Landmark Supreme Court Decisions
About 32 years ago, in December of 1965, a group of adults and students
from Des Moines, Iowa gathered to show their dislike towards American
involvement in the Vietnam War. They decided to wear black armbands and fast on
December 16 and 31 to express there point. When the principals of the Des
Moines School System found out their plans, they decided to suspend anyone who
took part in this type of protest. On December 16 - 17 three Tinker siblings
and several of their friends were suspended for wearing the armbands. All of
them did not return to school until after New Years Day. Acting through their
parents, the Tinkers and some other students went to the Federal District Court,
asking for an injunction to be issued by Iowa. This court refused the idea,
forcing them to take the case to the Supreme Court. After hearing their case,
the Supreme Court agreed with the Tinkers. They said that wearing black
armbands was a silent form of expression and that students do not have to give
up their 1st Amendment rights at school. This landmark Supreme Court case was
known as Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.
From the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. School Board obviously came
some conflicting viewpoints about the armbands. The school board said that no
one has the absolute right to freedom of expression, where the Tinkers said that
only banning armbands and not other political symbols was unconstitutional. The
school board said that the armbands were disruptive to the learning environment,
where the Tinkers said they were not. Finally, the school board said that order
in the classroom, where political controversy should be discussed, is entitled
to constitutional protection. The Tinkers believed that the armbands were worn
as the students views, and therefore should be constitutionally protected and
respected by the school. These were all important arguments in the case.
Personally, I agree with the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the 1st
Amendment rights of the students in school. Why shouldn't students have the
same rights as other people? If the students wore obscene clothing, ran out of
classrooms, or set the school on fire in protest of the war, then yes, I could
see disciplinary actio...
... middle of paper ...
...chool districts.
In contrast, the time periods in which these cases took place were very
different. In the 1960's, the war in Vietnam was going on, and there were a lot
of controversial issues and viewpoints facing students at schools. In the
1980's, the war was over and there weren't as many controversial issues
surrounding students' rights. One case involved freedom of expression through a
school newspaper, the other through articles of clothing, but the major
difference between the two cases were the decisions made by the U.S. Supreme
Court. They agreed with the Tinkers in the belief that freedom of expression
through armbands was okay. However, they disagreed with Cathy Kuhlmeier's
belief in freedom of expression through a so-called public forum.
As a student, I believe that freedom of expression is one of our most
important rights. Without this right people won't know who we are; they won't
understand our generation. Because of the many different definitions of freedom
of expression, people will always be in controversy over them. Let's hope that
our school district never faces a problem as big as the ones presented in this
paper.
In December 1965, a group of students from Des Moines, Iowa met at Christopher Eckhardt’s home in order to plan a protest. During the meeting, the students planned to wear black armbands throughout the holiday season to show public support for a truce in the Vietnam War. However, the principal of the school got word of the planned protest and quickly established a policy that stated any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it. If they refused to do so, it would result in suspension. On December 16, 1965, the protest began and students Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt wore their armbands to school and were sent home. The following day John Tinker experienced the same result by wearing his armband as well. All three students
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.
Discrimintaion and equality in society is faced amongst people every day. One certain subject that seems to get most of this attention is whether or not homosexual couples should be able to adopt. Same sex couples should be able to adopt children for many reasons. Children that are raised by same sex parents are predominantly taught to be more open minded, have a greater sense of tolerance, and are thought of to be role models for equality in relationships and life. Most would say that these children will face issues regarding their parents sexual orientation, but this is not so. Children of same sex parents have studied to show very few differences in achievement, mental health, and social function as a child that is raised in a heterosexual household. Same sex parents will allow their child to express themselves through different talents and other attributes that there child seems to be indulged in. These children are often showing more loving, nurturing ,and outgoing behaviors that is exposed to them through gay parenting.
Being for or against gay and lesbian marriage has been the topic that has started a great amount of controversy in the U.S. for the past few years. In some states gay marriage has been already been approved, but in others it has been denied. The next hot topic in the U.S. refers to the approval of gay and lesbian adoption. There are many negative and positives to this subject, whether society is for, or against gay and lesbian marriage. The act of gay and lesbian adoption should not be allowed because, yes its true we don’t get to choose our parents but we should at least be able to have a father and mother, not two fathers and or two mothers. It is also not fair for an innocent little one to get put on the spotlight and get dirty looks from others because of the adults’ choices. The embarrassment of not having a mother or father can be so overwhelming on such children that it could unfortunately lead them to taking bad actions.
Out of fifty states, only sixteen states allow gay adoptions while people in the other thirty-four states are either denied or sent to court to be determined by a complete stranger with no background information on the couple, whether or not they can take care of a child or not. According to “LGBT Adoption Statistics”, in 2012, 110,000 adopted children live with gay parents. Of the total amount of children in U.S. households, less than one percent lives with same-sex parents. If homosexuals were allowed to adopt, that one percent would rapidly increase. Sexual orientation of parents is not important when it comes to raising children; how the children are being raised and how the parents work together is what is truly important.
Homosexual couples should be granted the same freedom to adopt children like heterosexual couples because there are so many children in the foster care who need a nurturing home; it is narrow-minded to think that only heterosexual couples have the capability of raising a child properly; and it is prejudice to exclude homosexuals from adopting a child based on their sexuality. A parent-child relationship may be one of the most sacred and cherished gifts in life but it is also a privilege. The main purpose of adoption is not just for the satisfaction of a couple, regardless of their sexuality—ultimately, it is for the well-being of the adopted child.
Aristotle is a strong believer that reaching happiness is the ultimate goal of humans. He says, “Another belief which harmonizes with our account is that the happy man
There are hundreds of thousands of children who are in foster care and need a home with a family who will love and care for them. Families lead by same-sex couples are viewed as “non-traditional households” and these parents raise their children in very much the same ways as heterosexual parents. These children grow with their adoptive families and if their parents have a stable relationship with each other and with their adoptive children, and have great support systems, then it should not be difficult for those children to thrive in the world as children of gay/lesbian parents.
Adoption is a very important part of the American lifestyle. The welfare of children needs to be put in front of homophobia. There are an estimated 500,000 children in foster care nation wide, and 100,000 of these children are awaiting adoption. In 2013, only one child of every six available for adoption was actually adopted. (Sanchez, 13) Statistics like these show the true importance of adoption. People seem to prefer to have their own children biologically, but adoption should be taken into consideration, even if natural conception is possible.
On Aristotle’s search to find the highest good of a human being, he first asked what the ergon, or task, of being human is. His main focus was mostly on what the purpose or goal of human existence should be. Aristotle said that everyone is trying to reach happiness, whether it is by having money, love, or being honored. However, according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, he believes that the good we are trying to reach is one ultimate level of experience and that it is “desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else.” All the other good that we experience throughout our lives is just pushing us toward the one thing that will make us happy in the end. Although we may think of being happy as a state of mind, Aristotle thought of it as how you lived your life. In other words, the happiness will not come and go within a couple of minutes or hours. It is a goal that is reached “at the end of one’s life and is a measurement of how well one has lived up to their full potential as a human being” (Shields).
In my medical career, I have been privileged to work alongside some of the most professional, dedicated, knowledgeable and compassionate nurses. I have seen first-hand the difference that they can make in a patient’s life and their family, during those unfortunate times when sickness and injury can be so overwhelming. The appreciation and respect that I have for nurses, as well as their indispensable contribution to the health care system, is what encourage me to pursue nursing as a profession.
He claims that virtue of thought is taught and that virtue of character is habitually learnt. Either way, virtues do not “arise in us naturally” (216, 1103a20). He argues that humans have the capacities for virtues, but they must act on them (216, 1103a30). Thus, a person must learn to use the capability of being virtuous, meaning someone needs to teach them those virtues (217, 1103a10). To be virtuous, it is not just the action that matters, but the reason behind the action too. Aristotle says that a person should be consciously acting virtuous because this would result in him living a happy life (221, 1105a30). This takes time and a person must constantly repeat these actions to achieve the end goal of being virtuous (221,
The pursuit for happiness has been a quest for man throughout the ages. In his ethics, Aristotle argues that happiness is the only thing that the rational man desires for its own sake, thus, making it good and natural. Although he lists three types of life for man, enjoyment, statesman, and contemplative, it is the philosopher whom is happiest of all due to his understanding and appreciation of reason. Aristotle’s version of happiness is not perceived to include wealth, honor, or trivial
Aristotle feels we have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is the perfecting of our natures as human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot establish human happiness, for pleasure is what animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is to express our desires in ways that are appropriate to our natures as rational animals. Aristotle states that the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character, what he calls complete virtue. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the right choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our lives as a whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment. We must live righteous and include behaviors in our life that help us do what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is not enough to think about doing the right thing, or even intend to do the right thing, we have to actually do it. Happiness can occupy the place of the chief good for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be independent of any outside help in satisfying one’s needs and final, that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else and it must be
They need a stable environment and supportive parents to help them get on their feet and reach their potential. With a shortage of adoptive parents for the Foster Care Program and no statistical evidence that the sexuality of a child’s parents affects his or her development, what reason is there not to have same-sex parents available to adopt foster children? Many states require parents to be married to qualify as foster parents, thus, before gay marriage was legalized, this ruled out same-sex couples from fostering in several states. However, now, eight states support same-sex couples in adopting foster children by putting laws in place against discrimination. On the other hand, the remaining 42 states either restrict LGBT parents or are silent on the issue as of December twelfth of this year (Foster). These loving parents are only looking to help the children in the Foster Care Program by taking them out of the rotation of foster parents and keeping them in their stable loving