Do Students Have the Freedom of Speech?

This week in my Issues class we discussed this idea of whether or not students in a school settings have all the rights they like the think they do; for instance, their freedom of speech. People tend to believe that they have this right to say whatever they want whenever they want. But, does this really give people the right to scream, “Fire” in a crowded movie theater when there isn’t one? Well, yes they can say this, but I believe that they will have to deal with the consequences of their choices that they made. This idea of being able to say what you want, but then having to have to deal with the punishment is crucial because people have to look at the intent behind peoples actions. In one particular case I looked at the different sides of whether or not the First Amendment protects a student’s right from displaying messages promoting the use of illegal drugs at a school supervised event. This was the Morse v Frederick case. A student in Juneau, Alaska, when given the chance to attend the grounds to watch the Olympic torch being carried through the streets of Salt Lake City with his school; he chose to unfold a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” as a camera was passing them he would not take it down when asked to do so. Morse ended up ripping the banner down and giving him a 10 day suspension.

My first reaction to reading about this case in class was this is typical teenage behavior and Frederick is trying to get attention. Frederick even admitted the only reason he did what he did, was so that he could get on television. Well, that does not give him the right to do that just because he wants too. While his intent might have only been to get on the T-V, this put the school it a very hard position in whether to take action or to step down. The question of whether the school should have taken any action because they were not actually at school raises lots of concern. The courts believed that because it was a school sponsored event and there were teachers there, the school has every right to take action to discipline Frederick. I agree, I believe that if Frederick were to get off the hook, that he would not learn any respect and that the school would also be representing that they think it is okay to use drugs. No school wants to have that kind of reputation. Parents care about were their kids go to school, and if they were to go to a school where the principle did not take actions to say that promoting illegal drugs was not okay, what kind of message would that be sending to the parents? Not a good not. It would not look professional.

In this case I believe that the actions that were taken to restrict his right to freedom of speech were appropriate because Frederick was not acting proper and was promoting the use of drugs that are not allowed. There is a certain respect that students need to show their teachers in order to get it back, and Frederick is clearly not showing it. Why should he get off the hook for his actions if he is not going to get anything back? While there are some instances where I think that freedom of speech is a good thing, this is not one of those instances and the court’s final decision was fitting for the circumstances.