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Educational Institutions and Freedom of Speech

Chapter 12 talks about Freedom of Speech within educational institutions for students. The first question one could perhaps ask is, do we have freedom of speech within the walls of our schools. I could definitely argue that being in school comes with different sets of rules then bring out in the world. So exercising your freedom of speech, or your freedom to anything at that matter can’t amd will be challenged when facing a violation of any institutional rule that you may attend. This article I have linked, follows that very notion. It discusses the Tinker v. De Moines case that pivoted the area of freedom of speech for its advocates. Tinker was vindicated for exercising the right at the school gates, and it was ruled not have students do so at the school gates. Freedom of speech is proving again to be an area still in need of quicker advancement due to the progress of many communication devices and platforms such as the internet and social media. Do you all think that it’s right for schools to punish students based off of what they choose to advocate and speech on in their social media? Do these accounts act as a part of the “school gate”? Why has it been that students do get consequences for what they post online - in school?

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  1. AnonymousNovember 14, 2017 at 12:39 PM

    Social media posts do not happen in a vacuum. They can still affect the educational environment and interfere with student's ability to learn. However, if student's posts are not disruptive and can be classified as protected speech, there should not be any punishment for the student's posts. In cases where the students create fake profiles for teachers, that may be disruptive as it undermines the teacher's ability to teach so the school feels it has the right to punish students for that kind of expression. Or if a student posts something that is somehow threatening to other students and makes it difficult for them to learn in class, I can understand the school's desire to punish the student for the posts.

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