The First Amendment: Free Of Expression :: essays research papers

The First Amendment: Free of Expression In 1787 our forefathers ratified the constitution of the United States of America, which contains the most important document to any American citizen, the Bill of Rights. The first amendment of the Bill of Rights states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the establishment thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech; or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. these freedoms (commonly called the freedom of expression) are of the most important rights in a truly democratic society. Without them there would be no new ideas; we would all conform under totalitarian rule for fear of punishment. However, when I, a common student at West Rowan High School try to express my feelings on "the state of the Bill of Rights in schools today" by making a computer presentation in multimedia class, my work is declared "bad" and my teacher and assistant principal do one of the most un-American things imaginable: they censored it. I had to re-make the presentation and lighten the harsh tone, and also erase the anarchy symbol from it. The teacher said that she was worried about me for reasons such as my feelings on the freedom of religion were almost satanic, because I said teachers should not be able to publicly practice religion in schools because it will encourage students to become a part of that religion. The presentation was neither slanderous nor obscene, but it did criticize teachers and administrators calling them "fascist dictators". At first I was angry at the school because I could wear clothing that was obscene or contained liquor advertisements, now they have completely taken away my freedom of speech. This of course proved my argument that teachers and administrators are totalitarians. As one journalist put it, "If Freedom of expression becomes merely an empty slogan in the minds of enough children, it will be dead by the time we are adults." I soon began reading more and more about the freedom of speech in schools and every time a subject as such came up the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the student declaring the action unconstitutional under the first amendment. As I was reading Nat Hentoff's book The First Freedom I came across a story in which a student wrote a newspaper article criticizing the school administration, soon after he ran for student government and was taken off the ballot for his critique. Unfortunately he did not fight it in court. The principal sharply taught the