983324

Journalism Period 1

Dariano V. Morgan Hill Unified School District: Part 3 Respond to a larger context

To understand how well the community understands their first amendment
rights and their opinions on Dariano V. Morgan Hill, I interviewed a total of 31
students using Google Forms. Names were not shown on the data, however 24 of the
31 students were in high school and the other seven were in middle school. Despite
their age, many of them were not able to correctly identify which freedom was being
presented in a few situation based questions. Eleven students chose the wrong
answer to, Burning the United States Flag in public is protected by which section of
the first amendment? Seven of the students chose freedom of assembly and three
answered that they did not know the answer. At the end of the test, 19 of the
students said they would rank their knowledge between nine and ten, ten ranked
themselves between seven and eight, and two students chose between five and six.
After the basic questions on the first amendment, I presented the background
to my case that was in my part two assignment. I did not tell my interviewees the
decision of the courts and did not tell them arguments used in court to ensure that
they used their own knowledge. Twenty-seven students voted that the students
first amendment rights were violated and many chose to elaborate in the comment
section. The collective argument was that the students had the right to wear the
shirts as symbolic speech and that the students who threated them should be
punished, not the ones who peacefully protested. Nine of the students argued that
the law has to be equal and that students wearing clothes with other flags, including
the Mexican flag, should be punished and were not exempt just because it was Cinco
do Mayo. One student commented, The school shouldnt make the kids take their
shirts off because they support the country they live in. If they have to take the flag
off then so does everyone to be fair. Otherwise the school is breaking their freedom
of speech. The students who voted that their rights were not violated argued that
the school is required to keep the kids safe as their number one priority, and that
freedom comes after safety. The school has to protect their students otherwise they
arent doing their jobs. The kids may be mad but they are safe and that is the
number one priority of the school. I would rather be mad than dead. Only one
student mentioned Tinker V. Des Moines and included that speech can be censored if
a disruption can be predicted.
To get some different points of view, I talked with one of my former teachers,
Ms. Smink, and a neighbor, Sue Badrian, about the case. Smink teaches third through
fifth grade math at Cannon Road Elementary School who described herself as
knowing her rights, but not being very politically active. She was able to identify all
of her first amendment rights from memory and stated that the students rights
were violated. She agreed with the point that schools must protect kids, especially
since she works as a teacher and would never want her students to be harmed, but
said the school failed to be equal. Since there were students wearing different flags
as well as the United States flag it is wrong to punish students for being threatened,
especially if others arent just because they arent in immediate danger. Badrian
was also able to identify her rights and described herself as politically active. She is a
stay at home mom with a high school aged girl and two elementary school aged
boys. Badrian argued that it is wrong to make anyone remove the US Flag from their
clothes since we live in the United States, but also cited that schools have to be fair
and remove all clothes with flags if there is a problem. She also added that the
threats should have been dealt with and the kids safety should have been ensured
by removing the kids who did the threatening, not by removing potential victims.
On the Google Form, 21 people stated they learned about the first
amendment mainly from school, five stated they learned from parents, and the
remaining five wrote their responses and learned from various places. While
schools are doing an adequate job of educating their students about their rights,
they are not doing a good enough job. The scores on the quiz revealed that many
students were not confident with their rights, and could use a refresher course.
Smink added that her fifth graders would not be able to say their first amendment
rights, with a few exceptions, and that schools should start teaching kids earlier.
Student press should also step up and educate their audience since press is a large
aspect of the first amendment. However, this responsibility doesnt only fall of
teachers and student press, parents should teach their kids our government should
make it a priority to educate the populous about their rights to create a stronger,
more knowledgeable nation.