Issue Explanation

According to the First Amendment all Americans have freedom of speech, and in the case of Tinker v. Des Moines the Supreme Court ruled that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." The question is, When may administrators in public schools restrict the speech of students. This issue is not just black and white, the only amendment dealing with this is the first amendment, and it's so short that it is open to different interpretations. Our nation was founded on democratic ideals that to this day continue to run and govern society. Two of these ideals, the rights to liberty and diversity, are ones that I think have meaning to this topic. The right to liberty is the right to freedom, it is every americans right to live life the way they want to live it, and it is their right to express themselves as they choose. However, the right to liberty comes with responsibilities. You can express yourself as you choose, but if in doing so you break laws or rights of others there will be consequences. It is within schools that this can get complicated. Should students have the same rights in school that everyone else has outside of school? Does free speech in schools ruin the learning enviornment? These are the types of questions that are hanging over this issue.