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in support of free expression
The information presented here by the National
Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) may be freely redistributed in its entirety,
provided that readers are informed that the information was obtained from
NCAC's World Wide Web site and that credit is given to the appropriate source
of whatever information is used. Permission is expressly granted for the information
obtained to be made available for file transfer from installations offering
unrestricted anonymous file transfer on the Internet. Information found here
may not be sold for profit or incorporated in commercial documents without
the written permission from the National Coalition Against Censorship.
©Copyright 2005 NCAC
WEB DESIGN
Jeanne Criscola Criscola Design
YFEN
Express Yourself! Op-Eds
Freedom of Speech "At the Schoolhouse gate" by Melissa Bykofsky
(Winner of the New York Press Association $10,000 First Prize)
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. – First Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America
“A school environment devoid of free expression is not likely to produce an adult ready to support the sentiment attributed to Voltaire, ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’” -- Death by Cheeseburger, from a research paper by Robert Trager and Joseph A. Russomanno.
As the editor-in-chief of the West Hempstead High School Rampage, our student newspaper, I often find myself torn between where a student’s freedom to express opinion ends, and the school’s authority to control – or even suppress – that expression begins.
In 1969, the United States Supreme Court held that free speech does not stop “at the schoolhouse gate” (Tinker v. Des Moines), but that gate has been steadily closing upon the student press – and upon the First Amendment – ever since.
Under the guise of protecting student and teacher, administrator and parent, both form and content of school newspapers have come under the glaring – and sometimes repressive – scrutiny of teacher-advisors, high school principals, and even district superintendents, some of whom exercise – in the name of “good judgment” – what amounts to blatant censorship.
True, the thought of a bunch of teens running amuck with notepad in hand and pencil tucked behind ear can be frightening to the unassuming adult – particularly where that pencil might just write something untoward about a school policy, a school lunch, or a school bully – but these are the chances we take in a society that cherishes (at least in principle) freedom.
While a school district cannot, for instance, publicly advocate for the passage of its own budget, should it follow that a student-run school newspaper should not postulate in favor of a “yes” vote? Moreover, can – and should -- the school district act to stop the publication of student-generated expression (that envisioned by the framers of the First Amendment, which places no restriction on the rights of free speech or a free press based on age or level of education) that may run counter to school district policy?
I will note, more than parenthetically, that in West Hempstead, our teacher-advisor and district administration embrace a fairly liberal interpretation of students’ First Amendment rights, a policy that is reflected in the editorial freedom of Rampage. Could this practice change under an advisor and/or administration more concerned with preserving the district’s self-interests than with the students’ rights of free speech? In a heart beat!
In our search for the truth [mindful that this may be a “teen’s truth,” not always held by others to be self-evident], short of the libelous or the inciting, the obscene or the labeling of editorial comment as objective reporting, students should be free to express themselves in school newspapers, without undue restraint from teachers and/or administrators.
Granted, this may generate discord and debate, and we, as stewards of the school paper and guardians of a free press, may find ourselves at odds with school district policies and the commonly accepted order of things – that which such tender minds cannot possibly understand.
Still, I believe this to be a good thing. For to usurp the power of the student press – however heavily or clumsily we may, on occasion, tread – would be to stand the First Amendment’s protection of free speech and a free press on its head, and undermine the very foundation of our democratic society.
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