Student Expression Quiz

True or False: Students have the same rights under the First Amendment that adults do.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Correct! Although the First Amendment does protect student speech, students have slightly more limited rights than adults do. That means schools can potentially censor student speech in cases where an adult would be protected.

Which landmark Supreme Court case said that students have First Amendment rights in schools that protects their political speech?

• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

• Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District

• Brown v. Board of Education

• Morse v. Frederick

Answer explanation

Correct! The Tinker case recognized that students don't "shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate." Student speech will be protected unless it causes a substantial disruption to the school environment or interferes with the rights of other students.

For student government elections, each student running for class president is required to give a speech during an all-school assembly. One student candidate gives a speech that is full of sexual innuendos, crude jokes, and profanity. The school stops the student mid-speech, and it takes them a while to calm the rest of the assembly down. Can the school suspend the student for the inappropriate speech? (Hint: there may be more than one right answer)

• No, because it was political speech

• No, because it was just a joke

• Yes, because the speech was lewd and vulgar

• Yes, because the speech caused a substantial disruption

Answer explanation

The Supreme Court in the case of Bethel School District v. Fraser ruled that schools can censor student speech that is lewd (sexually explicit) or vulgar (profane) without infringing on a student's First Amendment rights. In this case, the student's speech caused an uproar in the school assembly that took a while to get back in order. That disrupted the learning environment of the assembly, so the school would be able to censor the speech without infringing the student's rights.

4. True or False: At a public school, the First Amendment protects your right to lead a prayer over the loudspeakers at a football game before the game starts.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Correct! The school can't force anyone to participate in a prayer, and by broadcasting it over the loudspeakers, the school might be forcing people who don't want to participate to listen to the prayer. However, the school also can't stop you from practicing your religion (also protected by the First Amendment), so the team could have their own private prayer before the game and invite people to join in voluntarily without interfering with anyone's rights. (Note that this wouldn't apply to a private school setting, since they can have mandatory prayers).

School administrators have decided to cancel the after-school band club, and outraged students want to protest the decision. In which of the following scenarios would students most likely win on a First Amendment claim?

• Students stage a walkout during class

• Students show up before school starts and stand on the public sidewalk outside the administration building with signs and banners so people can see them as they drive in to school

• Students form a human chain across the hallway and refuse to let students leave lunch until the administrators change their mind

• Students block off the teacher parking lot so they have a space to protest

Answer explanation

Correct! The Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines that disruptive student speech is not protected. By staging the protest before school starts and standing on a public sidewalk, the students are not disrupting any education and not stopping any traffic from getting to the school. This is a great form of political protest and would be highly protected by the First Amendment.

True or False: Even though the First Amendment protects your right to political speech, schools can still suspend you for skipping class to be part of a protest.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Correct! While the First Amendment does protect your right to peacefully assemble and speak your mind, students are still subject to their school's attendance policy. Even if someone organizes a school-wide walkout and everyone participates, the school could still count it as an unexcused absence.

A private school changes its dress code to say that students can't dye their hair bright or unnatural colors. Does this violate the student's First Amendment rights?

• Yes, because hair dye counts as "speech" under the First Amendment

• Yes, but only if you dye your hair as a political protest

• No, because the hair doesn't cause a substantial disruption

• No, because it is a private school

Answer explanation

Correct! Remember, the First Amendment only protects your behavior against Government Actors. So, the First Amendment won't protect student speech against decisions made in a private school.

A student wears a hijab to school as part of her religious beliefs. During an exam, the proctor asks the student to take off her hijab, saying that it violates the school's "no hats" policy. The proctor refuses to let her take the exam until she takes her hijab off. Does this violate the student's First Amendment rights?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

Correct! The First Amendment doesn't just protect your rights to free speech, it also protects your right to freely practice religion. Because the student is wearing her hijab as part of her religion, the school cannot force her to remove it, even if they have a "no hats" policy during exams.

A student is annoyed that he keeps getting parking tickets for parking in the teacher's lot. At lunch one day, he loudly says "the principal won't be laughing about those parking tickets when I come back and blow his car up." The student is suspended, but says that he was just joking and that his speech was really to criticize the principal. Is his speech protected by the First Amendment?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

Correct! The First Amendment does protect a student's right to criticize their teachers, but the student's statement goes beyond that. Saying that he will blow up the principal's car is a targeted threat of violence that has to be taken seriously, even if he was joking. The student's speech is not just criticism, so it's not protected.

A student in your school is transitioning their gender identity from male to female and has faced bullying in the past. One day, a guy in your class wears a dress to school with the transitioning student's name written on his back and openly mocks the student in class. The school suspends him for wearing the dress, but he argues that it's his way to express his disagreement with transgender people. Can the school suspend him for this speech?

• Yes

• No

Answer explanation

Correct! If the student had worn the dress as a general protest, that may be protected speech. However, in this case, he didn't wear it just for political protest; he wore it to specifically mock the transitioning student and even named him. This type of targeted harassment and bullying is not protected by the First Amendment.