Analysis Of The Article Bong Hits And Arms Bands On...

Bong hits and arms bands in school?! What in the world is the public education system coming to in America? Students are practicing their rights and their free speech. The First Amendment upholds the freedom of speech, press assembly, and petition. However, the Supreme Court has different justifications on these in schools and for students. Schools look to uphold the safety and security of the students and faculty in their care. There are two prominent cases that show the difference between free speech that is for students and that is not. Juneau-Douglas High School holds an event each year called the Olympic Torch Relay and in 2007 senior Joseph Fredrick unveiled his banner which had the words â€Å"Bong Hits 4 Jesus† on it in. This was a violation of the schools rule to not promote illegal drugs (Supreme Court). The case was brought to the Supreme Court, Morse v. Fredrick (2007), and they held, 5-4, that the â€Å"school authorities do not violate the First Amendment when they stop students from expressing views that may be interpreted as promoting illegal drug use† (uscourts.gov). Although in this case the Supreme Court was in favor of Morse, this is not always the case. Students do have limited free speech on high school campuses, however in the case of Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) the students won. The students were victorious in this case because of a stipulation of politics. They were protesting the Vietnam War in school by wearing black armbands with peace