Students, just like employees of an organization, have their own rights the violation of which may entail legal disputes and even punishment. Though students are the minor citizens of the country, their rights and freedoms still should be protected because unfair treatment hinders proper formation of their identities and may result in the child’s emotional trauma. Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District and Goss V. Lopez are two legal cases which have significantly influenced the rights of students and are now referred to as landmark cases for they have changed the legislation. These cases are of great contrast to the rights which the modern students enjoy, because they allow tracing how the student rights developed over the time; moreover, these cases show that in all the times American people stood up for their rights regardless their age or social status.
What should be mentioned above all is that both these cases were considered relatively long time ago with Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District taking place in 1969 and Goss V. Lopez case in 1975. This was the period of time when the United States of America has been developing rapidly and human rights (including gender and racial discrimination) have been ardently fought for. This is why there is no wonder that certain changes regarding human rights have taken place in education as well. Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District was the case concerning the freedom of speech and expression, while Goss V. Lopez concerned the rights of the students for hearing in case they had to be suspended from the studies. This shows that minor citizens also used to stand up for their rights.
These cases allow contrasting the then situation with student rights with the modern one. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case shows that students had hardly any rights in the USA of the 1970s. The petitioners in this case were three students from Des Moines, Iowa, namely John Tinker (15 years old), his younger sister Mary Beth Tinker (aged 13), and Christopher Eckhardt (16 years old) (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 2009). In the light of the events which took place in the United States in those times (The Vietnam War), this group of students agreed to wear black armbands as their expression of protest against the hostilities in Vietnam. These students have participated in the like activities together with their parents and have voluntary involved into this program. However, Des Moines school administration have found out about this plan and adopted a policy “that any student wearing an armband to school would be asked to remove it, and if he refused he would be suspended until he returned without the armband” (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 2009). Though petitioners knew about this policy, they still came to school with black armbands, which resulted in their suspension from classes and not returning to school even after their program (wearing armbands) expired.
The first complaint that was filed to the United States District Court by the students’ parents was dismissed on the grounds that school authorities’ action was constitutional and they aimed to prevent school discipline disturbances. On appeal, the case was re-considered en banc and the school administration’s actions were regarded as the violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which meant that the students’ rights to freedom of speech and expression had been violated. This legal case defined the constitutional rights of students and made restricting them illegal. It presents a vivid contrast with modern students’ rights for in case with modern schools even introducing a dress code is sometimes a problem.
The same goes for another case in the course of which Dwight Lopez received a ten-day suspension from school for being involved into disturbances in the lunchroom, which he denied (Supreme Court collection, 2009). The student was not even asked of whether he took part in the disturbances and was suspended for practically no reason. This would never happen these days when the student’s involvement would have been checked twice before accusing him/her of something. This all shows how much the students, as well as the school administration’s attitude towards them, has changed over the past 40 years. Due to these cases, students are now aware of their rights and often refer to them when solving school conflicts.
Therefore, Tinker V. Des Moines Independent Community School District and Goss V. Lopez legal cases have entailed significant changes in the student rights. John Tinker who stood up for the freedom of speech and expression contributed into the modern students’ ability to freely express their ideas about such issues as race, gender, justice, politics, religion, etc. Dwight Lopez, in his turn, attracted people’s attention to the significance and individuality of each student; the legal change which his case has entailed allowed each student who has been punished for the violation of school laws justify him/herself before being suspended from the classes or punished in any other way.
Reference List
- Supreme Court Collection. (2009).
- Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District. (2009).