbreak.
College campuses have always been the sites where students can express their opinions without fear. There have been many debates about the merits of allowing free speech on campus. Some students and faculties support allowing free speech on campus, while others believe that colleges should restrict free speech to make the college’s environment safer for every student. Free speeches are endangered on college campuses because of trigger warning, increasing policing of free speech, and the hypersensitivity of college students.
Michael J. Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University and author of“Facing the Facebook” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, states that the initial purpose of having access to the Internet in the classroom was to give students the opportunity to conduct research. However, this privilege is rapidly being used as a means for students to not pay attention during class. A poll was taken at Iowa State University where 20,247 out of the 25,741 enrollees were registered on Facebook (Bugeja 1). Social networking sites such as Facebook have had some negative effects in academia such as “institutions seeking to build enrollment learn that ‘technology’ rates higher than ‘rigor’ or ‘reputation’” (2), that there has been improper use of the freedom to use technology in the classroom, that employers and parents check Facebook to see what users have been doing, and that technology is an overall distraction in the classroom.
As technology increases and develops in this century, the use of social media increases as well. Schools have begun adapting it, using it as their tool to inform students of any school related news. However, using it as a tool for learning is a different story. By using it as a tool, it can push you off your course with classes. Social media is something that is not needed at school grounds. Schools should not require social media use in classes.
Exposing students to the power of social media in the classroom is an important part of preparing them to be active and positive digital citizens in a 21st century world. In the last two years, my own students have rapidly been drawn to Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and many other social networking platforms. They upload, share, and connect with others often without any regard to how their digital footprints may reflect them as individuals. Having continuous conversations with students about the choices that they make can lead to positive results. Students don't realize how powerful social media platforms can be in terms of networking, researching, and engaging in academic conversations. It makes me laugh every time I hear them whisper about my colleague Heather's or my Twitter feed. First of all kids, I can hear you. Second of all, yes, social media can be an amazing way to give and exchanged knowledge.
Social Media has become a very essential tool in the society; in addition, it has a huge impact on communication and learning process. Social media is defined as websites and applications used for social networking. “As of September 2013, seventy-one percent of online adult use Facebook, eighteen percent use Twitter and seventeen percent use Instagram, twenty-two percent use PInterest, and another twenty-two percent use LinkedIn. (PewReasearch, 2013). In addition, "Between February 2005 and August 2006, the use of social networking sites among young adult internet user ages eighteen and twenty-nine jumped from nine percent to forty-nine percent. The usage of social media had grown drastically.” On social media sites like these, users may develop biographical profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research, and share thoughts, photos, music, links, and more” (Socialnetworking.procon,2012). Social media has impacted everyone in several different ways. In this present time, majority of college student use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media has a bold impact college student's grades, social interactions, and the teaching and learning process.
Freedom of expression has been a long debated topic within schools across the globe. There are many variations on this such as dress codes, religion rules, and the prevention of electronic device and internet usage. Many people disagree with the usage of these guidelines as it is restricting to the young adult who is having to put up with it and work around it. The first amendment states and allows freedom of speech. Although this doesn’t state “freedom of expression” it does apply in multiple cases such as “Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969)” (Jacobs). Everybody has the right to freedom of expression but, unfortunately, in schools, we have been restricted on flaunting our personality with codes and rules.