I’m sure that this article would have made for great discussion in our school law class. However, since we are no longer in class, I will open up the topic for debate via WordPress. The question: Was the expulsion of high school senior, Austin Carroll, a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech or his Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure? Read below for a brief summary of the facts of the incident. Click here for the full article.
1. Late one night, Austin couldn’t go to sleep, so he got on Twitter and used the F-word many times. He did not direct his tweets to anyone nor did he write about anything school related.
2. Several days later, Austin was expelled from school because of his tweets.
3. Austin claims that he wrote the tweets during non-school hours and that he used his own computer and was not logged onto the school network.
4. The school division claims that Austin used either the school issued computer or the school network. The superintendent says that the school network has a filter that flags inappropriate content (including language).
5. Students have to sign the “Acceptable Use Policy”. However, the policy fails to mention anything about language or personal posts.
So, what do you think? Did the administration make the right decision by expelling Austin or did they violate his rights?
This was an interesting news story.
On one hand, we hold teachers to a higher standard. I think this would still be controversial if it were a teacher who did this; the question I am nudging at is, should students be held at this same standard?
I’d wager most folks would say no – this is their time in life to learn, make mistakes, and form a platform of introspection for the rest of their lives.
Fast forward 10 years. This student tweets as part of his work, representing at times, at least, his company. He drops F-bombs. It reflects poorly on his company. Does he get fired?
That’s what the school is probably thinking… same policy for real life as here at school.
As much as I don’t want to see students using the f-bomb… I think their policy is wrong.
I think the only leg the school has to stand on is if in fact he violated their policy and wrote those tweets at school. His freedom of speech should protect him, no matter the words he used outside of school, on his own computer or mobile.
But I also understand the school’s perspective… they may think they’re teaching him a lesson.
But they are also teaching him they have a zero-tolerance policy for making mistakes. I hear curse words a lot in my daily life now… I don’t like it… but it’s more commonplace than ever. No matter the lesson, the punishment does seem harsh. Students should be able to make some mistakes… what do you think?