What happened in this case?
In December 1965, two public school students, John and Mary Beth Tinker in Des Moines, Iowa publicized their hatred of the War in Vietnam by wearing black armbands to school, and influenced other public school students to do so as well. The principal of John and Mary Beth’s school and many other principals in the area adopted a new policy that banned the armbands, and thus, any student wearing one would be immediately asked to remove it. Refusal to remove the armband would result in suspension. The …show more content…
We argue that the ruling was wrong because symbolic speech is not permitted explicitly in the First Amendment. Symbolic speech tends to cause uproars and upheavals in society and will most definitely do so if permitted in schools. Because of the problems that symbolic speech will inevitably cause, it should not be allowed in public places. Others argue that the ruling was correct-the First Amendment does, in fact, allow symbolic speech. Americans have the right to express their views openly in writing, actions, and outward speech. If it causes problems, so be it. That is the intention. These same people also have the view that the ruling was incorrect in not condemning the ruling on the school. They say the school was wrong in banning the armbands. The school should have been fined for not allowing freedom of speech and defying the First Amendment. We do not