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Greene County Tech Case Summary

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This case involves a possible violation of the First amendment by Kay Williams, a counselor at Greene County Tech primary school located in Paragould, Arkansas. Mrs. Williams decorated a bulletin board within the school with a nativity scene and included the phrase, “Happy Birthday Jesus.” According to an article written by Chad Miller of the Paragould Press (2011), the school received several complaints about the display. Miller (2011) further stated that Superintendent Jerry Noble contacted Donn Mixon, the schools attorney, who advised the school against leaving the display up. Steve Barnes writes in his article Controversy in Paragould (2011) that Mrs. Williams was at first told to take the bulletin board down. However, due to several …show more content…

The students that make up our school districts come from varying backgrounds. Many of these upbringings do not include or adhere to a traditional Christian Christmas celebration. Therefore, there are two major beliefs in this case which are in direct conflict with each other. These views are people who believe Christmas is a Christian celebration and those who do not. The first side of the ethical issue in this case deals with individuals who identify with or accept Christian values. They believe that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ whom they believe is the savior of the world. For that reason they routinely include Christian symbols and phrases into any decorations they put up for the holiday. Many feel it is their right, and some would argue it is their duty to do so. This is mainly due to the fact that Christians are taught they must not be ashamed of what they believe and they must tell others about their beliefs. They feel they must share what the Bible tells them is the truth so that others will convert to Christianity and be saved from going to

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My family and I celebrate Christmas and gift giving every year without having to be forced in any way. From Christmas shopping, decorating the Christmas tree, making Christmas cookies, singing carols, and gift giving, my family and I have always followed the "rules. " We are motivated and influenced by society to acknowledge the Christmas holiday and act of gift giving because it is what our culture has been governed to do. Once the "language" of gift giving has been learned and enforced, it then becomes a necessity in society that people automatically follow without

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Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ follows the transformation of middle-class misanthropist Ebenezer Scrooge, as he embarks on what can only be described as a pilgrimage- deviating from a “covetous, old sinner” into somebody “as happy as an angel”, aiming to honour the Christmas spirit “all the year”. Throughout the novella, religion appears to play a pivotal role in Scrooge’s reformation of character- acting as an institution of teaching and change. This is first seen in the extract as Bob Cratchit describes his son’s behaviour at church “as good as gold”. Dickens’ use of a simile here is ironic- the reader is aware that the Cratchits aren’t physically wealthy, so Dickens’ choice of noun ‘gold’ is an interesting one.

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Allowing the nativity scene bulletin board to stay up in the school counselor’s room does provide Ms. Williams her right to freedom of speech as outlined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the Supreme Court stated, “It can hardly be argued that students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Thus, the First Amendment rights of public school employees and students were affirmed. However, in Tinker the Supreme Court also ruled that this freedom of speech is not absolute. Plus, they stated that a school district should have weighty justification to censor speech.

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