It’s not about Censorship, it’s about responsibility: Censorship in schools Kirsten Heck Cheney High School Abstract The article argues that book banning and censoring the student newspapers threaten the right to a free press and speech granted to the people in the U. S. under the First Amendment of the Constitution. The First Amendment allows citizens the right to access, to publish or to broadcast any content as long as it doesn’t. However, it is noted that censorship of publications challenges the freedom of expression and the right to free press.
The negative implications of censorship are also discussed, along with the role of obscenity in publication. The question at hand is if students should have to leave their first amendment rights at the school house gate? The voices of the young people are just as important as anyone elses. If students want to express themselves openly and blatantly, they should be able to do so. School publications should not be censored due to the sensitivity of other students and the issues that the administrations face.
Students should not be deprived of their constitutional rights, including freedom of press. Censorship is the practice of officially examining books, movies, etc. , and suppressing unacceptable parts. The arguments regarding censorship has become a big deal in the past 20 years but it has been around for so much longer than that. Censorship dates back to Rome in 399 BC, where Socrates was sentenced to drink poison for his acknowledgement of unorthodox divinities (Newth).
Free speech which includes the freedom of expression was a challenge throughout the pre-Christian era. It became an even bigger problem in the mid-15th century with the invention of the printing press. Most school newspapers were closely reviewed and restricted by administrators. Discussions about drug use, drinking, racial tensions, and criticism of school management or faculty were rarely allowed. Yet in the 1960s battles began to develop between student journalists and administrators.
The students had become politically involved and wanted to write about issues they considered more important to the public. Moines independent school case in 1969 as the decision affirmed the rights of students to express themselves (Source10). This decision gave way to other topics including censorship with student’s newspapers. Many people have argued that students first amendment rights are not covered they are in school, but they do not shed their first amendment rights when they enter the school.
The rules do change when you come into a school but it may be treated differently depending on if the school is a public or private school. Public schools cannot sensor their students because they are “acting on the behalf” of the government and therefore cannot be sensor under the first amendment. Since private schools are not funded by the government and are not seen as its representative the same way that public schools are (Lyons). Another if not the most influential case regarding censorship was that of Hazelwood School district vs. Kuhlmeier.
In this case a high school principal reviewing the student newspaper before publication asked the journalism advisor to remove two articles that he deemed inappropriate and too sensitive for younger students. The first article dealt with the impact of divorce on students. The article quoted four others about their parents’ behavior. The second discussed teen pregnancy. It included the experiences of three unnamed students, but with enough detail that other students could identify them from the few pregnant teens at the school (Jacobs, 2006).
Since Hazelwood, there has been a dramatic rise in censorship incidents in schools across the country. Acts of censorship can take many forms. Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, says, It may be outright censorship they can’t publish a story or an attempt to punish, either the students or in some cases the teacher or the adviser or taking away money from the publication or trying to discontinue it for the future or any one of a thousand different avenues. To avoid legal problems and negative publicity, some administrators have used the excuse of budget cuts to decrease publications or eliminate them entirely. School officials have the right to control school sponsored publications because they are not public forums of student expression. They can to a certain degree censor what students say, write or read. Many students draw the line when it comes to censoring ideas, particularly reading and the school newspaper, which more students identify as student initiated speech, rather than school- sponsored expression (Ray).
A school is not required to tolerate student speech that is inconsistent with its basic education mission, now many advisors think of themselves as shopping mall owners, who get to control who says what and when on their premise. There is a blurred line between fact and opinion facts are statements that can be proven true or false, while opinions are statements that cannot be proven because they express a person’s thoughts, beliefs and feelings. The forms of censorship can reign from requiring prior review of content, limiting circulation, confiscating papers or suspending the editors of the paper (Lyons).
The U. S. Supreme Court has ruled that students have the right to free speech, but still allow school administrators the leeway to remove material at their discretion (Evinger). The school administration can take out any articles they find inappropriate, or material they think will cause the students to go into a wide spread panic. The law also allows the school official the ability to prohibit profanity. School newspapers receive funding through the school and the community, which gives the school administration the ability to take away or cut back the financial support.
Limiting the funding would cut down a very important part of the school and its curriculum, there are many students that want to be a journalist as a profession and are not learning what the meaning of true journalism is. Censorship targets change as society’s values and prejudices change, the topics that are suitable now were not suitable when student papers first came about. With the society’s fast pace and its ability to change on the drop of a dime there is not a lot of time to have someone cut out or redo your work.
Some defend censorship by saying that kids need limits… the limits of good journalistic practice but they need to learn to write stories that are fair, accurate, balanced and non-libelous (Allen). Many people believe that educators do not offend the first amendment by exercising editorial control over the content and style of school publications as long as their actions are reasonably related to valid educational purpose (Jacobs,2006). Yet, not allowing the kids to make the right choices and letting them give their own outlook on things is not allowing them to express themselves.
If schools were to hire highly trained editors who can teach the students the dos and don’ts of journalism there would be no need to have all the precautions for school publications. “Student journalists need to write editorials that are well-researched and well-argued” this should be left up to the editors and the curriculum that the school provides for students. If the students are well prepared and know what is libel and slander, then they need to be held accountable when they don’t. (Allen).. It’s not about censorship it’s about responsibility.
The first amendment to the constitution states that congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of press. Students have the right to be heard and speak their mind and just because other students might find it offensive does not mean that the school journalists can’t voice their outlook on the situation. Kids need to be able to express themselves what they do not need is to be hemmed by the shifting boundaries of the administration (Allen).. What coach puts their players on a team but refuses to let them run the ball? What debate coach refuses to let her students argue?
If those teachers and coaches refused to let the students test their skills against the real world’s standards then they are not using the curriculum to their full advantage. The same goes for Journalism, if you do not allow students to write about controversial things the students will not become good journalists, the better the students become the more they probe, ask questions and speak out (Allen).. If schools think that they are going to teach the skills of journalism to students, then they must accept the same risks that journalists all over the work face.
Errors will be made by journalists of all ages and years of practice will fix that. If schools allow students to report on controversial topics now it will pave the road to a better future. The students whose schools had enforced less strict codes when it came to the newspaper have learned to be more cautious about what they publish. Rather than risk the article being rejected by administrator students choose to censor themselves. When it comes to a school paper students want to know more than what is for lunch and when the next pep rally is.
Students want to know what’s going on with the school security or what achievements their peers have made. “We could produce meaningless drivel, and no one would care. It’s when we put out good provocative journalism that we get called out” By not allowing students to learn to act as a responsible, independent journalist, the schools miss an opportunity to train the next generation of media professionals, those who will not write the scandalous, and libel stories (Allen)..
As reporters for a student run and based newspaper, the student journalists to on that responsibility of informing the school on what’s going on. If the school prevents them from this through censorship it hurts the student ability to get a feel as a true journalist. The kids who do want to pursue this field after high school use the newspaper to get more experience and learn the process of putting stories together (Lyons). Censorship tells students that we want mediocrity, and not excellence due to their lack of effort being put into the stories.
It also teaches students that it is okay to lie, not allowing students to address something they feel needs to be, covering up a story if it shows the school in a bad light (Lyons). You can look here and there before finding an administrator who will admit that the reason for censoring student papers is to keep their errors from being public. Censorship of course is poor teaching, having a student only do what the school thinks is acceptable and proper in some ways robs them of their education. (Lyons).
We tell students to take their education seriously, to care about it, to believe that it matters, yet we undercut that message by letting the school administration interfere with the process to serve them in the end. If the school administrators don’t want the hassle of having to censor then they shouldn’t call it a newspaper. Why don’t they call it public relations and tell all students looking to join that they will not speak for the students but act as a mouthpiece for the administration at least this approach to the problem has a virtue of honesty.
References Aliprandini, M. ;amp; Sprague, C. (2011). Banning Books: An Overview. http://web. ebscohost. com/pov/detail? vid=4;amp;sid=1ea3f43b-db7d-4dcf-93ea-6f3e29349d29%40sessionmgr110;amp;hid=122;amp;bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh;amp;AN=22830431 Allen, J. (1998, October 16). Don’t teach journalism by censoring students. National Catholic Reporter, vol. 34 (Issue 44), p. 24. Evinger, B. (2011). School administrators have no right to censor student newspapers, point of view. Http://
