Student Rights Movement In Schools

Students’ School Rights With the exponential increase in school shootings comes an outbreak of political arguments. High school students across the nation criticize politicians for the lack of change. Students protest in school to persuade politicians and the community to modify gun law restrictions, but some school administrators discipline their students for participating in the walk-out. This caused controversy in the community because teachers, parents, and politicians divide on whether or not students have the right to skip class to politically protest. Students and many parents support the walk out because they believe students should be able to exercise their first amendment rights. Protesting in schools can be constructive by uniting

They coordinated a national nonviolent protest to exhibit their opinions which would be otherwise ignored since students aren’t able to vote as minor. Gwinnett county schools didn’t endorse the walk out so many of the protests assembled through social media platforms. Students propagated by posting information about the protest, encouraging each other to participate as groups, and listing their opinions to create a similar belief throughout the student body. Allowing students to protest in a similar fashion to the Tinker v Des Moines Supreme Court case encourages students to formulate their own beliefs and act accordingly. In the Tinker v Des Moines case, students planned to protest the Vietnam war by wearing black armbands. The school did a preemptive ban by saying they will discipline anyone who wears the black armbands. The students wore the armbands in spite of the warning and were punished. The Supreme Court granted certiorari and ruled in favor of Tinker. They decided students don’t ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate’ (ACLU). The case illustrates the students’ determination to change society’s present so the future can prosper. Endorsing protests on campus positively constructs the belief that students have to create their own ideas and take responsibility unto themselves to improve society whether it’s

The students not supporting the protest have the right to education, but that right can be infringed upon by the protests. Thus bringing the dilemma of whether school should protect freedom of speech or the right to education. In Morse v Frederick, a high school senior had a banner saying ‘Bongs Hit 4 Jesus’ during a school sanctioned event. He believed his freedom of speech should’ve protected him from any punishments thus landing him in the Supreme Court after indecision between district and state courts. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Morse because they deemed his speech as an advocacy for drug use (“Facts”). The dissenting party in the controversy condemn students’ opinions on the affirmation that students are immature. The Morse v Frederick case, as well as the Bethel v Fraser case, support this ideology. Bethel v Fraser is a Supreme Court case in which a student used sexual innuendos to advocate his friend for class president (Bethel). The percentage of protesters that use their freedom of speech this way is a minority. Politicians are inaccurate to dismiss students’ opinions as immature as they are prospective voters. The controversy surrounds high school students thus indicating students’ opinions are valued by the government. Both cases comically described their desire to own