You've just learned about how the Supreme Court has treated students differently in cases involving free expression rights in the educational context.
Think about how the students were treated by the Supreme Court in the Tinker case and in the Hazelwood case. In one, the court is quite respectful of students and their right to express themselves; in the other, they were quite disdainful of students' rights.
What was your high school experience like for you and your classmates? Was it more like how the students were treated in Tinker or in Hazelwood?
Please share your experience in the comments section. It's up to you if you want to identify your school, but regardless of what you decide, be sure to give us some context to describe your school environment.
45 comments:
My high school experience was more similar to the Tinker case. I worked on the high school newspaper and we got away with writing some pretty scandalous articles. They were subject to review, however, by our faculty adviser and Journalism teacher who most of the time were very lenient in what they allowed published.
Allison Lange ITV class
I would say that my high school was more like that of the Hazelwood case. I went to a very small high school with a rule happy administration. We were required to wear a certain specific dress code. Some of the more ridiculous rules included: no brand names on any article of clothing could show, girls were not allowed to wear shirts any lower than the collar bone, shorts had to be knee length, boys could not wear camo, and only t-shirts with school emblem were allowed. I for one believe that it is more of a distraction to focus on dress code rather than on the education we were receiving. This high school in 2006 was still using corporal punishment! Not only that, the punisher was the girls softball coach. We were made to bend over a chair and hold the seat of the chair while we got spanked by a wooden paddle. There were many more unreasonable rules, but in consideration of time, I will not list them out.
Brittany Miller ITV class
Katie Riggs said...
I went to high school in Austin, TX, and from my personal opinion, students had quite a bit of freedom. Of course we had a dress code: no bare midriffs, no extensive piercings, shorts must be as long as your fingertips, etc., but these rules were barely enforced! School officials didn't discipline to the fullest extent of the dress code, and students would only be written up in the most extreme cases. For example, if a student decided to show up with a 3ft. tall purple mohawk, then that would have been reported. I have to give my school credit for having a more laid back atmosphere. I personally was never sent to the office or given a "write up" during my 4 years, and I have to say senior year I did push the boundaries a little. I'd say my school leans more toward the Tinker outlook. However, I wasn't in yearbook or on the newspaper committee, so their stories may be a little different.
I went to Boerne High School in the small town of Boerne, Texas where it is mostly quiet and conservative. During my entire high school experience, I cannot remember any time that a student protested something, or any kind of event where students legal rights were put into question. There were the typical drug and alcohol instances, like a student being in possession of marijuana, but the school was very good about keeping those problems to a minimum. With that said, I assume that if someone were to protest anything to their disliking, or give an inappropriate speech, that administrators would be very apt to protect the image of Boerne High School and the issue would be treated like the Hazelwood case.
My old high school would identify more with the Hazelwood case if the Supreme Court shared the same ideals as the school’s administration. During my junior year of high school there was a drastic switch that occurred almost instantaneously from the comfortable educational atmosphere to a strongly oppressive environment. Everything we did was filtered through our teachers and the newly Nazi administration. If we were late more than twice it was automatic detention. If we weren’t wearing our dog tags...I mean nametags, detention. If we wore red or blue, anything representing gang colors, detention. It got so bad that they even moved our beloved afterschool pep rallies to the god-awful hour of 7 a.m. This is when we decided to revolt against the school and hold a petition between 3rd and 4th period to chant our complaints about the time change. Administration freaked but multiple suspensions and parent conferences later (neither of those I was involved in, thank goodness) class of 2009 is now known for that day. The day students stood up for themselves against school authority.
My high school, Alamo Heights High School, in San Antonio was pretty relaxed. The administrators were a little crazy but no more than normal, I think. But then again, I have heard from the younger grades that my grade was legendary for having the most "bad seeds". I think the students took the liberty to do whatever they wanted and really didn't seem to even appreciate the freedoms we enjoyed. For example, upperclassmen were allowed to leave campus for lunch. That was really cool, and I don't think many other schools allow that.
On a side note, Brittany Miller's school sounds CRAZY! I can't believe they used corporal punishment!
My high school experience better resembles the Tinker case. I went to a brand new high school senior year, so the teachers and administration had much bigger things to worry about than dress code regulations. There were no protests or ridiculous suspensions that i can recall. However, I feel like if the newspaper would have posted something controversial, they would've been reprimanded.
Brittany Miller's high school experience is so foreign to me. Parents would have never let that fly at my school. It is weird how different schools are.
T/Th Media Law
Kelsey Kotzur
My high school experience was much like the Hazelwood case. My senior year, one of our students wanted to start a "Gay-Straight Alliance" club to discuss bullying and how we can all get along. Our principal was against this club and didn't allow it to meet at our school. The leader of the group went to the Superintendent of the district and was shot down by her, as well. The student then took it to the city news, college campuses, and by the end of it, national news. The controversy even aired on CNN for a while. Many members of the local community gathered in front of our school for a protest during school one day. Students attending classes were not allowed to join the protest until after school was over, and students were NOT allowed to walk in the front hallway of the school (the hallway closest to the protest).
I was editor and chief of our school newspaper at the time. It was not my position to choose sides, but it was my position to report the news. Our paper required prior review and at this point in time, our principal was extra careful about what was printed in our paper. When I went to him and asked if we could report on the protest, he was very definite in his answer of, "No."
I believe it was our right to report about what was going on at our school, especially something that newsworthy. However, because of Hazelwood, we were denied and never got to report on such an important event.
Ila Mar
Media Law T/Th 12:30
My high school, Liberty, in Frisco, Texas, was functioning more like how the students were treated in the Tinker case. I remember my sophomore year, when Obama was elected for the first time, several people came to school will various items in support of (flags, giant Obama heads, etc) and in opposition of (GOP shirts, mccain stickers) the result. This behavior was not punished - although it made for very rowdy hall passing periods. In fact, it was even welcomed in the classrooms to have debates as opening activities about the election. We even watched the inauguration during some classes, which was certainly not a part of the curriculum, but it was still welcomed.
Olivia O.
TTH media law class
I grew up in Wylie, Tx, (Dallas area) which has been featured in several magazines as "one of the fastest growing cities in Texas." Went from only having a local supermarket 10 years ago to now having walmart,target,kohls, and they are also building a movie theater as well. My 8th grade year the school district enforced "standardized dress" (polos tucked in and khaki pants with belt) as the the town grew and grew! It was pathetic how the town thought since they were growing so fast that "gangs" were a problem in this old fashioned country town. At school one day 15 plus kids got sent home because they were all wearing the same polo/outfit/acessories because the school officials cconsidered it "gang related to have numerous students wear pink polos." Yet, all the students wore in appropriate uniform??? It was ridiculous!
My high school was similar to the Hazelwood case. I was vice president of my senior class and I was often in contact with our principle. His favorite word seemed to be "no". We weren't allowed to have a powder puff football game because it would create drama because girls were "caddy". We weren't allowed to have a Mr. Johnson pageant because my principle said he rather girls be up there than boys. He didn't give the students much free range and I could only imagine what he would do if our student body wore arm bands to protest a war, I'm almost certain all of us would be suspended.
Shelbi Rodriguez
Media Law T/TH 12:30
My high school experience was more related to the Hazelwood case. For anything to be distributed in the school there had to be administrative approval or you could get in trouble. This included anything said in the year book, any announcements, fliers, newspapers, and things of that sort. If the administrative person looking over the piece of publication thought it was inappropriate then the practice of prior restraint took place. It didn't matter if the publication would cause disturbance of school it just mattered if the opinion of the administration was in agreement.
Natalie King
Media Law, T/Th 12:30
I actually had a great high school experience, so I would say that I relate closer to the Tinker v. Des Moines case. I felt like they treated me as an adult and encouraged free speech and creativity in writing. I went to Austin High School, which is a public school that was very diverse in race and economic status. We were not required to wear uniforms and there were no rules with short shorts/skirts/ words on shirts/etc. Come to think of it, the school did ban specific colors together to be worn at school, but only because they were gang colors and I guess there were some problems. I never felt that my constitutional rights were shed at the schoolhouse gates. Maybe there just wasn't enough done that it ever became an issue, but the free expression rights of the students were not regulated.
Alissa Catalano
Media Law
T/TH 12:30-1:50
My high school experience wasn't really one way or the other. I was in a variety of different groups and organizations at Stony Point H.S. in Round Rock. Being a big football school when I was there and being in Williamson County, the school tended to lean more supportive of athletics and was very conservative in nature. We couldn't wear hats or have bandanas and there was a dress code. But really for me I never had to deal with any of that. The one good thing about my school was the faculty really gave us some space to express ourselves. Looking back I wish I could have pushed a little more buttons with the administration but all in all I had a good time.
I worked on the yearbook and newspaper staff at my high school, but my experience was very much different than that of the students in the Hazelwood case. I was fortunate to have a teacher that encouraged the kind of free expression that the students in the Tinker case experienced. Unfortunately I think a lot of the concern by school officials comes from the erra of hyper-political correctness we live in.
My high school experience was a mix between the two cases. Georgetown is quite conservative primarily due to the retirement community, Sun City, located on the outskirts of town. The senior citizens that lived there kept up with the school district and the regulations that were made. They had a big say on a lot of dress code policies we had. There were quite a few dress code regulations such as hair color and not allowing cuss words on clothing, but others like mandatory ID's faded away a few weeks into the school year. In regard to speech, most teachers and faculty were not very lenient on what you said especially if it was directed toward another faculty member.
My high school experience was very similar to the Hazelwood case. We had a strict dress code that consisted of tucking in our shirts, had to wear a belt (if we didn't they provided a rope of some sort), and no facial hair. We had to wear identification at all times if we were in the halls. We were not allowed to leave campus for lunch. It was basically a prison.
My junior high relates more to Hazelwood. In 7th grade I wrote a note to a friend of mine who decided to read it during her history class. Her teacher took up the note and decided to read it. In the note, I mentioned a Bowling For Soup music video that was "inappropriate" by the school's standards. The note also contained curse words and such that administrators considered inappropriate as well. The note was turned over to the principle who punished me by kicking me off the cheerleading squad and track team and giving me three days of in school suspension. The note was also photocopied and distributed to all of the seventh grade teachers. For what purpose, I have no idea. But I felt like I had no rights at that school and our administrators enforced and enacted new rules however they pleased.
I believe that my high school experience started out similar to Tinker. We were able to dress freely everyday with a few minor restrictions such as skirt length, cleavage, necessary restrictions. However, my sophomore year until my Senior year we had uniforms similar to a private schools uniform. We couldn't even wear sweaters that didn't have our school name on them in red white or blue. People were suspended for being out of dress code, and I felt like that took away from our freedom to express ourselves with the way we dressed. I could understand if it was a private school but we were in public school and they took it to the extreme.
I experienced both types of regulation and administration. I went to a private school for my first year of HS. Everything was highly regulated and controlled. We had to behave, talk and wear what and how we were told. We didn't have much freedom to be ourselves, or share our personal thoughts on "politics" for example. I remember getting written up for arguing my point about former President Bush. I was told it was unfair to the other classmates sharing a one-sided view. UNHEARD OF WOULDN'T YOU SAY?!?!
For my next three years of high school, I went to the public, Stony Point HS just a couple miles from the Round Rock campus. Maybe because of the class size, or going from private to public, but everything was different. No one seemed to care about anything, including discipline. Based on the other responses here, I pick up that every school is different, and every child/young adult will have a different learning and molding environment/experience.
At my high school, it was a violation of dress code to dye your hair unnatural colors (Anything other than, blond, brunette, black, or red). So certain kids got in trouble for dyeing their hair green or pink.
Yet, on days where there were pep rallys for football games, or celebratory weeks like homecoming week; dyeing one's hair red,white, or blue was considered permissible, given that those colors were patriotic in nature.
So i feel that these rules were unfair, because they discriminate against some colors, but not all. And even though certain colors were only allowed at specific times throughout the year, that didn't make red or blue hair any less distracting in the classroom.
I attended Central Catholic High School in San Antonio, TX, so being a private and Catholic school, my experience was definitely mirrored Hazelwood the most. Although we didn't have a uniform (which I was used to in the past), we did have a dress code of khaki pants and a polo shirt (all male school) which I thought was much nicer than a uniform, but we would still get in trouble if we went out of those boundaries. Our hair had to be nicely kept (short and no color) and we had to be cleanly shaven. JROTC was a requirement for two years for everyone which I disliked, especially the uniform that came with it. Four years of religion classes were also an obvious requirement. We could get fines for a lot of things such being caught with cell phones, electronics, or disorderly conduct. Naturally, these kind of strict rules only encouraged students to act out more during certain times, such as the last day for seniors in which all hell breaks down in the school. Although I don't remember specifics, they were still lenient on certain things and having different opinions/religions/etc. weren't discriminated against, so I guess there was still some Tinker for us, but it was definitely mostly Hazelwood.
Christoper Salinas
ITV Media Law
I think my high school was more like Hazelwood. It was a public school, but still had necessary boundaries and punishments for things. We had a dress code that even regulated hair coloring, specific times you couldn't be in the hall without a pass, and very regulated assemblies. I don't recall a real oppressive event, but I know it wasn't hard to get in trouble. I remember a friend getting called to the principal's office for her offensive shirt and having to go home and change , or wear something over it from the lost and found.
I believe my high school was more like the Tinker case. I went to a public high school in Pearland, Texas. Although we did have certain restrictions of expression, such as dress code and hair color, the administration was very respectful and lenient on issues such as school-sponsored events and otherwise. I was involved in yearbook for my high school years and they would let us publish most of the work with some minor edits. We were treated with respect and as adult’s majority of the time.
I went to Ronald Reagan High School in the North East part of San Antonio. I would say my high school was more like the Tinker case. We did have rules such as no mohawks, hair coloring, spikes on jewelry, skirts had to be below kneecap, tank tops had to have straps with more than 3 fingers width, etc. But it was nothing too serious. I'd say we got away with a lot. Of course both my parents are administrators in North East ISD so maybe I've been brainwashed? HA. Just kidding. My friends and I had a pretty good experience in high school. Although my friend had on a dress one day that was apparently too low cut and too short so they made her change into athletic sweat pants and a P.E. tshirt that she had to wear with her heels the rest of the day...she never wore a dress the rest of her HS career ha.
Monday's. 2:00-4:50pm.
Kaitlyn Van Cleave
My high school was somewhat lenient and was more like the Tinker case but my middle school was like the almost exactly like the Tinker case but with a different result. I attended a middle school in Houston. The administration would shut down most trends as soon as they could. One day the school did a sweep and many students were made to remove accessories or suspended for a day because they were wearing "gang affiliated" colors. These colors were the light pink and baby blue that was popular at the time. Girls were suspended for wearing pink! Many angered parents contacted the school but I don't think it resulted in any other than complaints. The ban on such colors only lasted about a week because of all the chaos it caused.
Marcelo Mayen TTH 12:30
My high school experience was more similar to Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. I wrote, filmed, and directed various segments that promoted school events for our morning announcements. I was allowed to air pretty much anything I wanted as long as it wasn't obviously offensive. I did this for almost two years straight and never had any problems. Then one random day our principle decided to make a new rule of prior restraint. He had to review all of our work before letting it air on the morning announcements to make sure it was "appropriate." That pissed a lot of people off and interfered with our creative process.
I attended a high school in Lubbock, TX and although the city itself is described as being very conservative, we as students had much leeway in terms of free expression. I remember during races for positions in our student government students were allowed to give speeches to the student body that were never approved beforehand. We even had an annual event called Miss LHS which was a beauty pageant where the boys would dress in women's clothing and the girls would dress in men's clothing. Due to these facts I would have to say that as students we had more in common with how the student in the Tinker case were treated.
Laura Villalobos, Honors
Will Oliason
M 2-5
I would say that my school was more of the Tinker variety. There were few rules other than the standard ones to maintain decency, and all of the administrators tried to understand the whole incident before they made their decisions.
My high school was more like the Tinker case because we had freedom to write about diverse topics as long as they didn’t disrupt the educational process and were not highly controversial. We of course had prior review before publishing any articles. We did have a dress code but it wasn’t enforced unless it was related to any with gang affiliation.
My high school experience did not have any controversy at all. I went to a Catholic high school so I would imagine that had anyone thought of protesting anything, Sister Emily would have just suspended you. She was a no nonsense woman. She was straight with you and expected everyone to behave correctly on school grounds. Nothing was every threatened by her but you just knew not to cross her. Maybe it is because we always heard Sisters were mean.
Pete G. ITV Media Law
So, I'm trying to remember all the way back to high school. I graduated from Hays High School in Buda in 1993 and I swear there were very few controversies. I think the main thing that happened after I left (that I know of) is the argument over the Confederate Flag that is our school flag. To me the flag was just colors and stripes, but I can understand how it could be offensive to someone. I know a black male that transferred to the school and he made us laugh when we told us about stepping off the school bus on the first day and seeing the flag above him (he was from Georgia). I think my school was so isolated at the time and technology was so limited that we weren't really affected by much. Or maybe we just ignored everything. I'd like to think that we were more Tinker than Hazelwood, but we were such a liberal school that I'm not sure how the school staff would've reacted to either of the issues. I'm guessing they probably would not have!
My high school experience was quite different. The students who would speak their mind usually had no idea what they were talking about so teachers believed that all students were as ignorant as those who did speak up. They treated us like children when in actuality we were young adults and teenagers. I was quite involved in high school so for me it was easy to speak up because I was always in the public eye. But for others, their voices were hard to hear at times which made high school similar to hell for some.
I graduated from HS in 1985 and things were quite different in some respects than today.
I don't remember anyone being politically or civic minded at that time. After all, it was really long time ago for me. However, I can appreciate the rights of student to have free political speech. It is an important aspect of this country.
I can also understand the need to temper other forms of free speech. Schools are in a difficult spot. On one hand trying to foster youth in critical thinking and with that surely comes opinions yet on the other hand schools have to deal with parents and their opinions.
Finding common ground that all can agree with is they grey area of no-mans land.
Like the first post, I commented, but it didn't save! Whoops!
I think my class was more like Hazlewood. I took photography classes in high school, and knew a ton of people on the school news and newspaper staff. We were all really restricted in terms of what we were allowed to print, photography or present. It made us all really frustrated, but looking back it all makes sense because there was only one high school in Allen, and we had about 6,000 students in the school. With that many kids, anything even the slightest bit controversial would cause an uproar among one group of parents or another. Allen is a very conservative town, so anything inappropriate was always blown out of proportion. My friend turned in a photograph (a really great one, I might add) of a girl smoking a cigarette. The teacher said that while she personally like it, it would not be included in the school competition because of it's inappropriate content. It was really disappointing to be so tied down like that.
My high school experience was similar to the Hazelwood case. My high school was really strict and we were required to wear uniforms, we couldn't wear any piece of clothing with a logo on it and we couldn't have any outrageous haircut or hair color. Specifically, my friends and I bought a spread in the yearbook and listed all our favorite quotes and songs from highschool, one being Britney Spears' "If U Seek Amy"--which has a underlying sex meaning. Once the yearbook got published, a parent brought the yearbook to the principle and highlighted "If U Seek Amy" causing tons of controversy... In the end my friends and I had to write an apology letter to the principle and we were not allowed to attend a event called "Senior Bash." What an outrage! haha.
Jonathan Hoffman Monday Media Law 2-4:50
My High school was a lot like Hazelwood. Our school newspaper was reviewed by the principle before it was published. Students were not treated as intelligent adults like they were in Tinker's case.
My secondary schooling experience was very reminiscent of the Hazelwood case. The school administrators were the authority from our dress code to whether or not we were even allowed to leave the classroom to use the restroom more than 3 times per quarter. It was absurd. I understand that as minors in a public schooling system that we are liabilities and will be watched like hawks, but sometimes I feel that school officials take extreme power trips.
Vanessa R.
M/W 12:30-1:50pm
I went to high school in a small town outside of Austin, Tx. I would like to think our administration was very strict with many dress code rules, needing to always carry and ID around the neck and no clothes or wearing of clothes in a certain way because of gang related purposes. I would view overall the high school being more like Hazelwood but there were some loopholes that I could see more of a Tinker case. For instance the journalism department did get freedom, even after review before publication, to write about diverse and a light taste of controversy. My freshmen year we still waved and some/most very proud students wore and promoted the confederate flag all throughout our school and at school functions. By the time I left it was still being worn, seen on cars, but they changed the school flag. Even with all the rules enforced on practicing human expression through outer appearance the flag still stands.
My experience was definitely more like Hazlewood. I worked as in office assistant and I remember students who had never gotten in trouble before were reprimanded for wearing a blouse (girls had to wear standard unisex garments), for instance.
My sophomore year in high school I had forgotten my id badge and my homeroom teacher, (who was an otherwise nice fellow) sent me to the office. The assistant principal assigned for my graduating class had an authoritarian streak. She told me to contact someone who could bring me my badge. Unfortunately I couldn't get a hold of anyone, so she sent me to the detention center the rest of the day. It was ridiculous on many levels that I missed out on valuable school time, especially since I had already missed school because of an illness in the family.
I learned to be better informed of the student handbook because I later read that I was granted a one-day waiver for not having my badge. I wish I had known my rights, then. It still boils my blood that that woman sent me to a place I had never been to before or since, simply because I didn't have a badge hanging from my neck.
I wasn't not a fan of a lot of the policies enforced at my high school, but that was the consequence of living in a community where parents delegated so much authority over their children to government workers like these overzealous public school employees.
I vocalized my opinion on the new dress code when it was introduced when I was in middle school to an assistant principal who asked me about it. I told her I believed the dress code (which was almost nearly a uniform and not "standardized")robbed the student's of their individuality. I'll always remember, me as a pubescent child posing a thought that had never crossed this bureaucrat's mind.
My school was always similar to Tinker my sophomore year. They used to allow us during homecoming week we could "wrap" that school. Cover it with toilet paper. Also there was a "sophomore hell week" during homecoming week where there were huge water balloon fights (upperclassmen vs. sophomores)and these traditions had been doing on for years. Up until my grade was no longer sophomores. I guess people in my grade were rowdier than the others because when it came time to wrap the school certain students busted a window in a building and started smoking weed in a classroom. Also, during the water balloon fights there were balloons with bleach and pee in them and a student actually got ran over by a truck during one of the water balloon fights. After that the administration swapped for a more Hazelwood approach. I can't say I blame them.
My high school experience most resembled the Hazelwood case. I went to a very small high school where there was little freedom to the students. We had uniforms that consisted of only three colors of shirts. The shirts had to be collared and could not have a logo on them. The dress code was strictly enforced by all the faculty and staff. Little things that didn't really matter, such as tucking in your shirt, would get you a trip to detention if you did not do as told.
I can't complain, though. I had a great high school experience. I think that without our rules strictly enforced, then the behavior would have been worse than it was. Because we lived in such a small town, the behavior from the vast majority of the school, was awful. We had a problem with students trying to bring knives and drugs to school. Our teachers had to enforce the little rules to make sure that the bigger rules were taken care of as well.
Kenzi Morton
TTh 12:30
My high school was most like the high school in the Tinker case. We had a huge student population, almost 4000 kids. We were not required to wear uniforms, we had a school newspaper with relative freedom and teachers encouraged open discussion.
However, just like all schools, there were limits to our freedoms. We couldn't swear, we couldn't fight with other students, we couldn't bully, etc.
I feel that my school did a pretty good job of balancing our rights as people and rules to keep things in order.
Kerri Driver
TTH 12:30
My High school was a different experience than most high school experiences, due to the fact that I was uprooted half way through my junior year. We came from Switzerland, which was a lot like Hazelwood in the fact that we could wear what we wanted, express what we wanted, and over all everyone was exepted for their differences, but nobody really went drastic with it.
Once we moved to Austin, it was a totally different. I was placed in Westlake High School were everyone was dressed up like Barbie and Ken dolls. There weren't many people than expressed their differences in how they dressed. Everyone looked very "straight and narrow". Come to find out that the reason behind this, was that there were limits as to the freedoms you had with your clothing, words, etc. This was more like Tinker.
This was hard adjustment to make.
Lindsay Rosenberg T/TH 12:30
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