ipl-logo

Assess The Importance Of The First Amendment

429 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Censorship in schools

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

According to the statement above and research, the First Amendment was written to protect freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly and petition. Religious minorities can be persecuted, protesters and media can be silenced, the press cannot criticize government, and citizens cannot mobilize for social change without the First Amendment. After explaining importance of First Amendment, I will explain how we can apply it to student newspapers.

Is it constitutional for school officials to censor a school-sponsored publication, such as a newspaper or a yearbook?

To see how much school officials can censor school-sponsored student publications we should consider the four court decisions (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, Bethel School District v. Fraser, Morse v. Frederick). According to the article, most legal scholars conclude there are only four legally …show more content…

I would encourage student media staffs to develop clear policies to help guide them in making journalistically strong, ethically sound decisions. On the other hand, I would maintain effective communication with students to be able to truck what they publish, and control if there is any inappropriate and immature part in their press. Even if they publish a controversial article, I would not restrict them unless it does persecute and injure the others, and damage to school reputation and school community. I would handle all these things according to our school media

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Supreme Court Case Of Hazelwood V. Kuhlmeier

1910 Words | 8 Pages

They profess that school officials violated their First Amendment rights by deleting two pages of articles from the May 13, 1983, issue of Spectrum. Moreover, once the case was brought into the US District Court of the Eastern District of Missouri they proclaimed that Principal Reynolds was

Read More

Bethel School District V. Fraser Case Summary

84 Words | 1 Pages

In the “Bethel School District v. Fraser” case, Fraser believed that the school violated his first amendment “freedom of speech” rights. Fraser gave a speech with some inappropriate content in it and the school gave him a three day suspension because two teachers warned him before he gave the speech. Fraser took it to court and the justices said they would shorten the suspension and let him have his right to speak at graduation because the school was taking away his freedom of speech.

Read More

Censorship: The Case Of Tinker Vs. Des Moines

125 Words | 1 Pages

As seen in previous cases like Tinker vs. Des Moines, students have the right to political say, unless it causes disruption at school of students are promoting something that goes against the law. In the case of Tinker v Des Moines the students were not promoting anything illegal but showed their thought on the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands (Tinker). Argued in court by Kenneth W. Starr in the Morse v. Frederick case, he gave the idea that the foundation for school censorship was the case of Tinker v. Des Moines (Morse). The Justices responded back saying, that case was a different scenario as the students weren 't doing anything against the law while Frederick was encouraging the use of marijuana which was illegal (Morse).

Read More

Summary: Does The First Amendment, Free Expression Clause

309 Words | 2 Pages

Does the First Amendment, Free Expression Clause, apply to the New York State law against Criminal Anarchy, depriving Giltow of his liberty of expression under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? Benjamin Gitlow, a member of the Socialist Party of America, advocated the overthrow of organized government by force, violence, and other unlawful means through his Left Wing Manifesto. He was arrested and charged with criminal Anarchy, “the policy that organized government should be overthrown by force or violence... or by any unlawful means. The advocacy of such doctrine either by word of mouth or writing is a felony”. Gitlow argued that the New York law was an unconstitutional limit forced by the state on the rights guaranteed

Read More

Texas Supreme Court Case Study

900 Words | 4 Pages

Spring Branch I.S.D. v. Stamos Supreme Court of Texas, 1985 695.S.W.2d 556 [27 Educ. L. Rep. 640] This case examined the constitutionality of the Texas Education Code 21.920 (b) “No Pass, No Play” rule: A student, other than a mentally retarded student, enrolled in a school district in this state shall be suspended from participation in any extracurricular activity sponsored or sanctioned by the school district during the grade reporting period after a grade reporting period in which the student received a grade lower than the equivalent of 70 on a scale of 100 in any academic class. The campus principal may remove this suspension if the class is an identified honors or advanced class. A student may not be suspended under this subsection

Read More

Derek Bok Protecting Freedom Of Expression On The Campus Analysis

357 Words | 2 Pages

In Derek Bok’s, Protecting Freedom of Expression On The Campus, he brings light to the issue of censorship in universities. He states that students at Harvard University got offended after a few students displayed the confederate flag. There have been many cases in which people have tried to censor offensive material however; the Supreme Court preferred to conserve the freedom of expression. He believes that if censorship starts to take place, it will be difficult to know when to cross the line. In addition, it will not fix the initial problem since the offenders will continue to abuse others using different means.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of The First Amendment

520 Words | 3 Pages

"The first amendment, which gives people the freedom of religion, press, and speech, is something taken for granted by Americans. Throughout history, free speech has been both limited and stretched by the government. The first amendment, which gives people the freedom of religion, press, and speech, is something taken for granted by Americans. Thus, the government should have the ability to monitor and control the government, but only to the extent of protecting the country against potential threats.

Read More

Censorship In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

598 Words | 3 Pages

“It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely,” (LII). The government has no right to take away the voice of another person. Although some may argue that the problem was that students were being forced to read the book as a part of their high school curriculum. Which is proven by the number of complaints that came from parents concerning the analysis of the book in schools because it was offensive towards their religious views.once again proving the point that censorship is in place to protect or satisfy a particular group of people. This point is not true, however,in the long run, the article “about banned and challenged books” says “Books that are part of a curriculum are there for a reason, they contain a message or theme or a life lesson that growing minds should be taught,”(ALA).

Read More

The Fourth Amendment: The Most Important

117 Words | 1 Pages

The First Amendment is the most important, because of freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Many people think that the fourth amendment is the most important. They think this, because it is important for a person to be able to tell policemen “No” if they ask you if they could search your car or your house. I believe that the fourth amendment is really important, but you wouldn’t be able to tell the policemen “No” if you didn’t have freedom of speech. George Washington said,”If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be, like sheep to the slaughter” (“Famous Quotes Freedom of Speech”).Without freedom of speech and religion we are nothing.

Read More

Censorship Of The First Amendment Essay

865 Words | 4 Pages

Censorship of The First Amendment This paper will discuss how censorship denies citizens of the United States our full rights as delineated in the First Amendment. It will outline how and why the first amendment was created and included in the Constitution of the United States of America. This paper will also define censorship, discuss a select few legal cases surrounding freedom of speech and censorship as well as provide national and local examples of censorship.

Read More

The First Amendment: Is It Important To The Government?

88 Words | 1 Pages

The people are giving up some of their right so the government will protect them. The first amendment is “freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition” The first amendment is similar to the social contract because in a way the government is promising to protect you in exchange for some of your rights.

Read More

1st Amendment Importance

530 Words | 3 Pages

I can’t fully express anything that I want and its due to the security and general welfare of other fellow peers. A lot of class work has to be censored and cant be used for the sole purpose of education. We too, students, are persons under the American Constitution . So so this extent, i can say that our government has altered the first amendment.

Read More

The Benefits Of The First Amendment

482 Words | 2 Pages

Based on the first amendment which states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”. We the citizens of the United States have the freedom to choose and practice our religion, freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom of petition. Although this amendment seems to be beneficial for the general public it actually does more harm than good. I do not believe that there is in fact a such thing as freedom. Freedom means the power to act, speak or think as one warns without hindrance or restraint.

Read More

The First Amendment Of The United States Constitution

86 Words | 1 Pages

Mark Lichtenberg Mr.Giddens Government August 8 2015 The First Amendment The first amendment of the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment guarantees against the government invading key personal freedoms that are the freedom of religion, the freedom of the press, free expression, freedom of association, and the freedom of assembly. Without the first amendment religious minorities could be prosecuted, the government could establish a national religion, protestors could be silenced, the press would not be allowed to criticize the government

Read More

Importance Of The Second Amendment

883 Words | 4 Pages

The second amendment is needed in the society that we live in today. It would cause a lot of trouble if people tried to amend the second amendment. I understand that the trajectory for the right to bear arm is becoming narrow and people are starting to see an issue with it. But, I believe that there are different things that can be enforced that will prevent some of these issues. Thomas Jefferson stated, “No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

Read More

More about Assess The Importance Of The First Amendment

Related Topics

Open Document