Taking away the freedom of any person is a real crime

Michael Morrow

January 24, 2013

AP English – D3

    Taking away the freedom of any person is a real crime, especially after all the hardships and group of people went through. High schools censoring and taking away their voice is like taking the microphone away Hitler and taking the Nazi’s guns. High school students should be allowed to speak their minds in order to reach a high maturity level for the world beyond high school.

    First, why would anyone think of having journalists and do not expect them to spark a little controversy from time to time. It is unconstitutional for any school to prohibit students from “[…] ‘shedding their constitutional rights… at the schoolhouse gate’” Students should contain the same rights they have had before they walked into the school. The principal focused on what the student journalists said, he overlooked the deeper problem of how divorcing parents effects students, which could cause them to be dysfunctional in school or how the pregnant students ay heavily effect the school’s attendance rates. The principal did not look beyond the paper to see the meaning, all he saw was something that could upset or offend students.

    Pursuing this further, was the principal no expecting these types of articles from students? Did he ever think about the god it might actually do? “The Hazelwood principal believed that the stories he censored were unfair and inappropriate for teenagers.” The principal has forgotten that he was dealing with a group of people who are at the peak of adulthood. The Court said to “Censor any expression that does not properly reflect the school’s educational mission.” What the court did was flawed. In most cases, the students do not know what their school’s mission is. A school’s mission should be to prepare students minds for college and further, not take away expression.

    Although, the final decision is highly disagreeable, I cannot help but to endorse the ways the Court listed. “Review student expression in advance, even when no guidelines define what will or will not be censored.” But to “Use this power to control expression through any school-sponsored activity,” is ridiculous. Having the principal “serve as publisher” would not be the reasonable choice because, students knows what their peers want to see. Yes, a school administrator or official was once a student but, times has grown different between the past and current time of students now.

    To sum this all up, high school students should be allowed to speak their minds in order to reach a high maturity level for the world beyond high school. If you give someone a typewriter then let them write. Schools should not stop creativity just because everyone does not agree with what that one person said. There must be a Real concrete reason why students are being censored like if it actually insults someone or has a rude gesture.