Spring Break
Schools ignoring First Amendment
Sarah Zeeck
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
Public schools nationwide have become increasingly oppressive toward students, and Illinois is no exception to this phenomenon.
In Peoria, one girl in seventh grade was suspended for wearing maroon hair extensions, which her school deemed to be "disruptive." An eighth-grader in Mascoutah was given detention for hugging her friends. Her school considered this a public display of affection, which is prohibited in the school's handbook.
Though it is understood certain choices in wardrobe might be detrimental to a positive learning environment and certain public displays of affection should be well-monitored to foster a harmonious learning environment, punishments taken to this degree are more than simply strange - they are ridiculous.
Public schools are one of the earliest institutions established by the government. Preventing students from displaying such freedoms of expression is in direct violation of the students' First Amendment rights.
The girl who chose to wear maroon hair extensions was not acting in a manner that violated the rights of others. If such a policy is to be enforced by her school, the principal should suspend every person who has gotten highlights or dyed their hair peroxide-blonde or brassy brunette as well as every teacher who gets his or her annual touch-up to prevent their gray streaks from shining through.
As for the girl who dared to hug her friends, perhaps those classmates needed the comfort at the moment. It is understandable school officials would be leery of hand holding, kissing or groping, but a hug is more comparable to a handshake than a kiss. It is a method people use to greet one another, a method of consolation and is in no way impure. A hug in a spirit of comfort is a natural reaction for one student who is feeling empathy toward another.
Fewer and fewer inalienable rights will soon remain, and our lives will become bland, uninteresting and monotonous. By restricting First Amendment rights at such an early age, students will fall into the confines of conformity, which will spill over into adulthood. By stripping such rights from students, they become carbon-copy, gray-clad Orwellian nightmares at a very young age.
Rules are designed to protect the citizens of a nation rather than act as a means of control over America's people. Children attending a public school should be allowed to dress how they want, to an extent. They should be allowed to style their hair in manners befitting of their personality. They should be allowed to express themselves to one another in creative means.
Above all, they should not be intimidated out of utilizing their individual freedom.
In Peoria, one girl in seventh grade was suspended for wearing maroon hair extensions, which her school deemed to be "disruptive." An eighth-grader in Mascoutah was given detention for hugging her friends. Her school considered this a public display of affection, which is prohibited in the school's handbook.
Though it is understood certain choices in wardrobe might be detrimental to a positive learning environment and certain public displays of affection should be well-monitored to foster a harmonious learning environment, punishments taken to this degree are more than simply strange - they are ridiculous.
Public schools are one of the earliest institutions established by the government. Preventing students from displaying such freedoms of expression is in direct violation of the students' First Amendment rights.
The girl who chose to wear maroon hair extensions was not acting in a manner that violated the rights of others. If such a policy is to be enforced by her school, the principal should suspend every person who has gotten highlights or dyed their hair peroxide-blonde or brassy brunette as well as every teacher who gets his or her annual touch-up to prevent their gray streaks from shining through.
As for the girl who dared to hug her friends, perhaps those classmates needed the comfort at the moment. It is understandable school officials would be leery of hand holding, kissing or groping, but a hug is more comparable to a handshake than a kiss. It is a method people use to greet one another, a method of consolation and is in no way impure. A hug in a spirit of comfort is a natural reaction for one student who is feeling empathy toward another.
Fewer and fewer inalienable rights will soon remain, and our lives will become bland, uninteresting and monotonous. By restricting First Amendment rights at such an early age, students will fall into the confines of conformity, which will spill over into adulthood. By stripping such rights from students, they become carbon-copy, gray-clad Orwellian nightmares at a very young age.
Rules are designed to protect the citizens of a nation rather than act as a means of control over America's people. Children attending a public school should be allowed to dress how they want, to an extent. They should be allowed to style their hair in manners befitting of their personality. They should be allowed to express themselves to one another in creative means.
Above all, they should not be intimidated out of utilizing their individual freedom.
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