13th Amendment History

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After a brutal civil war that pitched the people of United States against each other over the issue of freedom of an entire race of people came an amendment that changed the course of U.S. history over all aspects of society; the Fourteenth amendment. From fountains and restaurants to workplaces and public schools, it has shaped the very motto of United States as the land of the free and the brave. Its impact has reached upon all groups of people, the outstanding ones being African Americans, and women. However, this amendment should also be credited for the vast diversity found in most public schools across the country. The very notion of a black student sitting next to a white student, being taught the same content by the same teacher was …show more content…
The equal protection clause of the amendment was not used just for integration of schools for all races though, as in the 1970s cases like PARC vs Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Mills vs. Board of Education won the rights for students with disabilities to study in public school systems. These decisions laid the foundation for numerous laws that were passed by the government, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Free and Appropriate Education. Apart from the overall integration of public schools, it has also granted staff and students more rights in terms of job and discipline. In the case of Goss vs Lopez, a total of nine students were given ten-day suspension by the principal without holding a proper hearing for their actions and possible disciplinary actions. The supreme court ruled that “fundamentally fair procedures determin[ing] whether the misconduct ha[d] occurred " cannot be taken away. As for the teachers, fourteenth amendment eliminated the possibility of an illegitimate firing without a proper hearing. In the case of Perry v. Sinderman (1972), the supreme court ruled …show more content…
In 2015 alone, there were an estimated eleven million unauthorized immigrants in the United States which accounts for about three percent of the U.S’ total population. Despite the strict immigration laws and enforcement, one particular affair for which both then-presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush were scrutinized for; ‘anchor babies’. The slang refers to a child born within the borders of United States to non-citizens, maybe even illegal immigrant parents. These children, according to some, are simply for their parents to access taxpayer benefits such as public school education and other social services, along with a fast way to citizenship. With an increasingly brighter spotlight being shown on the issue politically, and the pre-existing malice in the minds of many taxpayers about paying for ‘someone else’s kid’, it is safe to assume that sometime down the road a controversial law, in the gray area in terms of the fourteenth amendment, is bound to be passed by Congress that could be challenged in court, leaving maybe one of the most influencing decisions of the twenty-first century in the hands of the Supreme