Student publications are not the only things being censored in school. The way a student chooses to express his or herself through clothing is also being censored. The school has the right to control the school environment, even if that means censoring the way a student dresses. Also the schools are allowed to enforce dress code as long as it is reasonable and the school has made it a specific rule. (Truly 9). A student from Del Norte High School was suspended for wearing sagging pants. The school’s reason for this suspension was due to a “growing gang problem.” The student named Richard Bivens was warned multiple times to not wear the sagging pants and he defied the school by wearing them after the warnings. The school decided to give him a full term suspension. Richard’s mother filed suit against the school. Richard argued that he was just trying to fit in with the black culture in his school. The court ruled against Richard, noting that the school had the right to enforce dress code if it was to diminish gang activity in the school. (Truly 10). When a school is facing gang proble...
Jahn, Karon L. “School Dress Codes v. The First Amendment: Ganging up on Student Attire.”
The practice of the censorship of books in schools has been prevalent due to the explicit content of them. Parents have been complaining to schools about books that count as required reading because they disapprove with the points made in the book. If a book consists of offensive or sexually explicit material, then parents would challenge the schools about them in order to prevent their children from reading them. Censorship in general has been an intensely debated issue because it is considered an infringement to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution while others argue it is used to conceal inappropriate things (Aliprandini and Sprague). The banning of books in school curriculum has also been debated since parents see certain books as inappropriate while others argue that banning them hinders student learning. Against the censorship of books in schools, Fenice Boyd and Nancy Bailey, authors of Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, believe that banning books creates a barrier between students and intellectual development (Boyd and Bailey, 655). Banning books from schools and removing them from the curriculum prevents students from exploring different ideas and developing creativity and critical thinking skills.
...oday there are increasingly fewer attacks on the student body regarding their clothing, undoubtedly to prevent upsetting more parents. We can see in Source F that this pressure to look a certain way never really ends, and this is true for both men and women. Although this pressure to have a perfect appearance doesn’t stop after high school, the Bedford North Lawrence Community Schools should be understanding and more lenient on some of the less scandalous clothing choices to make students feel comfortable and give them a realistic feel for how people dress and behave in public. In the end, everyone’s body is their own personal business and should not be dictated by another person or shamed for how it is presented, however BNL behaved the exact opposite of this at the beginning of the school year, making the way the administration handled the situation inappropriate.
Dress code enforces the modest dress of students, preventing bullying and distractions.Numerous people believe clothing is a distraction and when eliminated the school environment is more professional and gives a better education to a student. Authority figures consider the school apparel enforcements are constitutionally sound, not affecting the child’s right to freely express, and providing a professional and working setting causing a better learning environment and decreased amount of bullying due to clear differences in appearance. However, opposers disagree with the restrictive code because of its limitations on individuality
School boards and teachers have a responsibility for protecting the minds of their students and covering age appropriate material. However, does this responsibility cover the extreme act of banning books from school classrooms? Does not the teacher have a duty to introduce to their students world issues in order to better the students ability to cope with problems in the world? How does a school decide which books should be banned from the classroom, and should it be left up to the teacher to decide what is decided in his/her classroom. By banning books from the classroom, we prevent our students from learning about controversial topics in a safe environment, and we also encroach upon the student’s freedom of reading what they want in school.
A high school in Chattanooga, Tennessee suspended a student for wearing a jacket that depicted a Confederate flag. The school had already banded the flag prior to the student’s suspension, for fear of racial backlash. In a slim one-vote margin, the court upheld the school’s decision, solely for the possibility that racial retaliation could ensue. The student’s parents did appeal the decision, but the court deemed that this was not a violation of the student’s freedom of speech or expression.
It has been recognizable that the administration and school board are trying all they can to make Pen Argyl Area High School a place people would like coming to. However, there have been some controversies going around the last couple of years. One of the biggest controversies have been the dress code that the school board has come up with. There have been many changes to the things students can and can not wear over the past four years. Students must adhere to a very strict dress code, and if they do not, they will have to face consequences. Students and other members of the school district area have seen some flaws in this. The Pen Argyl Area School District dress code should be less strict because it is gender biased, fewer people will get in trouble, and it will benefit students and parents.
In a bigger picture, students don’t come to school for a fashion show they come to school for an education. Somewhere along the line some students and parents have forgotten that simple fact. In some districts, like Wilson County Schools, the dress code violations got so out of hand that administration had to threaten suspensions, “During the first six days of the policy change 184 high school students were suspended.” (Creech, 1). The Lima Senior High School campus made the same decision as the Wilson County Schools. On Tuesday January 27, 2009, the Lima City Schools suspended about 164 students for dress code violations. They both knew that their students were having problems following the rules, and since the punishments that were set didn’t affect the students they did the one thing that got the students attention.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the exercise of an individual’s freedom of speech from infringement by government; the Fourteenth Amendment extends this protection to the States and local levels of government, including public schools and universities. The Supreme Court has held that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker). School officials have the authority to censor school-sponsored speech based on legitimate pedagogical concerns. The dean of students has not censored any editorials yet, but required that they be cleared by her before publication. The main issue in this case is whether there exists a legitimate reason on her part to require the clearance of every editorial. Additionally, the dean of students has warned against a planned rally to protest lavish spending. This protest is not school-sponsored speech, but student speech that occurs in school premises. In Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. Sch. Dist., the Supreme Court ruled that speech must be tolerated unless it “substantially interfere[s] with the work of the school or impinge[s] upon the rights of other students.” Here the question is on the justification of the school to use disciplinary action against protesting students.
Of course, students and school officials can often disagree about what may or may not be disruptive. For example, in 1998, the Rhode Island ACLU successfully challenged the suspension of a student for wearing a rock band t-shirt with the numerals “666” on it. On the other hand, although the ruling might come out differently today, a Virginia court ruled two decades ago that a school could decide to ban as “vulgar” a t-shirt with the phrase “Drugs Suck.” If you think you were unfairly disciplined for something you wore to school, you should contact the ACLU. Administrators have the responsibility to protect the health, welfare, and safety of students. And can stop conduct that interferes with the operation of schools or impinges on the rights of other students. Also, administrators can stop conduct that interferes with schoolwork during school
All people in the United States are guaranteed this right by the Constitution. Students, however, do not have this right to the same extent as adults. This is because public schools are required to protect all students at the school. The major aspects of this right are speech and dress. Both the right to speech and dress are not absolute in public high schools. According to the American Civil Liberties Union: "You (students) have a right to express your opinions as long as you do so in a way that doesn't 'materially and substantially' dirsupt classes or other school activities. If you hold a protest on the school steps and block the entrance to the building, school officials can stop you. They can probably also stop you from using language they think is 'vulgar or indecent'("Ask Sybil Libert" ACLU 1998). Public schools can also restrict student dress. In 1987 in Harper v. Edgewood Board of Education the court upheld "a dress regulation that required students to 'dress in conformity wit hthe accepted standards of the community'"(Whalen 72). This means that schools can restrict clothing with vulgarities and such, but they cannot restrict religious clothing: "School officials must accomodate student's religious beliefs by permitting the wearing of religious clothing when such clothing must be worn during the school day as a part of the student's religious practice"(Whalen 78).
Censorship in School Libraries The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression are unacceptable and unconditional.
Several high school students, including Tinker were suspended for coming to school wearing black armbands protesting the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court held that students have a First Amendment right to express themselves as long as that expression is not disruptive to the school environment. The First Amendment encourages and protects individual expressions, and in this case the students though and expression was favored. The source is effective because court cases like this one have shaped history and have an impact on parents and students that are against school uniforms. This source is important because even though the decision is from 1968 this court case is still used when talking about school uniforms. The source is informational because it is relevant and unbiased. The judges decided on the matter of the case by looking at both sides of the argument and deciding what is best for the
The first dress code was sent to be decided by the Supreme Court. The problem was that students were protesting against the Vietnam War by wearing black wristbands which educators thought to be disrupting to the classroom. However, these codes help prepare kids for the real world where they must dress to the appropriate attire. Research shows, that students learn better when there is a dress code in place and the staff says many students are less worried about what they are wearing and focusing more on completing their school work. Dress codes also introduce a healthy learning environment for kids and help reduce violence. Other statistics have changes as well. Attendance has gone up and gang violence has gone down. Some students are feeling uncomfortable and are saying students are going to have to start dressing the same due to the dress code. On the same note, students also feel that their individualism has gone down because there are so many restrictions on what they can and cannot
Dress codes and uniforms have been deemed legal by the United States Supreme Court. As long as the dress code or uniform regulations pass a four-pronged test. Opposition for school uniforms holds fast to preserving the sanctity of freedom of speech. The supreme court ultimately has decided that dress codes and uniforms do not violate the freedom of speech. In Harold W. Mitchell and John C. Knechtle’s study of the first amendment rights and dress code, they note that in 1968 in Ginsberg v. New York the supreme court ruled that “[t]he state has power to control the conduct of children that reaches beyond its scope of authority over adults (491).” Mitchell and Knechtle go further into explaining the 4 pronged rule the supreme court uses to judge if a rule is against the freedom of