Computer Usage and Students Freedom of Expression
School administrators are worried about cyberspace usage especially when they visually see on the computer hit lists, bomb threats, character assassinations and defamations. Some school officials have took matters in their own hands by suspending, expelling or even banning students from use of computers. Do school administrators have the right to forbid free expression when the online communication posts are created from a home PC and not school regulated computer equipment?
Social-networking websites (MySpace, Facebook, Xanga and Friendster) are extremely popular for instance, "more than 90 million people of all ages are registered users of MySpace good portion of them teenagers. Now granted, majority of online communications is of clean material of favorite things and dislikes but occasionally there will be damaging statements about teachers or a list of classmates to which they want to hurt. Example, five students in Kansas were arrested in April 2006 for a plot to engage in a murderous spree on the seven-years anniversary of the infamous Columbine shootings.
The United States House of Representatives passed The Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006 which consists of public schools and libraries to block student access to commercial social-networking sites such as MySpace.com Some individuals do not favor this bill because it unfairly blocs learning applications and websites necessary for the students to learn and communicate. In addition, there is already an act that blocks content that is harmful to minors it is The Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA).
Students have freely expressed a variety of viewpoints, including criticism of school officials, on the Internet. The First Amendment protects critical speech posted on various forms of media for example computers and the Internet. Unfortunately, public school students do not have the same level of free-expression rights as adults in a general setting. There was a court decision in Reno v ACLU that claimed limiting indecent speech on the Internet unconstitutionally free-speech rights of adults.
Three famous court cases cover such issues regarding students' First Amendment rights and are the basis of students' free expression.
1. 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Comm. Sch. (political protest) ruled school officials could not silence student expressions
2. 1986 Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (speech with sexual references) ruled school education to prohibit vulgar and offensive terms
3. 1988 Hazelwood School District v. Kehlmeier (newspaper article teen pregnancy) ruled in favor school officials to remove newspaper article.
The school district appealed the decision, arguing that the speech had a disruptive effect on the educational process. The school district said it had an interest in protecting an audience of minors from indecent speech in the school. The school board believed it had the right to control language that was used during a school-sponsored activity. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court.
Name & citation of case: Urban v. Jefferson County School District R-1, 870 F. Supp. 1558 (D. CO 1994)
"Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District." Supreme Court Cases: The Dynamic Court (1930-1999) (1999): N.PAG. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Student court cases against schools, or vice versa, are not as uncommon as they may seem. Tinker v. Des Moines was a court case that ended in 1969 regarding students protesting the Vietnam War. The three students involved in the trial wore black armbands to school, which was prohibited, and were suspended. Since the students felt that their First Amendment right was abused by the school therefore they took the issue to a local court, then eventually the Supreme Court. The case has left a mark on First Amendment rights for students since then. The Tinker v. Des Moines court case impacted the United States by questioning the First Amendment in public schools, spreading awareness of student rights, and by challenging future court cases using
Total freedom does not exist. Being American has made some people believe that they have the freedom to do whatever they want, but this isn’t the case. In this day and age students are free to use texting, social media, and they also have access to various other things on the internet. Some students use these resources responsibly and do not abuse these methods, but on the other hand some students use these resources immaturely and usually cause great dilemmas that can extend to their school life. Consequently, schools should be allowed to limit students’ online speech because cyberbullying can cause widespread problems among both students and teachers, it disrupts learning, and it violates students’ civil rights.
Higher education law attorney Dana L. Fleming voices her controversial opinion in favor of institutionalized involvement in social network protection in her article “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” (Fleming). Posted in the New England Journal of Higher Education, winter of 2008 issue, Fleming poses the question of responsibility in monitoring students’ online social networking activities. With a growing population of students registering on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, she introduces the concern of safety by saying, “like lawmakers, college administrators have not yet determined how to handle the unique issues posed by the public display of their students’ indiscretions.” However, while Dana Fleming emphasizes the horror stories of social networking gone-bad, she neglects the many positive aspects of these websites and suggests school involvement in monitoring these sites when the role of monitoring should lie with parents or the adult user.
Censorship in schools can protect children and eliminate problems, but it can also cause many other problems. For one thing, it sometimes violates the First Amendment. The First Amendment states that “congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” (Taylor 15). These rights are guaranteed to all American citizens, and that includes schoolchildren as well. According to the Constitution, the government cannot take away these basic rights. Public schools are government funded, so they must be sure not to infringe on student’s rights or there could be a lawsuit on their hands. In addition to legal consequences, school is about learning and ...
This piece argues most of the significant cases that are involved with the first amendment rights of public school students; it also shows all the cases that affect and gives significant information on all the...
Hall, K. (2002, September 13). Free speech on public college campuses overview. Retrieved from http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/free-speech-on-public-college-campuses
Schools have become more interested in limiting students rights because cyber bullying is becoming a huge problem these days .School officials and administrators are responsible to protect their student body and maintain a safe environment. They want to make sure their students are safe and happy at school and off -grounds.They want to limit online speech so they can protect students and teachers who get cyber bullied online.
The Supreme Court case, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, was argued on March 29, 2000, in Texas (Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe). The verdict was decided on June 19, 2000 by the Supreme Court. The case questioned the constitutionality of the school’s policy that permitted student-led, student initiated prayer at football games. The Supreme Court justices had to take the Establishment Clause of the first amendment into account when making their decision (Cornell University Law School). The case originated in the Santa Fe Independent School District, located in Texas. The District was against Doe, a Mormon and a Catholic family involved within the District. The purpose of the case was to determine if the school policy was in violation of the first amendment’s Establishment Clause which creates a divide between religion and government. The first amendment freedom of religion was the right at stake in regards to the Establishment Clause that defines a line between church
A reason why schools should not limit students online speech is because of the violation of constitutional rights.We question reports of increasing threats to students online.The number of young people using digital technologies is increasing rapidly, problems online would also be expected to rise, simply as a result of increased use. Bullying also has a long history. Bullying has occurred for
Students’ rights in schools are limited or just taken away. Kids are forced to do whatever the officials at their school, either the principal or the teachers, tell the students to do. One of the main right that gets taken away or limited is students’ first amendment rights, which is the freedom of expression. Students can gets suspended by just doing things the staff at the school does not like, including saying things that they don 't like or supporting a religion that the school does not support. Also, if something is said about the school or the people attending the school is said on social media that student can also get in a lot of trouble. Students should be able to have more first amendment
George Washington once stated “If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” Like George Washington stated, freedom of speech should be preserved and practiced, many would agree to that, but it should also be regulated so that it does not affect the life of a student in the near future because they say something online and later regret it. Although many debate that placing limits on social media is eliminating a form of how they express themselves, it happens to be negative to the school environment and affects many aspects of school. Thinking twice before posting something is a helpful skill that adds an extra layer to the amount of discipline a student has and reaches to the extent
McCarthy, M. (2005). THE CONTINUING SAGA OF INTERNET CENSORSHIP: THE CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT. Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, (2), 83-101.