Imagine you are wearing your brand new t-shirt of your favorite band or singer. Pretty cool right? Well now you are not allowed to wear it because it is said to be disruptive and cause problems. In Hamilton Middle School a student named Ben was suspended for just that. There is a new rule stating that students are not allowed to wear any types of band t-shirts because of they are causing problems amongst the students that attend the same school. These problems are said to include the disruption of the learning environment. In addition, the shirts supposedly cause arguments and other problems. With that being said, the student should not have been suspended because his shirt is not breaking those rules. The band t-shirts that display musical groups or artists have not disrupted class. In one case there was an argument between a group of students before a math class. This argument did not get violent and it is good for people to express their opinions and beliefs. When the bell rang all of the students sat down and finished their lesson. Secondly, in that same math class, the teacher …show more content…
To start off, in all the events that were reported in the memo, none of them happened this year. That means that any of those problems are irrelevant because they were caused by other students and you can not make rules based on a fear or concern of something occuring. Secondly, the t-shirts can have a positive influence because while Ben was at school he became friends with another student named Kyle and they would bond over music and bands, which the t-shirts represent. But, with Ben being suspended, Kyle felt he had no one to talk to and felt lonely. Lastly, in the hallway there was a group of kids having a conversation about bands and afterwards they all walked away laughing which is a good, and healthy thing for the human body. So as you can see, the band t-shirts have not caused any problems outside of
Justice Hugo Black dissented and feared that the Court’s ruling would cause more revolutionary actions from students. However, Justice Fortas addressed this potential outcome. He says, “Certainly where there is no finding and no showing that engaging in the forbidden conduct would "materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school," the prohibition cannot be sustained.Burnside v. Byars, supra at 749.” The school’s ban of the armbands could not be upheld because the expression had not caused any harm. If the students underwent another expression, the school would still have the power to make a decision. If their actions were disruptive, the school would still have the power to limit these actions. The students’ rights are still protected, and the school still has the authority to operate the
We, all, have the opportunity to voice our opinion on subjects that matter to us. The First Amendment grants us freedom of speech and expression. However, this was not provided to all students in 1968. During this time, there were three students in Des Moines, Iowa, who wore black armbands to school. These armbands were a symbol of protest against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. After the Des Moines School District heard about this plan, they instituted a policy banning the wearing of armbands, leading to the suspension of students. A lawsuit has been filed against the Des Moines School District, stating how this principal goes against the students’ First Amendment rights. Thus, in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case, Justice Abe Fortes determined the policy to ban armbands is against the students’ First Amendment rights. Yet, Justice Hugo Black dissented with this decision, determining the principal is permissible under the First Amendment.
Furthermore, the opinion of the Supreme Court reveled that students can express their opinions anywhere even when the principal clearly made a rule banning armbands so problems would not be created. The disruptions from armbands could ca...
The case under review involves Bill Foster, who attends a large high school in the northeastern part of the United States. Due to a strong gang presence in the high school, the administrators created a strict policy which denies students the wearing of earrings, jewelry, athletic caps, and emblems. Foster was suspended for wearing an earring to school. He claims that wearing the earring was a form of his self expression and individuality; his intention was not as a gang emblem, but rather a means to attract girls. Foster is suing the school district for violation of his freedom of expression right, guaranteed under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
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.
In December 1965, an issue was caused by teachers’ in violating students’ freedom of speech. In December some students from Des Moines Independent Community School District, in Iowa were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest against the American Government’s war policy in support Vietnam (Richard, Clayton, and Patrick).The school district pressed a complaint about it, although the students caused no harm to anyone. Students should be able to voice their opinions without the consequences of the school district.
Life is full of distractions and, for high school students, inappropriate clothing has the potential to grab much attention. However, does the matter of clothing warrant strict rules? I agree that, like alcohol, the students’ attire should have rules regarding whether or not the choices in clothing are suitable for a public school setting. I also agree that violators of school rules should receive punishment for their lack of compliance to the school policies. However, there is a fine line. Some schools, like Carroll High School, are taking dress codes too far. One rule in particular hinders the students’ ability to wear pants with holes in them. It makes sense that holes located in certain places might cause a...
I really do not understand why any school would ban hoodies, or even jackets because it is apparently the best for the school. I believe that the school did this because they wanted to be like every other
What if you were suspended from school because of something you were wearing? Not only was the clothing or item appropriate, it was something you were fighting for or something you believe is right. Is this fair or okay for this to happen? There is a specific incident that this situation happened to a few teenagers in Des Moines, Iowa in December of 1965. A group of students wanting to wear black armbands throughout the holiday season was in for a wake up call. (FORTAS) These plans and or idea were quickly shot down by the high school principals. The principals caught wind of the teen’s plan, so there was a meeting a few days beforehand. The talk of the meeting was to ensure the teens that if they were to wear the black armbands a few days from then, they would be asked to remove the bands, if they refused, suspension would be given.(KELLY) Is this a violation of the First Amendment?
Censorship even extends to school dress codes. A school dress code is a set of rules about what clothing may or may not be worn in schools. As previously mentioned, a set of criteria are used to determine whether or not student expression should be censored in schools. For censorship involving dress codes, there are two: the “Tinker disruption standard” and the “forum issue,” which determine if student expression disrupts the school day and by who it is regulated, respectively (Emert). One case involving censorship of the school dress code was of a boy who violated his school’s dress code (Nguyen). Zachary Guiles, a thirteen year old boy, had to cover up his shirt denigrating former President George W. Bush, which violated his First Amendment rights (Nguyen). The shirt showed President Bush’s head on a chicken with derogatory names. It had images of oil rigs and lines of cocaine (Nguyen). A student, who had opposite views as Guiles, notified the administration of the shirt (Nguyen). Guiles was sent home on May 13, 2004, when he didn’t cover up the shirt after being asked to. The next day, Guiles’ wore the shirt, which was covered with tape and the word ‘censored’ was written on the tape (Nguyen). The school which Guiles attended, Williamstown Middle High School in Vermont, said that the shirt violated the dress code. Guiles’ parents felt that their son’s “rights to engage in political speech” were violated, and they sued the school (Nguyen). Guiles did not win the lawsuit in December 2004, when the US District Court for Vermont ruled in favor of the school, saying the images were “’plainly offensive and inappropriate’” (Nguyen). Guiles appealed, and the Second Circuit court ruled that the images were not offensive an...
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
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
But, school is not the place to show student’s interests and likes, school is strictly for learning. If a student wants to wear a shirt that shows his/her’s religion, political view, or profanity, he or she can wear the clothing outside of school. Also a benefit to dress code in schools allows students to “expressive their individuality through their personality and academic achievements, not through clothing” (School Uniform). Jill Hamilton writes a book on the pros and cons of a dress code policy. She correctly states how school should be a business related environment. She states “Students should feel comfortable enough with themselves to portray their personality through themselves, not through their clothing. Their clothing should represent business attire, as they might have in the real world someday” (Hamilton, page 72). Hamilton writes her opinion on this in a nice manner, explaining that a dress code policy would ensure better
This speaks all about how the school thinks instead of not thinking about the right’s of the students. Yes, the school should not just put people on silent mode when the students have rights. “This episode discusses students’ First Amendment rights in the 1969 case, Tinker v. Des Moines” (paragraph 3). They are also rights to do protest the school should not be allowed to put a rule in to make students be quiet. “When the school heard that this was planned, they made a special rule designed to censor this form of silent speech, also known as symbolic speech, in which the symbol clearly communicates an idea to those who see it, and they said that anybody who wore a black armband to school would be suspended” (paragraph 6). Like the rights say they should be allowed to protest no matter what the issue is. This passage also has the most strength, because it’s from the head of all
Students claim that requiring them to wear mandated uniforms deprives them of their ability to freely express themselves through their choice of dress. However, freedom of expression does consist of the rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and to petition the government, but the first amendment does not grant people the right to act any way they want without actions taken. Numerous schools have a straightforward dress code policy enforced. If these policies are violated, then the students could face consequences for their