Why Do School Uniforms Violate The Freedom Of Speech

Many schools are now requiring students to wear uniforms to attend. This has sparked a debate between the courts, the schools and the students. Many people are concerned that requiring school uniforms violates freedom of speech, expression and the practice of religion. While 1st first amendment should apply to everyone and should be upheld, school uniforms can help students perform better in the classroom and reduce school crime while not infringing on students rights.
School uniforms don´t violate student´s freedom of speech. Many people argue that by not allowing students to wear what they want is restricting their speech, this is incorrect. There is a thing called symbolic speech. See when the founding fathers wrote the constitution, more specifically the first amendment, they wanted people to be free to express themselves without being censored, for example the right to speak out against the government while being protected. They did not consider symbolic speech because freedom of speech was mostly spoken or written and it

But one case came to the supreme court that would act as a precedent for students rights in the future, the famous case of Tinker v. Des Moines, students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. This was considered disruptive and claimed to disrupted the learning environment and as a result the principal suspended them and the students sued and the case went to the supreme court. The court ruled 7-2 in favor of Tinker because the attorneys argued that while wearing the armbands, they were conveying a symbolic message that wasn’t disruptive or distracting. Many courts use this as a foundation for symbolic speech in school. According to Justice Abe Fortas "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." (Tinker v. Des