First Amendment Rights and Online Schooling

This is relevant mostly to K12 students, and the thought that not being allowed to share certain information is "infringing" on First Amendment Rights.

I have had like fifty million classmates swearing, sharing emails and such, and then when they get told to stop, they are all "You are infringing on my rights!!!!!" �"It is entirely false to believe such a thing. Your "rights" are 'edited' by the establishment in which you are attending school. School is supposed to be a learning environment, and should therefore be a positive environment.

I do not agree with all of the standards of society, but honestly, the First Amendment is the least of my worries at this point. I am not the most "American" person, you can ask anyone on here and they'll tell you I've at some point said something unpatriotic, anti-American, or whatever you'd like to label it with. I know my rights, and I know what the loopholes and clauses and addendums to my rights are. That is because I am being raised by two people who are not sheep in a farmyard. We do not conspire against the government, because that is stupid and futile. You can't change the foundation of a world or society simply because it doesn't suit you; it is what it is. It took hundreds of years for it to get this way, how do you expect your rebellion is going to uproot it? How do you suppose you'll get special treatment? Many have tried to rebel, and all have failed. Why? Because it is impossible to entirely change something's roots, without literally wiping out the establishment and beginning anew.

That's not to say that fighting for general rights is futile-- That would be entirely dumb of me to say; especially being of the ethnicity that I am, and the fact that my ancestors fought for my rights long before I was even in thought of being conceived.

 

The First Amendment:

 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ~ The First Amendment

 

This provision has been incorporated against the states. ~ Incorporation Doctrine via Gitlow v. New York (1925).

 

The last I checked, K12 is not a state, nor is it Congress. Thus, the fact that they do have some standards for the behavior of the students attending their private establishment is entirely justified.

 

Freedom of speech includes the right:

·                                 Not to speak (specifically, the right not to salute the flag).West Virginia, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).

·                                 Of students to wear black armbands to school to protest a war (“Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.”).Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

·                                 To use certain offensive words and phrases to convey political messages.Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971).

·                                 To contribute money (under certain circumstances) to political campaigns.Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976).

·                                 To advertise commercial products and professional services (with some restrictions).Virginia Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748 (1976); Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977).

·                                 To engage in symbolic speech, e.g., burning the flag in protest. Texas, 491 U.S. 397 (1989); United States, 496 U.S. 310 (1990).

Freedom of speech does not include the right:

·                                 To incite actions that would harm others (e.g. “[S]hout[ing] ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.”).Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919).

·                                 To make or distribute obscene materials.Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957).

·                                 To burn draft cards as an anti-war protest.United States, 391 U.S. 367 (1968).

·                                 To permit students to print articles in a school newspaper over the objections of the school administration.Hazelwood, 484 U.S. 260 (1983).

·                                 Of students to make an obscene speech at a school-sponsored event.Bethel, 478 U.S. 675 (1986).

·                                 Of students to advocate illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event.Morse v. Frederick, __ U.S. __ (2007).

~ United States Courts (What Does Free Speech Mean? Article)

I still don't see anything about disobeying school rules being supported by the First Amendment...

 

Free Speech and School Conduct:

Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. __, 127 S. Ct. 2618 (2007)
School authorities do not violate the First Amendment when they stop students from expressing views that may be interpreted as promoting illegal drug use.

 

 

The aforementioned case involved the student (Frederick) was a 17-year old Senior in a Public School in Alaska waving a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a school-sponsored event. His principal (Morse) saw the banner and requested that he put it away, after he refused, she confiscated it. They ended up in court, and here's the new law. There are several other cases, as you can see above, with such arguments against the discretion of the First Amendment. It is a fact, plain and simple, that school administrators do not take away our rights, and cannot take away our rights, but they can limit the content in which students are allowed to project in school-sponsored arenas.

 

As it has been said several times, K12 is a private establishment. It is a public school, but the “rights” of the students are modified by K12’s administrative Code of Conduct, as well as the Federal Laws that protect minors and students from sharing certain information through the internet for their own safety, this does not in any way infringe on any citizen’s First Amendment rights.