Upon opening the Students' Rights Handbook, I felt a bit apprehensive. Could it be possible that my school was hiding something from me and limiting my rights? Did I really want to know about a variety of inequalities between my status as a student and normal citizens?
Within the first two pages, my fears were already being confirmed. Although students' rights are established and protected by the U.S. Constitution, the New Jersey Constitution, federal and New Jersey state laws and the courts, "rights that you might have on the street may not apply when you are in a public school." The first headings that caught my attention were Types of Clothing and Hair. As the handbook states, "A student does not necessarily have a First Amendment right to wear a particular type of style or clothing." The courts seem to need some explanation as to what message certain clothing conveys. What if I just like the way it looks or makes me feel? Why does it matter if the male students in Illinois who wore earrings did not convey some message? It is certainly not fair to prevent a student from wearing certain clothing because it does not convey "a particular message", especially if it does not really affect the school environment. Similarly, "school officials may...require students to alter hairstyles if they interfere with work, create a disruption in the classroom or elsewhere in the school, or present a clear and present danger to health or safety." This seems a bit extreme. Hair is another form of self expression, and I honestly don't see many ways in which it could really pose a danger to the school environment. Other issues should be dealt with other than the controversiality of someone's hairstyle.
Under Student Newspapers and Publications, I quickly found a point I did not agree with: "School officials may exercise editorial control over both the style and the content of school-sponsored newspapers and other publications, so long as the restrictions they impose are reasonably related to a valid educational policy." In the real world, newspapers are relatively free to publish what they desire. It does not seem reasonable not to translate this value to the school. I do see the need to limit it somewhat to keep an orderly environment, but students should otherwise be free in expressing their ideas and opinions.
The last statement in the handbook that caught my eye was under Censorship of Information: "As to classroom texts, the school's authority is much broader because of the school's duty to teach "community values" in the classroom. Accordingly, schools may select books that are consistent with those values." If public schools are not allowed to teach and advertise a certain religion, they should not be able to select books to teach their "community values". These "community values" can act in the same way as a religion can, imposing a certain mindset on students.
Overall, I see the need for limiting some students' rights. We are just kids, after all, and we need some guidance. However, we shouldn't be so limited in areas of our dressing and hairstyles, school newspapers, and censorship. In the real world, citizens are free to express themselves, so we should get this same right. Going to school with an abundance of work and lack of sleep makes me mad enough already--you don't want to push my buttons by putting restraints on my student rights.
I agree. Self-expression should not be as strictly regulated as it is in schools. Personally, I am not offended be the way certain people dress. If someone comes to school in their underwear, then I think there might be a problem. However, if a students wants to wear a shirt with a "Corona" bottle on it, what's the problem. The issue is the t-shirt promotes a illegal substance, however the shirt is not forcing students to drink alcohol or saying alcohol is good for you. I don't feel a urge to drink Dr.Pepper when someone walks in with a soda logo plastered on their t-shirt.
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