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The debate over student free-speech is a relatively recent one. The very first Supreme Court case regarding the issue took place in 1968 and came to be known as Tinker v. Des Moines. In the case, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate ("Tinker v. Des Moines")." Tinker v. Des Moines was followed by Fraser v. Bethel, which held that "the constitutional rights of students in public schools are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings ("Fraser v. Bethel")." These two cases set the primary precedents under which Frederick v. Morse was judged.

In December 1965 three students wore black armbands to their Des Moines school in protest of the United States Government's policy in Vietnam. They were suspended and their parents filed a lawsuit against the school, claiming violation of their children's right to free speech ("Tinker v. Des Moines"). This case, Tinker v. Des Moines, was decided in favor of the students. However, Frederick v. Morse was decided in favor of Principal Morse after the "BONG HiTS" poster was decided to be "advocating or promoting illegal drug use ("Frederick v. Morse")." Admittedly, these two instances are not identical. There is a large gulf between students protesting warfare with black armbands and a boy trying to flaunt his right to free-speech by exposing a nonsensical banner. But the fact remains that the students in both cases expressed relatable messages. The Tinker students protested a government war, and Frederick advocated the use of drugs prohibited by the government. These are very similar infractions, but the Supreme Court decided in favor of the students in Tinker, and against the student in Frederick.

Frederick's banner is similar to the armbands in Tinker, not merely because both messages ran counter to government policy, but also because neither forms of expression caused any sort of notable disruption ("Frederick v. Morse") ("Tinker v. Des Moines"). During the torch parade, "some [students] became rambunctious ("Morse v. Frederick")," but only before Frederick's banner had been unfurled. Furthermore, Joseph's "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner did not even begin to approach the disruption exhibited by the plaintiff in the landmark Bethel School District v. Fraser case, in which Senior Matthew Fraser sued the school after he was suspended for making a speech containing many sexual innuendos. The case was decided in the school's favor, because of the disruption Fraser's speech caused. According to the court, "students at the assembly hooted and yelled during the speech, [and] some mimicked the sexual activities alluded to in the speech ("Students' Free-speech Rights")." While Fraser's speech obviously disrupted learning, Frederick's banner caused no such fracas. Many of Morse's supporters believe that Frederick's banner should be considered disruptive, since its intention was to disrupt the parade and get Frederick onto the news("Students' Free-speech Rights"). But regardless of Frederick's intention, the non-disruptiveness of his banner is indisputable. Under the precedents set by Tinker and Fraser, Joseph Frederick's unfurling of his banner should not be punished, since it did not "materially and substantially interfere with the [...] operation of the school(Hilden, "Bracelet Controversy")."

Precedent cases aside, the tearing down of Frederick's banner represents a simple violation of the First Amendment, which says, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech."As legal columnist Julie Hilden says, "There are few First Amendment violations clearer than a government employee's crumpling up someone's banner [...]. That's censorship with a capital "C"." Many people believe that complete freedom of speech should not be present in a protected environment like a school. "The First Amendment does not require hamstringing school officials in the fight against illegal drug use by teens," said Drug Abuse Resistance Education, in defense of Principal Morse's actions ("Students' Free-speech Rights"). But in a nation in which free speech is protected, teachers should allow students to express controversial ideas, and then refute those ideas. Rather than tearing down Joseph Frederick's banner, Principal Morse should have left it standing, respecting the student's constitutional right to free-speech. She could later give a speech to students regarding both the dangers and penalties of marijuana use. This would allow the First Amendment to hold sway in the schoolroom as it should and serve to better educate the children of the school. After all, the free exchange of ideas is very necessary in the school room. As put by a group of 21 Nobel Prize Winners, who wrote to The Guardian in 2005, "There is nothing more intrinsic to the academic spirit than the free exchange of ideas (McCrae)."The discussion of controversial views is a part of debate, and debate has always been a valuable tool of educators. When 544 students were interviewed in a senior level marketing course, roughly 78% stated that they learned better through debate than through lecture (Kennedy). The censorship of ideas is both inimical to the educational process of debate, and to the values of the American constitution. To encourage censorship of student views is to be "deaf to the constitutional imperative to permit unfettered debate ("Morse")."

Not only did the censorship of Frederick's banner obstruct the educational process by standing against the concept of debate, it also directly inhibited the students' ability of self expression. Although Frederick's banner may be seen as immature, it was displayed to exercise his First Amendment right to free-speech. So what message do Joseph Frederick and his classmates receive when they witness their principal striking down the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" poster? Principal Morse was concerned about the kind of message it would send to students if she were to leave a poster that advocated illegal drug use standing. But by tearing down the same poster, she sent out a far worse message to her students. Rather than discouraging drug use, she gave her high school students the impression that they did not truly possess freedom of speech. Her actions broadcasted that while the First Amendment says that you may express yourself, the First Amendment will always be second to the will of your teachers and employers. This message is far more detrimental to the students' mental health than any drug-related message would ever prove to be.

The standing decision in the Frederick v. Morse case is wrong on two counts. Firstly, it contradicts the precedents set by the Fraser and Tinker cases. Joseph Frederick's banner criticized government policy, just like the armbands in the Tinker case. Furthermore, it did not cause any disruption whatsoever, let alone on the scale represented in the Fraser case. The decision to clamp down upon the expression of controversial ideas by students is also incorrect because it violates not just the First Amendment, but the purpose of schooling. As the Tinker majority expressed in the first notable student free-speech case, it is not a reasonable goal of a school to "foster a homogenous people (Caplan)." Justice Paul Stevens said in dissent of the Supreme Court's decision: "This case began with a (...) banner, (and) ends with the court inventing out of whole cloth a special First Amendment rule permitting the censorship of any student speech that mentions drugs, so long as someone could perceive that speech to contain a latent pro-drug message (Mears)." If student free-speech rights continue to be trimmed away, eventually students may be unable to express even the most uncontroversial of ideas.

Works Cited

Caplan, Aaron H. "Journal of Educational Controversy - Article: Visions of Public Education In Morse v. Frederick." Woodring College of Education. Journal of Educational Controversy. Web. 03 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.wce.wwu.edu/resources/cep/ejournal/v003n001/a013.shtml>.

Fraser v. Bethel. 84-1667. Supreme Court of the US. July 7 1986.

Frederick v. Morse. 03-35701. Supreme Court of the US. Mar. 10 2006.

Hilden, Julie. "The "I (Heart) Boobies!" Bracelets Controversy Goes to Court: Why the Students Are Right and the Schools Are Wrong." FindLaw's Writ | Legal Commentary. FindLaw, 28 Dec. 2010. Web. 03 Dec. 2011.

<http://writ.lp.findlaw.com/hilden/20101228.html>.

Kennedy, Ruth. "In-Class Debates: Fertile Ground for Active Learning and the Cultivation of Critical Thinking and Oral Communication Skills." International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 19.2 (2007). Print.

McCrae, Niall. "Nurturing Critical Thinking and Academic Freedom in the 21 St Century University." International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education23.1 (2011). Print.

Mears, Bill. "'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Case Limits Student Rights - CNN." CNN. CNN, 25

June 2007.

Web. 03 Dec. 2011.

<http://articles.cnn.com/2007-06-25/justice/free.speech_1_principal-deborah-morse-banner-case-school-policy?_s=PM:LAW>.

"Morse v. Frederick | The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law." The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law | A Multimedia Archive of the Supreme Court of the United States. Web. 03 Dec. 2011.

<http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2006/2006_06_278>.

"Morse v. Frederick." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 03 Nov. 2011.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_v._Frederick>.

"Students' Free-Speech Rights." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 Apr. 2007. Web. 2 Nov. 2011.

<http://www.2facts.com/article/i1200240>.

Tinker v. Des Moines School District. 21. Supreme Court of the US. Feb. 24 1969.

Our eight collective arms and legs don’t make it out of bed until two in the afternoon. I used to know the exact amount of hours coffee stayed in someone’s system. Those kinds of facts matter to me. Sometimes I think that if I carry enough of them around, they will serve as the stitches for my thinning coat when the world turns cold. But I cried last night and you told me that you weren’t going to let go until I understood how important I was to you. We leave my house by half past three and I take twenty dollars with me. As soon as we get outside, it starts to rain.

Two years ago I used to tell this friend that we were in the same boat, because we both had pieces of our hearts far away, over miles and state lines and in houses where they would celebrate the new year without us. I was the boat’s captain so this friend would ask me about how I had stayed floating all this time, alone and without hands to hold at nighttime. She would pout when rain marked one month or two, and say, “Fuck this boat.” Although you might not call her your best friend anymore, I think that maybe if she is mine, and you are mine as well, the only way the strings can stay thick and stable is if they make a circle. What they don’t tell you is, the boat had a leak all along.

You and I stop to get gas in town and I decide to put exactly eight dollars in the car, so I have change for Thai food once we’ve made it to our destination. As I drive, we talk about fashion and dying and what we like about each other. We pass a dozen people on the sidewalk, drinking coffee while they bustle over crosswalks, loiter under overhangs. When we get there, I park my car in the parking lot instead of on the street behind the restaurant for the first time since we have gone here. It’s so easy that I almost start to cry again. It’s a feeling like being stuck in a leaky boat for eight months straight and then waking up one morning and realizing that all the while, the stars were trying to tell you how beautiful you are. I spend twelve dollars on Thai food.

Earlier this week, I had to make copies of a poster at a paper store and I had four dollars to make the copy, but it ended up only costing one. The three dollars were folded carefully in the corner of my wallet, for safe keeping. On New Year’s Eve we take sips of champagne but pour the rest back into the bottle, drink apple cider instead and kiss in the kitchen. Later we have something real to drink and I fill up until I feel like my arms and legs are underwater and my head finds the curve of your safe shoulder. It’s already raining when we draw each other close under my covers that night and we have a few firsts of the year. Sometimes it’s nice to think that our touches and whispers could bring storm clouds, but that night, it might have been even nicer to believe that we were not so special. Sometimes, it just rains.

With our bodies full of Thai food and clear water, we rest in your quiet house. My seasick friend was there the first time I ever walked through this door. That day, I fell in love with your living room windows. Later, our friend told me stories about your eyelashes. About what a beautiful person you are. I never asked to be the captain of any boat. Now, all the boards that used to hold her and my limbs have been chopped up for kindling. They helped keep us warm through the hard months, until my bed no longer tried to set sail while we were sleeping. I leave your house before too late so I can make it home in time to see the freckles you left on my sheets one last time before they fade. On the drive home, my car breaks down.

I like you because you tell me things in a way that doesn’t have intentions and you kiss me like I am good enough and you don’t drink coffee in the morning. Someday, stupid teenagers like us might stay up late drinking with the lights off in the living room on the first day of the New Year and they might say all the same things we did and prove our insignificance. They might touch the same way we touch and never know our names. My car breaks down near a family diner so I sit in the parking lot and listen to the rain on my windshield. These days all the drifting pieces of my best friend’s heart have found their way back to her, and the boat she builds now will be one for him to share, big enough for the two of them to lay side by side. Nighttime comes and more often than not I have your hand to hold.

I think all a best friend really needs to do is tell you it’s going to be okay even when you both know it isn’t. Even when things happen that you will never be able to change no matter how many oceans you cross or boats you fix. Because sometimes, it just rains, and sometimes your car breaks down and you have an hour to kill before your dad can come to rescue you from yourself. I put the hood of my sweater on and walk into the diner alone. I smile because no matter what everyone else might see, I know that I have a dozen strings attached to best friends safe at home, holding me up. It isn’t until I sit down that I remember what small amount of money I have left from today. It’s another minute before I remember the Thai food still in my stomach and how I can’t possibly eat anything now. But the waitress comes over and asks me if I’ll get a drink to start off with and I think it too rude to just get up and walk out, but at the same time too many words to ask what sorts of sodas they might have, so instead, I order something all diners serve, all times of day. I end up spending my last three dollars on coffee.