Seventh Grader Sues School Over Right to Wear Pro-Life T-Shirt

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"Seventh Grader Sues School Over Right to Wear Pro-Life T-Shirt

A California mom says her public school administrators violated her daughter’s First Amendment rights when they ordered the seventh-grader to take off her pro-life T-shirt."…

Full article here: foxnews.com/story/0,2933,530284,00.html
 
With all the freaky shirts I’ve seen on people going and coming home to the local public schools, it sounds like this was a target because it offended some adults who are pro-death. Life is sacred, people need to learn this!
 
I am siding with the school district on this one. I don’t see this as a free speech issue. Whether the t-shirt was pro-life or pro-choice, the school district should enforce their dress code.

Let’s assume that half of the students at the school are pro-life and half are pro-choice, and that they ALL wore t-shirts to school supporting their respective positions. Obviously, this would make for a hostile environment that could easily get out of hand. The school district is trying to ensure student safety as well as an environment that is most conducive to learning.
 
Christopher68 said:
…that they ALL wore t-shirts to school supporting their respective positions. Obviously, this would make for a hostile environment that could easily get out of hand.
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Ah, yes. Mustn’t let people express their respective positions. Much better that coercive authority compels uniformity, even silence, if at all possible.

School officials overreacted. The situation couldn’t have been much more sensibly handled by ignoring the girl while discussing the issue with her parents.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
Christopher68 said:
I am siding with the school district on this one. I don’t see this as a free speech issue. Whether the t-shirt was pro-life or pro-choice, the school district should enforce their dress code.
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What dress code?
I do not remember the article mentioning one.

Nor is there one found in the student handbook.

Actually, I found a reference in the manual.
Personal articles, clothing, or manner of dress shall
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make no suggestion of tobacco, drug, or alcohol

use, sexual promiscuity, profanity, vulgarity
**, or other **inappropriate subject matter.

So I guess the school is equating pictures that could be readily found in their own science texts to be inappropriate.
 
Christianity has been under attack for quite awhile now. It seems like there are many out there (whoever they are) who will support every position except that of Christianity. I’ve even read that Muslims are trying to get in on allowing their children to do their prayers at the specified times while in school. Yet christian prayer has been banned. What gives?
 
mlchance said:
Ah, yes. Mustn’t let people express their respective positions. Much better that coercive authority compels uniformity, even silence, if at all possible.

School officials overreacted. The situation couldn’t have been much more sensibly handled by ignoring the girl while discussing the issue with her parents.

– Mark L. Chance.
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Would you feel the same way if the student was wearing a pro-choice t-shirt?

I stand by my original post. If you let one person wear a politically confrontational message on their clothing - then you have to let all the students do the same thing - and the end result could be a very tense situation.

The student and her parents likely expected this type of reaction from the school. I think they orchestrated the whole situation to get the publicity they are now receiving.
 
Christopher68 said:
Would you feel the same way if the student was wearing a pro-choice t-shirt?

I stand by my original post. If you let one person wear a politically confrontational message on their clothing - then you have to let all the students do the same thing - and the end result could be a very tense situation.

The student and her parents likely expected this type of reaction from the school. I think they orchestrated the whole situation to get the publicity they are now receiving.
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You are right, if they allow one message about abortion they must allow the other.
And wether or not the events were orchestrated for publicity, it is the school that allowed it and fell into it.
 
Dress codes – if and when they exist – must be explicit. There should be no “loopholes”, except those made by your shoelaces.

The best way to prevent “objectionable” messages is to prohibit all messages.

And the best way to enforce a dress code is to bring in school uniforms with a limited selection of items.

Not that this is a panacaea – just that if you (as a school) decide to bring in a dress code, then don’t be namby-pamby about it. To paraphrase Luther, if you’re going to restrict – restrict boldly! 😃
 
Ghoti said:
The best way to prevent “objectionable” messages is to prohibit all messages.
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Quite right. The school’s policy of banning “inappropriate subject matter” is way too vague to be useful. It lends itself completely to arbitrary enforcement. Furthermore, if school personnel did indeed put their hands on the girl in order to forcibly escort her out of area, they blew it yet again.

Solution: Implement a real dress code and get better trained personnel.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
Another example of the wisdom of Catholic schools-UNIFORMS!!! I can still remember my eighth grade teacher responding to a comment by one of the girls that the uniforms were “ugly things”. “Well, maybe they are ugly things, but you’re ALL wearing ugly things together”

I think that’s really the answer today to keep any and all message clothing out of the school environment.
 
Christopher68 said:
I am siding with the school district on this one. I don’t see this as a free speech issue. Whether the t-shirt was pro-life or pro-choice, the school district should enforce their dress code.

Let’s assume that half of the students at the school are pro-life and half are pro-choice, and that they ALL wore t-shirts to school supporting their respective positions. Obviously, this would make for a hostile environment that could easily get out of hand. The school district is trying to ensure student safety as well as an environment that is most conducive to learning.
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I don’t agree we are talking about a school. The kids should be able to express their own opinion, and then this could be a place for dialog. A school is a perfect place for this. THose who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice should be able to talk about this. This is how we learn. If the adults in this situation would grow up and let the kids talk about what it is they are for, then and only then will this issue be brought to life.

I would rather see a show of opinion happening in a controlled environment than on the streets or in the mall. This is a perfect opportunity for a good non violent talk with the children so that they can say what it is they think without the adults jumping in, but only guiding.

I know this is my own fantasy world, when would we be able to see an adult acting like an adult.:rolleyes:
 
st_lucy said:
I don’t agree we are talking about a school. The kids should be able to express their own opinion, and then this could be a place for dialog. A school is a perfect place for this. THose who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice should be able to talk about this. This is how we learn. If the adults in this situation would grow up and let the kids talk about what it is they are for, then and only then will this issue be brought to life.

I would rather see a show of opinion happening in a controlled environment than on the streets or in the mall. This is a perfect opportunity for a good non violent talk with the children so that they can say what it is they think without the adults jumping in, but only guiding.

I know this is my own fantasy world, when would we be able to see an adult acting like an adult.:rolleyes:
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I haven’t been here long, but I’ve seen what happens to a person who doesn’t 100% toe the line regarding abortion. I’ve seen people slammed as being pro-abortion when they’ve not said anything in their posts even hinting at such a thing!

If we can’t discuss this issue here without it getting nasty-how could anyone expect 7th graders to do it? How can we expect the discussion to remain civil even with adults involved when we’ve shown here that adults can’t remain civil when discussing it?

Abortion is a seriously divisive issue in the country and I can certainly see the wisdom of keeping students from wearing T-shirts that say anything about it in a school setting.
 
mkingdomlvr said:
I haven’t been here long, but I’ve seen what happens to a person who doesn’t 100% toe the line regarding abortion. I’ve seen people slammed as being pro-abortion when they’ve not said anything in their posts even hinting at such a thing!

If we can’t discuss this issue here without it getting nasty-how could anyone expect 7th graders to do it? How can we expect the discussion to remain civil even with adults involved when we’ve shown here that adults can’t remain civil when discussing it?

Abortion is a seriously divisive issue in the country and I can certainly see the wisdom of keeping students from wearing T-shirts that say anything about it in a school setting.
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Well I disagree. In a controlled environment, such as a school, this is a perfect place to have this kind of discussion. I agree some can be mean, but you need to remember here on CA we are in the comfort of our own homes and thus not in a controlled environment.

Also I think that you are seriously undermining our youth. I know for certain they can handle this kind of discussion. Schools where first intended for this kind of learning and debating, to get to the actual truth. If our youth can see both sides of the story and not only one side we as a country can finally grow.

I personally think that not allowing the child to wear this kind of shirt (remember this shirt had nothing disturbing printed on it was simply an opinion or a statement) gives a perfect opportunity for such learning. And it is time we actually try teaching our children to think for themselves by presenting the whole truth.
 
st_lucy said:
Well I disagree. In a controlled environment, such as a school, this is a perfect place to have this kind of discussion. I agree some can be mean, but you need to remember here on CA we are in the comfort of our own homes and thus not in a controlled environment.

Also I think that you are seriously undermining our youth. I know for certain they can handle this kind of discussion. Schools where first intended for this kind of learning and debating, to get to the actual truth. If our youth can see both sides of the story and not only one side we as a country can finally grow.

I personally think that not allowing the child to wear this kind of shirt (remember this shirt had nothing disturbing printed on it was simply an opinion or a statement) gives a perfect opportunity for such learning. And it is time we actually try teaching our children to think for themselves by presenting the whole truth.
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And it’s equally ok with you if another child wears a pro-abortion shirt? You’re ok with a teacher entering into a discussion-remember this is a public school and the teacher might very well be pro-abortion and would not have a restriction on expressing that opinion. It’s very likely that the pro-life child is going to be a minority in that public school and is going to take a lot of heat for it. As an adult we make the choice to enter into such discussions and stick our opinions out there knowing what the consequences will be. We’re talking about 13 year olds here.

With basic skills scores in the US looking the way they do, I really think we need to focus on making sure our children are getting the reading, math, history and science education they need and leave such discussions out of the classroom.
 
mkingdomlvr said:
And it’s equally ok with you if another child wears a pro-abortion shirt? You’re ok with a teacher entering into a discussion-remember this is a public school and the teacher might very well be pro-abortion and would not have a restriction on expressing that opinion. It’s very likely that the pro-life child is going to be a minority in that public school and is going to take a lot of heat for it. As an adult we make the choice to enter into such discussions and stick our opinions out there knowing what the consequences will be. We’re talking about 13 year olds here.

With basic skills scores in the US looking the way they do, I really think we need to focus on making sure our children are getting the reading, math, history and science education they need and leave such discussions out of the classroom.
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Yes I am okay with a child wearing a pro-abortion t-shirt, and yes I am aware that there will be teachers who are pro-abortion. This is where the dialog comes in. Again undermining the fact that there are many who don’t agree with abortion and those who do obviously don’t understand what it is (of course the opposite can be said). But again if both sides can be debated then and only then the truth comes out.

Again yes math, reading and writing need to be taught but so does real thinking for ones self and you are not going to get it when you tell the children to tow the line and not express your feelings.

One last thing 13 year olds are more than capable of thinking on their own, and thinking for themselves and as adults we need to guide them in this.
 
I hear over and over again about liberal public schools indoctrinating children to liberal positions regarding abortion, homosexuality and other social issues. I hear complaints all the time about college professors being too liberal and indoctrinating young people. I can’t imagine how an issue like abortion could become a discussion topic in a public school without parents being upset about their children being taught that abortion is a good thing.
 
mkingdomlvr said:
If we can’t discuss this issue here without it getting nasty-how could anyone expect 7th graders to do it? How can we expect the discussion to remain civil even with adults involved when we’ve shown here that adults can’t remain civil when discussing it?
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Perhaps we all needed the guidence and latitude as 7th graders to hash these issues and learn to debate and a civil manner.

How can we expect people to form any type of independent opinion when their’s are squashed at such a young age?
 
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