Legal Rights Journal
A contentious issue in the education system of the United States is whether students, like adult citizens, have a right to personal privacy and free speech. For a long time, school officials have faced opposition from courts on the way minors in schools are handled. The U.S. Supreme Court came up with measures to balance the civil liberties of students and the mandate of schools to provide safe environments for students (Siegel & Welsh, 2016). From a neutral perspective, students should not expect certain privacies in the school environment. Over the years, there has been a significant rise in incidences of delinquency and indiscipline, which goes against the rules of several educational institutions. In such situations, educators can legally invade the privacy of students and legally search them, and this can only occur when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the students are in violation of school rules or laws (Siegel & Welsh, 2016). According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the violation of certain privacies of students must be reasonable, and there are set limits to how far or the extent to which student privacies can be invaded.
Similarly, students have the right to speech like other citizens, but this does not mean that they can say whatever they want in school or at school events. Students right to speech can be invoked in situations where they appear to interfere with the educational process (Siegel & Welsh, 2016). Ingraham v. Wright maintains that teachers can use corporal punishment in situations where students interfere with educational programs and processes through their speech (Wasserman, 2010). Further, American law allows schools to control both on-campus and off-campus speech in selected circumstances underscoring the fact that students cannot say whatever they want in school or at school events.
References
Siegel, L. J., & Welsh, B. (2016). Schools and Delinquency. Juvenile delinquency: The core. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=RDFTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT279&lpg=PT279&dq=Chapter+9+of+the+textbook+by+Siegel+%26+Welsh&source=bl&ots=5qU32lCGKm&sig=4ubu_mC3WX_s_Nno5XmfEPr4DF0&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Chapter%209%20of%20the%20textbook%20by%20Siegel%20%26%20Welsh&f=false
Wasserman, L. M. (2010). Corporal punishment in K-12 public school settings: Reconsideration of its constitutional dimensions thirty years after Ingraham v. Wright. Touro L. Rev., 26, 1029. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=lawreview