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The articles that were written in the high school newspaper, Spectrum, were blatant stories of misconduct amongst the students. When a student walks on the school ground their parents place the responsibility of what they see and hear in the hands of the principal. In this case, Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier what the students wrote in his newspaper was what he thought was inappropriate for the eyes of his students.
The principal did the right thing because he is liable for what is written within his school. In the case Miller v. the State of California the court states states have the a legitimate interest in prohibiting dissemination or exhibition of obscene material. However, this holds true only when there is a significant danger of offending the sensibilities of unwilling recipients or exposure to juveniles. Which without a doubt relates to these students because they are juveniles. Therefore stories about sex, birth control and divorce would be considered obscene to the majority of the student body.
As well as being obscene, the stories taken from the newspaper would have caused a disruption in the educational process and presented a discipline problem especially amongst the younger students. The case of Tinker v Des Moines School District, showed an example where the school banned students from wearing black arm bands protesting the Vietnam war. The course decision says that the district court dismisses the case on the grounds that the school board had acted constitutional and reasonably in an attempt to maintain discipline and avoid disruption in the educational process. In Tinker v Des Moines School District they limited the students speech because of the affects it would have on the student body. Such as in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier the principal excluded the two pages of the school newspaper because of the affect it would have on the student body, because the younger students would disrupt class and make jokes about the girl who wrote the stories on sex and birth control.
Even though you don t always like what you here or don t agree free speech is the most important constitutional right we have as American citizens. That brings me back to my question, should freedom of speech be limited at school? The answer to that question would be yes. My answer is supported by Bethel School District no 403 v Fraser schools must have the authority to guide young people into healthy and acceptable social forms of expression, speech is limited even for adults, and no one can claim that high school students are adults.
The principal of this Missouri high school knew what would come of these articles especially the reaction he would receive from the parents of his students. After all he is responsible the actions of these students from seven in the morning until they leave the school to go home. In conclusion, the principal had the very right to exclude the stories from his newspaper, in order to avoid the trouble that would have followed.
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Research essay sample on Des Moines School District
