Section 4

A student was suspended for using vulgar language, leading to a Supreme Court case, Bethel School District v. Frazier. The court ruled 7-2 in favor of the school, stating that the use of vulgar language caused disruption and affected teaching. The precedent set by Tinker v. Des Moines allowed for freedom of speech as long as it didn't interfere with learning. Two justices dissented, arguing that there was no evidence of disruption. This case set a precedent for Hazelwood v. Coomer, where inappropriate content in a school paper was censored. The friend should still check the school policy before speaking freely. After that, I'm not surprised he was suspended for two days. Two days? Shouldn't he be protected by the First Amendment right to freedom of speech? That's what Frazier thought, which is why he took it to the Supreme Court, which started the case, Bethel School District v. Frazier. Okay, well now I'm kind of intrigued. What happened? It went all the way to the Supreme Court. What ended up being the decision? The decision was 7-2 in favor of Bethel School District. The majority found that it was appropriate for the school to prohibit the use of vulgar language. This is because it was found to have caused interruption to the school and affected the facility's ability to teach and keep order. The ruling was also dictated by the precedent set by the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case. That's right! Tinker v. Des Moines established that students do have the freedom of speech in school as long as it does not interfere with the learning of other students. Oh, I see. Wait, why were there still two people that dissented? Well, Justice Marshall thought that the school district failed to provide evidence that the speech did indeed disrupt the school. Justice Stevens, the other dissenter, said he, quote, does not give a damn because the innuendos were nowhere near as offensive as the school district thought. Huh, that is pretty interesting. But why does this all matter? Well, it set the precedent for the case of Hazelwood v. Coomer where pages of a school paper were deleted by the principal because they were seen as inappropriate. And because of the ruling in Bethel v. Frasier, the court sided with the school district once again. I guess it looks like I can say whatever I want. I'd agree, but I think you should still look at the school policy just to be sure. I guess I'll need to find a new campaign manager then. No!