The first amendment  protects all students’ rights in and out of school. Although some may not know it, First Amendment Rights applies to everyone including high school and elementary students. These students have these rights to a certain extent on school grounds. However, several schools fail to provide their students with the amount of equality by not giving every individual their first amendment rights.

For example, the West Virginia State board vs Barnette, 1943 cast violated their students’ religious rights. The school in West Virginia insisted everyone from teacher to student to participate during the flag salute; however, a group of Jehovah’s Witness student refused to salute to the flag, because it was against their religion. In result, those specific students were suspended and were illegally absent until they were allowed to come back to school. Soon, the Jehovah Witness family filed a lawsuit against the school for violating their first amendment/ religious rights.

One student in my journalism class commented on the case saying, “No should be punished for remaining loyal to their religion because we all have out know beliefs”.

Another example of a violation against a students’ first amendment right would be in the Morse v. Fredrick case, because a student was expelled for holding a sign that said “Bong hits 4 Jesus”. Their Principal brought the case all the way to the Supreme Court. The court ruled that Morse didn’t violate his First Amendment Rights because it was a school-sponsored event. The court said that schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use.

In the movie “Live Free” many examples of First Amendment Rights were shown. Many people came together in Texas to Protest the Ku Klux Klan, but even then, they still had the right to free speech.

Jordan Cramer said, “People should be able to express their freedom of speech anywhere, especially in school.”

The First Amendment Rights are important because it guarantees that you can speak your mind.