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Critical Thinking Paper

Jordan Delgado
Green Group
3/29/15

In many public schools, students and faculty are forbidden to freely exercise his/ her first
amendment rights, specifically the freedom of speech. When schools are censored, students have
more limited rights, and therefore he/she only receive information from a certain viewpoint.
Censorship in public schools violates students' basic first amendment rights because censorship
often clashes with liberties granted by the Bill of Rights, its critical for students to receive

diverse information and viewpoints to develop and learn , and is forbidden according to the
Educators Code of Ethics, therefore Montgomery County should cease to censor public schools.

Censorship is in all aspects of American life, particularly in government and in


entertainment. Though the Bill of Rights states that Americans have the freedom of speech, those
freedoms can be taken away in times of national crisis such as war. In the same way, the federal
government can revoke complete freedom of speech in public schools; however, it greatly limits
students expression. The form of censorship in the US, developed from alternative political
ideas in the early 20th century. Acts such as the Espionage Act of 1917 limited and in some
cases, prohibited freedom of speech granted by the First Amendment. Censorship branches off
into four different types; political, community, constitutional, and moral censorship. Each one
causes controversy, but moral censorship affects school censorship the most.

Education and development relies on contrasting viewpoints and diverse resources for
information. When schools are censored sometimes students are limited in their expression.
Moral censorship limits information based on the idea that the thought, word, or deed will harm
national security, disturb public order, or incite violence and anarchy (Censorship). This is a
more relaxed method of censorship, centering around issues such as, controversies over
prayer in schools, [or] condom machines on high school campuses, and the teaching of biblical
creation as a science, putting censorship in question by the courts. However, the Supreme Court
believes restricting the freedom of speech can be enforced more when involving a school setting.

The Bill of Rights states, 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 (Bill of Rights). Therefore, censorship of speech in public schools is
unconstitutional because it demolishes freedom of speech. For example, public schools cannot
force students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance because it might be against his/her religious
beliefs. In the court case West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette in 1943, the court voted
that the First Amendment protects students from taking action that conflicts with their religious
beliefs (Freedom of Speech). In a similar manner, the court cases, Texas v. Johnson (1989)
and United States v. Eichman (1990) allowed American flags to be burnt as a form of protest,
supported by the First Amendment. In all of the court cases, the rights of the people were upheld
by the First Amendment. For this reason, it is unconstitutional for schools to censor speech
because it restricts First Amendment rights.

To properly develop and learn, by accessing information to opposing viewpoints is


critical. It also is important in matters relating to politics because the ability to communicate
freely allows democratic citizens to obtain information about candidates running for office and
about matters of public policy (Freedom of Speech). The Supreme Court case Keyishian v.
Board of Education (1967) ruled, The classroom is peculiarly the marketplace of ideas. The
Nations future depends upon leaders trained through wide exposure to that robust exchange of
ideas which discovers truth out of a multitude of tongues, [rather] than through any kind of
authoritative selection (National Coalition Against Censorship). It is evidence like this that
illustrates how important having multiple views and being exposed to a wide variety of
information is.

According to the Educators Code of Ethics, educators Shall not unreasonably deny the
student's access to varying points of view (Code of Ethics). This proves my thesis by
demonstrating how censorship of speech should not be in public schools. According to Justice
Abe Fortas in the 1969 court case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School
District dealing with students wearing black armbands to class to protest the Vietnam war, high
school students [have] rights of free expression and that such symbols did not pose a threat to
others (Freedom of Speech). The Educators Code of Ethics also states educators Shall not
deliberately suppress or distort subject matter relevant to the student's progress (Code of
Ethics). This further proves my thesis because it forbids distorting information to fit a certain
viewpoint.

One way to better incorporate free expression in public schools would be to remove the
ban on conversations pertaining to religious, political, or other related material. In the court case
of Cohen v. California in 1971 disputing the use of a vulgar word on a clothing item, the Court
decided offended individuals could simply avert their eyes (Freedom of Speech). The same
could be done with offended individuals who disagree with a viewpoint of another. Within the
past few years, states have adopted legislation that is designed to punish so-called hate speech
that is motivated by animus against a particular ethnic, religious, or other group to try to solve
the negative side of free speech. In cases of slander and libel, censorship in schools should
remain to avoid conflict. According to the article Free Speech, Speech is more limited in that
there are times and places when privacy or safety rights may be adversely affected by
unlimited speech.This indicates that safety and privacy rights of others are times when free
speech should be limited.

In conclusion, censorship of speech in public schools is unconstitutional, decreases


students knowledge of opposing viewpoints, and is against the Code of Ethics for educators, and
therefore should be removed from Montgomery County Public Schools.

Works Cited
"Bill of Rights." ABC-CLIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. <http://americanhistory.abcclio.com/Search/Display/ 253941?terms=bill+of+right>.
"Censorship." ABC-CLIO. American Government, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/>.
"Code of Ethics." National Education Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.nea.org/home/30442.htm>.
"Freedom of Speech." ABC-CLIO. American Government, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/>.
National Coalition Against Censorship. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
<http://ncac.org/resource/first-amendment-in-schools/#TOC>.

"Preface to 'Are Schools Justified in Restricting Students' Expression?.'" Students' Rights.


N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.

Annotated Bibliography
1.MLA Citation:
"Censorship." ABC-CLIO. American Government, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/>.
Annotation: This resource has a full length article on censorship and the history of
censorship in the US.
2. MLA Citation:
"Code of Ethics." National Education Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.nea.org/home/30442.htm>.
Annotation: The code of ethics is the rules that educators have to follow. This is helpful
because it has information about what educators are allowed to do and say.
3. MLA Citation:

"Bill of Rights." ABC-CLIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015. <http://americanhistory.abcclio.com/Search/Display/253941?terms=bill+of+right>.


Annotation: This document has all the first 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights.
4. MLA Citation:
"Freedom of Speech." ABC-CLIO. American Government, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
<http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/>.
Annotation: This source contains valuable information on court cases dealing with
freedom of speech.

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