Free Speech in Schools
How much free speech should be given to students? How much right does a student have in a public school when compared to an adult in the free marketplace of ideas?
I think that because schools are places to produce better citizens, and many students are completely immature, allowing students to say and do whatever they want is completely stupid. In Frederick v. Morse, for example, I think that the principal was correct in tearing down the Bong Hits 4 Jesus poster and suspending the student. We do not need to be promoting drug use at school. Say what you may about the benefits of legalizing marijuana, but the federal law right now deems marijuana illegal, and we have to follow the law. Promoting drug use is further not any valid form of free expression. This was not some insightful political or social statement, it was simply a stupid high school joke that got the kids in trouble.
On the other hand, students should have some form of freedom of speech – it is still part of the First Amendment. As long as the students are not being disruptive or advocating illegal action, I think that anything else should be permitted at schools. To do otherwise would be to infringe upon our sacred freedom of expression of rights, the very rights that make America what it is today.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
See, the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case is a lot more complex than that. The kid didn't go to school that day, so technically he was just a citizen at the rally on his own, not with the school, in which case the school really had no valid reason to censor him, IMO.
yeah but see it was right in front of the school, and many of his fellow students attending school that day were with him because his school authorized the kids to go out and watch
If I can save one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain. - Emily Dickinson
So? That doesn't give the school the right to suspend, especially since he wasn't in school that day.
so kids should ditch school to express their freedom of speech>
If I can save one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain. - Emily Dickinson
Well if the school is going to be hardasses, then absolutely. What is wrong with that? I see no problem for a kid to ditch school occasionally to express his/her freedom of expression, especially if they will be suspended from school.