You Be The Judge
Test your knowledge of the Five Freedoms and see how you match up to the courts...and fellow citizens.
Student Dress Codes
In September 2008, middle school students in Aurora, Colorado were urged to wear red, white and blue to express their patriotism. One eleven-year-old decided to wear a homemade shirt with the message “Obama — a Terrorist’s Best Friend.”
School officials, based on their belief that the shirt was being disruptive, gave the student the option of changing his shirt, turning it inside-out, or facing suspension. The student chose to be suspended, and he and his father sued, claiming a violation of the boy’s First Amendment right to free speech.May a student wear a t-shirt to school that reads, “Obama — a Terrorist’s Best Friend”?
Vote Now!
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34%A. YESSchools may not censor student political speech unless they can prove it would cause (or has caused) a material or substantial disruption of the school environment, or collide(d) with the rights of others.
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37%B. NOSchools have a responsibility to encourage respectful behavior and guarantee the safety of all students. The likelihood that the shirt’s message would promote a disruptive school environment outweighs the student’s First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
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29%C. NOStudents in public schools do not have the First Amendment right to wear t-shirts expressing political ideas. Such messages threaten the capacity of school officials to maintain a safe and orderly learning environment.
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Correct!
MAYBE. In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that before school officials can censor student speech, they must reasonably forecast that the speech will cause a substantial disruption or invade the rights of others. A court could cite Tinker in defense of the student’s free-speech claim. -
Correct!
MAYBE. Although schools do have a responsibility to honor the First Amendment rights of students, they must also encourage respectful behavior and guarantee the safety of all students. In this case, a court could decide that a substantial disruption of the school environment had occurred. -
Incorrect
Since 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that students in public schools do have First Amendment rights — within certain limits.
NOTE: This conflict has not been resolved by any court.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE COURT'S DECISION?
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Icon of Freedom
Paul Robeson
Actor & Activist
Robeson, perhaps the greatest renaissance man the U.S. bore in the
twentieth century, used his platform as a
performer to speak out against fascism, racism, colonialism, and the
oppression of workers. Lloyd Brown, a
writer and long-time colleague of Robeson, called him "the most persecuted, the most ostracized, the most condemned black man
in America, then or ever."
