The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Color Purple are three novels that are considered classics, and in some school districts these books and others could also be considered inappropriate. Within these school districts not only are the books regulated but also the teachers’ choices of such books. This regulation of teachers has been established throughout the years through court cases and within multiple school districts. Teachers’ book choices and lesson plans are regulated in result of representation of the government, allowing students a neutral learning environment and following the curriculum established within the school district.
One of the main court cases that have dealt with teachers’ first amendment rights is the case of Evans-Marshall v. Board of Education of Tipp City Exempted Village School District. This case first began in Ohio, when English teacher Shelley Evans-Marshall asked her class to select a book off of the list “One Hundred Most Frequently Challenged Books”(Lampe, 2010). The students were then asked to debate in class why they believed that the book had been challenged by other school districts. After this assignment was given, several parents “complained about the curricular choices”(Lampe, 2010: pg.1). Eventually a petition was signed by over 500 parents of the school, saying they wanted “decency and excellence” in the classroom. With this, the school board unanimously voted to terminate Evans-Marshall’s contract. Evans-Marshall filed against the school board saying that they interfered with her First Amendment rights (Lampe, 2010: Pg.1).
In this case, the Sixth Circuit court of Ohio sided with the school board of Tipp City Exempted Village School District. This decision was ma...
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Legal Clips » High school teacher does not have First Amendment right to make in-class curricular decisions regarding selection of books and methods of instruction. (n.d.). Legal Clips . Retrieved September 16, 2011, from http://legalclips.nsba.org/?p=2753
Lelyveld, N. (1998, March 19). In San Francisco, A Battle Of The Books School Board Considers Racial Quota For Students' Reading List. - Philly.com. Featured Articles from Philly.com. Retrieved September 18, 2011, from http://articles.philly.com/1998-03-19/news/25743795_1_nonwhite-authors-reading-list-students-graduate
Thevenot, B. (2010, March 17). The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune. Retrieved September 18, 2011, from http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/state-board-of-education/colbert-report-satirizes-texas-history-textbooks/print/
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http://www.firstamendmentschools.org/freedoms/case.aspx?id=41>. . N. p.. Web. The Web. The Web. 14 Jan 2014.
Therefore, the respondents took the case to court (Island Trees…). The holding, the court’s decision, by a 5-4 vote, was “The First Amendment limits the power of local or school boards to remove library books from junior high schools and high schools” (Island Trees…). The court also said that the Board of Education “should not intervene in ‘the daily operations of school systems’ unless ‘basic constitutional values’ were ‘sharply implicate[d]”(qtd. in Board of Education, Island). The dissent consisted of Burger, Powell, Rehnquist, and O’Connor; the concurrence consisted of Blackmun and White (Island Trees…).
In the article How Banning Books Marginalizes Children, the author, Paul Ringel, states that approximately fifty-two percent of the books banned in the last ten years illustrate “diverse content”, such as race, religion, gender identity, etc. Ringel believes that attitudes about which books are “appropriate” for kids to read have too often suppressed stories about different cultures and life experiences. He basis his argument around the pretext that when libraries stop the banning it will allow kids to learn how to navigate imaginary worlds filled with differences and apply those lessons to their own lives.
“Who gets to decide what I get to read in schools?” This question was brought up by Dr. Paul Olsen in a recent lecture. This question inspires many other questions revolving around the controversy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It makes one wonder if books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be included in high school curriculum even with all the controversy about them or are they better left alone. Should The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be taken off of school reading lists because of a single word when it has so much more to offer students? The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be included in high school English curriculums because it is relevant to current issues, it starts important conversations about race
Every one hundred years dialects change and what is considered “politically correct”, or socially acceptable, changes. “David Bradley argues that ‘if we'd eradicated the problem of racism in our society, Huckleberry Finn would be the easiest book in the world to teach’” (Zwick, Jim. “Should Huckleberry Finn Be Banned?”). If we, as a nation, make it a point to rule out all books that could possibly offend students, then every hundred years or so our library of American Literature will be completely different. Even today, modern day authors use vulgar language, lurid sexual content, and racial slurs to get their point across. If The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is taken off of required reading lists across the country, then that could create a never-ending cycle of books being taken off of school shelves every time words and ideas become unacceptable. If this is the way that American society is turning then something must be done, and the Superintendents, Deans, and Principals of every High School around the country must take it upon themselves to do it because the students will not.
Mrs. Moreno and the other plaintiffs in this case believes religious education should be the responsibility of parents and religious communities, and not the public schools to which she sends her children (ACLU, 2007). Additionally, Mrs. Moreno and the other plaintiffs’ feels the use of their tax dollars to promote and endorse religion in the public school system is unconstitutional (ACLU, 2007).
Bennett, A., & Brower, A. (2001). ’THAT’S NOT WHAT FERPA SAYS!’: THE TENTH CIRCUIT COURT GIVES DANGEROUS BREADTH TO FERPA IN ITS CONFUSING AND CONTRADICTORY FALVO V. OWASSO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT DECISION. Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, 2, 327.
20 May 2014. This article shows a majority of the cases that are relevant to the topic and research questions; it clearly shows the articles that are involved with public schools and how and what they did. It helps answer that research question because it shows that some of the schools are capable of bypassing the system, but sometimes get overturned. Paulson, Ken. A.
There have been many cases where exceptions have been made over the first amendment, such as in the Tinker vs. Des Moines Community School District Case. Teenagers by the name of Christopher Eckhardt and Mary Beth Tinker had planned to wear black armbands to their school to show their support for a truce in the Vietnam War. When word reached the principle, of Christopher and Mary Beth’s plan to arrive with the black armbands, the principal created a policy stating that, “any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it, with refusal to do so resulting in suspension.” (The Oyez Project). After being kicked out of school, Tinker’s parents sued them but their case was dismissed due to the fact that the first amendment does not grant one the right to express their opinion at any place nor at any time. Another official claimed that the first amendment is not fully guaranteed to children. While the first amendment may be a boon to the United States, it is not always just. There are limitations, and conditions surrounding the first amendment and our freedom of speech. In Tinker’s case, her armband was seen as disruptive, and distracting to other students, justifying the school’s actions against the student of suspending and eventually expelling
Separation of church and state is an issue in the forefront of people’s minds as some fight for their religious freedoms while others fight for their right to not be subjected to the religious beliefs of anybody else. Because public schools are government agencies they must operate under the same guidelines as any other government entity when it comes to religious expression and support, meaning they cannot endorse any specific religion nor can they encourage or require any religious practice. This issue becomes complicated when students exercise their right to free speech by expressing their religious beliefs in a school setting. An examination of First Amendment legal issues that arise when a student submits an essay and drawing of a religious
Throughout the history of education there have been several questions as to how a school should conduct itself and who has the most say: the students, the parents, or the school board? In several arguments, debates, and even court cases it seems that these three factions of schools have disagreeing views with each other. For the most part, citizens can agree that students are the central subjects of a school, otherwise they would not exist. However, does that mean that the students have the right to choose what is taught or presented to them in school? As stated in the scenario, nine possibly offensive books were the subjects of complaining parents. The school board then removed the books, but the students sued the board for doing so based on the belief that the action was a hindrance to the right of free expression. In response, the school board stated that their actions were justifiable because they were doing their job by determining education policy. Therefore based on the readings
This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss censorship in schools and to argue that the censorship of books in the high school English curriculum is limiting and takes away literature that is meaningful to students. How a Book is Censored Brinkley describes a few actions that can lead to the censoring of a book in a school or school system: An expression of concern is simply a question about the material with overtones of disapproval; an oral complaint is an oral challenge to the contents of a work; a written complaint is a formal written challenge to the school about the contents of a work; and a public attack is a public statement challenging the contents of a work that is made outside of the school, usually to the media to gain support for further action (1999). Brinkley also points out an important difference between selection and censorship: Selection is the act of carefully choosing works for an English course that will be age-appropriate, meaningful, and fulfill objectives, while censorship is the act of excluding works that some con... ...
A teacher assigned students to write an essay and submit a pictorial depiction on someone they considered to be their hero. One student turned in an essay saying Jesus was his hero and he drew a picture of The Last Supper. The teacher has a practice of displaying all student work in the classroom. Examining the Bill of Rights and past court cases will shed light on how the assignment should be graded and displayed along with how the First Amendment can be applied to this situation.
Censoring school books in libraries can often lead to censorship of our basic freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment. In some cases, a minority ends up dictating the majority in censorship
school goes against the First Amendment, whether it's in the classroom, over the loud speaker, or