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| Should this shirt be banned from public school? |
Should wearing a shirt proclaiming "RIP" for a gunned down young man be allowed to be worn in an Omaha high school or banned? AsktheJudge.info writes:
Did the t-shirt constitute “. . . a respectful display of their feelings
for a fallen friend” as the plaintifff’s lawyer has stated? Or did the
school act properly in preventing a disturbance on campus and possible
gang violence?
Here's the story of the shooting of Julius Robinson who split off from one gang to form his own gang and a former gang member gunned him down with a .357 Magnum resulting in Robinson's death. Here is a link from 2008 when the shooting happened with readers' opinions.
The schools have a responsibility to keep the kids in their care safe and if that infringes upon their free speech rights, so be it. Stories like this help make the argument for school uniforms. I loved it when my son wore school uniforms when we lived in Louisiana. It was much cheaper too.
ReplyDeleteThis district had the policy of "No RIP shirts" in place before the these students wore them, so this particular case seems to be more of a "disregard for district-wide policy" than a "can't wear that particular shirt"...but questions abound about the general cases.
ReplyDeleteWho decides what constitutes "inciteful speech"? Does a shirt which says "God bless America" incite violence because somebody disagrees with those particular religious ideas? Does a Nine Inch Nails shirt incite violence because it stirs up strong emotions of hate and rage? Where does it stop/begin? (I agree uniforms are good -- but is it the government's place to arbitrarily declare some non-uniform shirts okay and others not? The Supreme Court has ruled (often) that students' free speech rights do not end at the school door...)
Nice topic!
ReplyDelete