Why We Should Not Be Allowed To Regulate In Schools Essay

There is no doubt that student use of social media has drastically increased over the years, which in turn has drawn attention from schools. This attention has caused schools to try to regulate and punish students’ for what they post on social media, even if it is in no way related to the school. This is very dangerous because if we allow schools to regulate freedom of speech, then what else are they going to regulate? I believe that schools should not be allowed to punish students’ for what they post on social media, because it infringes on their First Amendment right to freedom of speech, and gives the school far too much power; however there are some who would argue that schools should have complete and total authority over their students

Des Moines, said “Students and teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (“Tinker v. Des Moines, Freedom of Speech for Students” 5). Tinker v. Des Moines was a court case where students wore armbands in protest of the Vietnam War and were suspended for it, this case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court and resulted in a 7-2 vote that students have the same rights as everyone else and can’t be restricted unless it actually disrupts the running of the school. Abe’s quote reinforces the fact that schools have no right to police students’ speech or expression. When talking about a case about a cheerleader suspended for a post she made on Snapchat after not making the varsity team, Justin Driver, a law professor at Yale, said “Judicial decisions that permit schools to regulate off-campus speech that criticizes public schools are antithetical to the First Amendment” (Liptak 9). This quote shows that if schools were allowed to police their students' speech, even if it's just a criticism, then it would be in stark contrast to the 1st

Schools cannot be allowed to punish and regulate a student’s speech on social media, because it is a huge invasion of privacy; if students had to provide schools with their information on social media then they would be able to look at anything they wanted. If schools were able to regulate students’ social media, then what is stopping them from regulating more than that? These reasons show why schools should under no circumstances be allowed to regulate and punish students’ social media. To summarize, if schools were allowed to police and punish speech on social media it would be a huge problem. If they were able to regulate students’ social media, it would be a violation of the First Amendment, and give schools far too much power. Schools have no right to tell students what they should or should not post unless it is going to cause disruption. Schools, unless it threatens someone's health or safety or disrupts the school, should not be allowed to regulate and punish students’ freedom of