The “Quad-Fecta” of Student Speech
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the freedom of speech to any person in the United States. Since the mid 20th century, there has been controversy about freedom of speech, especially in the school setting. These controversies led to four very important cases that have paved the way for the freedom of speech that is or is not allowed in school today. These four cases are Tinker v. Des Moines, Bethel v. Fraser, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, and Morse v. Frederick. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District was the first case of freedom of speech for students. This case took place in 1969 in Des Moines, Iowa. John F. Tinker and his siblings and friends decided to wear black armbands to school in order to protest the Vietnam War. The principals and other parents and students were not fond of this gesture because they thought it was disrespectful to the people who were serving in the war. The principals of the school heard about this before it occurred and decided to make a policy that stated that any student that wore these black armbands would face consequences. These consequences included taking off the armband and being suspended until the student agreed to not wear the armband anymore. The children wore the armbands to school and were suspended. The Tinker family decided to take this to court. This case went all the way to the Supreme Court where they ruled in the favor of Tinker. The case law that resulted from this case stated that schools could only suspend speech if: 1) the speech causes problems or disrupts the educational process; 2) the speech has caused problems in the past; 3) the speech violates the constitutional rights of another student. This case decision has been the foundation for the other cases that occur. The second case of student speech is Bethel