Teachers And Students example essay topic

Ya Gotta Fight for Ya Right Children are forced to go to school. This has been the way for a long time. School is a place where students go to learn a curriculum given by government officials. They are not there to get their rights taken away from them. Although teachers have power, they cannot stop students from hearing the issues, speaking without censorship, or knowing their rights. Students are living, breathing human beings.

We go to school to learn about and succeed in the outside world. Government officials are to teach us these things and see how well we learn them. We are curious creatures. We need to know everything or else we will rebel. Teachers should tell us both parts of a certain subject to allow objectivity in our minds. If we hear only one side of a controversial issue we tend to assert ourselves with the only point of view.

We may also find out information on our own that is bad and believe what we find out. Teachers are here to guide us to the correct information. If a teacher takes a side he / she may tell us only the negative points to his opposing side. He / she may, also, just tell us good points about his side. Either way, he / she gives us a one sided perception. We need to hear both sides in order to make up our own minds.

Many believe that teachers have more power than students. This is a weak argument because teachers cannot remove rights of students. The Supreme Court stated this:" It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the school house gate" (Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School District). Therefore, students are just as powerful as teachers. Teachers want to discipline their students how and when they choose. This is a major dispute among parents, teachers, and students.

A teacher may not ever hit a student purposely. A teacher may lower our grade for not doing work or failing class criteria. They may not lower our grade just because they don't like us or we act slightly out of hand. Many people say that students don't know what is best for them. This is may be true at lower elementary, but in high school, students can speak for themselves and know what they need. In some court cases or public meetings, teachers or the school board represents students.

Those few non-students are in control of what they believe we want. Most of the time they have conflicting views with students. This makes it very unfair on students. A teacher is a government official. They should not question what is asked of them. All classes must be taught according to curriculum.

Some teachers have decided to withhold information from students because they believe that it is morally and religiously wrong to teach a controversial issue. Students are at school to learn. A required class must teach everything required of them. A biology teacher may teach both evolution and creation so they are not censoring one side of an issue. According to Liberty Council, "No subject can be thoroughly taught without some discussion of religion" (2).

Teachers should not and cannot establish a religion in school. They may only point out both viewpoints. Also, A teacher must grade students objectively and with no stereotypes. A student may wear what he / she wants and not be criticized with his grades because of it. If a teacher stereotypes he / she is subject to expulsion.

A school may not censor a student in any way. Students may wear whatever they choose without having to worry about people being offended. The principal may ask a student to turn the shirt inside out. He may ask the student to stop speaking with that language or tone. The student, though, does not have to comply with his / her question if the speech or clothing is not so offensive. This can be assumed if it does not break a clothing rule in the student handbook.

A student may speak without actually speaking. A student may speak about anything he / she wants to speak about. The constitution protects student expression. A group of students may hold a protest as long as it is peaceful.

It must be against something they think is unfair and is changeable. A student must be able to express himself or herself anywhere and anyhow. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California says, "Academic institutions exist for the transmission of knowledge, the pursuit of truth, the development of students, and the general well-being of society. Free Inquiry and expression are indispensable to the attainment of these goals" (2). Also, if a student does not wish to protest publicly, he / she can always find a loophole.

There is always a loophole in every school rule. In many cases students have won cases because of loopholes. In the Tinker vs. Des Moines Indiana Community School District case' "In December 1965, Mary Beth, John, and Christopher Eckhardt Tinker joined an anti-Vietnam war group. They wore black armbands to show their beliefs and the school suspended them for breaking a recently installed rule. The Supreme Court found that this action to be incorrect and allowed the armbands to be worn in school" (28-29). Confining student expression to a certain place in school is not only wrong, but is unconstitutional.

If a school requires someone to submit work before publicly speaking it, they are breaking a law. Requiring someone to submit work before speaking publicly is restricting there first amendment. Schools may not, also, force free speech in a certain area only. Students if supplied with one may use a bulletin board, but students may still raise their voices in other places. Many items are available to students who wish to speak without spoken words.

Items like brochures, pamphlets, newspapers, cards, stamps, books, symbols, and pictures. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California says, "Editors and managers of student publications should be protected from arbitrary suspension and removal because of student, faculty, administrative, or public disapproval of editorial policy or content" (6). Schools continuously violate student rights. Rules and regulations schools make continuously bend the constitutions limits. Schools decide whether or not a student may see his / her personal record. Schools try to force rules on you that you don't really have to follow.

Teachers may force threaten students with grade reductions or suspension if they do not use time 'wisely'. According to the website Natural Math, 'Student's time is his or her own to keep, to spend on learning or on other activities of the students choice, and to be responsible for. It is of great importance for [a] mentor to deeply understand this right and to behave accordingly. It means, among other things, that [a] mentor can't force a student to spend time on learning. And that [a] mentor should not waste any student's time on busywork, inefficient algorithms, outdated material, and such' (1).

Many court findings have still not been implicated into our school districts of America. A school use to use a suspension to punish really bad kids. Now, schools use suspensions to threaten students who speak on their beliefs or if they don't like what someone is saying. A student may act the way he / she chooses without worrying about being suspended. As long as a student is not illegal in his actions or intruding on anyone else's rights they may act however they choose. Then, during the suspensions, some schools may lower there overall grades by a certain percentage or fraction there of.

If this is used against a student, the student may take the school to court and use this as evidence, '... a Kentucky court struck down a school policy of reducing student's grades when they were absent during suspensions' (76). A suspended student must be given the chance to hand in all his homework without any penalty towards his / her grade. Many school rules violate a student's constitutional rights. Schools rights of search and seizure are very limited. If a school official receives probable cause and searches you, if he finds the stuff he is looking for and decides to keep looking for more, anything he finds afterwards is considered to be an illegal search and cannot be used against him / her.

Some people may hang out with someone who is a suspected of a crime. If a group of people are hanging out with a suspected criminal in a public place, such as a prom, football game, etc., school officials cannot search each member of the group just because they are with the suspected person. A school official must have probable cause to search someone. This does not include hunches, guesses, or unfaithful information given by a secondary source. Another right violation enforced by some schools is a dress code. Schools like to say that a dress code a community want for the school, but most people asked consider it a waste of money and just plain stupid.

Some schools like to enforce a dress code that makes everyone look the same. The great part about this is that a parent may opt their student out of the dress code regulations, whether it be for a good reason or none at all. The school district does not have the power to decide whether or not the reason is legitimate or not. Students need to learn, grow, and mature into working adults. They need to be able to function in society. If they are brought up while always being under someone's thumb, they will grow to believe this should always be.

A school must not be allowed to desecrate and even destroy student rights in order to create a form of order in the classroom. If they are allowed to do this, we may as well submit to our boring lives and never fight anything again.

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