Guest Columnist: Warren Spade, U.S. Department of Education
Good morning, UCSD High School! Your principal asked me to come here today to explain the limitations on your constitutional rights, namely your “”right”” to free speech.
Have any of you heard of something called the Bill of Rights? … No one? Good. Well, the Bill of Rights lets you say anything you want and there’s nothing your principal can do about it! Just kidding. In fact, as students at a public high school your speech can be censored by your teachers and your principal in a number of ways.
Don’t believe me? Take Morse v. Frederick, a case recently argued before the Supreme Court. Five years ago, when the Olympic torch passed through Juneau, Ala., local high school students were let out of class to watch. As the torch and the TV cameras approached, 18-year-old senior Joseph Frederick unfurled a 14-foot-long banner that read: “”Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”” His principal, Deborah Morse, marched across the street, crumpled the banner, and hurled it to the ground before cameras could see it. She then suspended Frederick.
Now you might think the principal’s actions were overkill, or the student was merely exercising his freedom of speech. But you’d be wrong, and here’s why.
You know, kids, that your school has a responsibility to teach you English, math and “”science.”” But did you also know it’s here to teach you the basics of good citizenship? Think about it. Teachers tell you to volunteer in your community, vote in elections, practice abstinence and most importantly of all: Obey the law. You might even say that part of the school’s educational mission is to teach you to be lawful.
Which brings us to the phrase “”Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”” To be clear, my bosses and I have absolutely no problem with something in a public school being “”for Jesus;”” in fact, we encourage it. The problem is the mention of “”bong hits.”” Bong hits, as we understand it, are puffs of the marijuana cigarette. And of course, marijuana is very, very illegal. Both your school and the Alaska school have strict anti-drug policies as part of their educational missions. It’s important that their “”drugs are bad”” message reaches your brains unobstructed and unquestioned.
That’s why the “”Bong Hits 4 Jesus”” banner lies outside the protection of the Constitution. In promoting bong hits, the banner disrupts the school’s anti-drug mission. According to Supreme Court precedent, student speech or expression which disrupts the school’s educational mission is unprotected and can be censored accordingly.
Now some hippies from the American Civil Liberties Union will tell you that in 1969, the court held that students don’t “”shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”” For one thing, the “”Bong Hits 4 Jesus”” incident took place outside the schoolhouse gate, on a public sidewalk. So that established precedent is irrelevant.
For another, they won’t tell you that since 1969, the court has backed off from its extreme assertion of free speech. In 1988, for example, the court permitted censorship of a school newspaper if it goes against the “”mission of the school.”” In that case, the court held that students’ experiences with pregnancy and divorce went against said mission, and pages containing those articles could be removed from the newspaper.
I hope you don’t think we’re censoring you because we’re bad people or are personally uncomfortable with frank discussions about sex or drugs. In truth, we do this for your own good.
Last month, at John Jay High School in New York, three 16-year-old girls were suspended after saying the word “”vagina”” when they read an excerpt from “”The Vagina Monologues”” at a school event. They protested the decision, of course, but they didn’t have a leg to stand on; John Jay High School has an explicit anti-vagina policy.
Now I know the question you’re all asking yourselves: Is there anything I can say that won’t get me suspended? Well, I know of one thing. You can profess your love of Jesus! A federal judge held last week that a school district violated a fourth-grader’s constitutional rights when it prohibited her from passing out flyers to her classmates about how Jesus gave her a new life.
Of course there are other things you’re allowed to say. Just make sure they don’t contradict your school’s educational mission. To be safe, check with your principal before you plan to say something controversial. I see a hand in the back. You have a question?
… That’s a good one. The question is: When do I actually get free speech?
The answer is college. There you’re free to say just about anything you like. You can criticize the curriculum or hang up a 14-foot-long banner that reads: “”Bong Hits 4 Jesus.”” You can even print a satirical sports article about a campus rape team.
I’m afraid that’s all the time I have. I want to thank your principal for inviting me here today, and all of you for listening so quietly. Thank you very much.