Bethel School Distric Vs Fraser Essays - , Term Papers

Bethel School Distric Vs Fraser Bethel School District vs. Fraser This case involved a public high school student, Matthew Fraser who gave a speech nominating another student for a student elective office. The speech was given at an assembly during school as a part of a school-sponsored educational program in self-government. While giving the speech, Fraser referred to his candidate in what the school board called elaborate, graphic, and explicit metaphor. After his speech, the assistant principal told Fraser that the school considered the speech a violation of the school's disruptive-conduct rule. This prohibited conduct that interfered with the educational process, including obscene, profane language or gestures. After Fraser admitted he intentionally had used sexual innuendo in the speech, he was told that he would be suspended from school for three days, and his name would be removed from the list of the speakers at the graduation exercises. Fraser's father brought action against the school board in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. He alleged the suspension and punishment were a violation of his son's First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The father sought injunctive and monetary damages under 42 U.S.C. of 1983. The district court awarded the student $278 in damages, $12,750 in litigation costs and attorney's fees, and ordered the school district not to prevent the student from speaking at the commencement ceremonies. The school district appealed the decision, arguing that the speech had a disruptive effect on the educational process. The school district said it had an interest in protecting an audience of minors from indecent speech in the school. The school board believed it had the right to control language that was used during a school-sponsored activity. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court. The district court found the disruptive-conduct rule unconstitutionally vague and broad, and that withdrawal of the student's name from the graduation speaker's list violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the rule did not mention such removal as a likely sanction. The court made the case that nothing in the Constitution forbids the states from insisting that certain forms of expression are unfitting and subject to sanctions. (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 1969) The court affirmed that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.(Tinker) If the student had given the same speech off the school premises, he would not have been penalized because government officials found his language inappropriate. (Cohen v. California) The court found that the language used by the student was far from the obscene speech, which the court held is not protected by the First Amendment. (Ginsberg v. New York, 1968, Roth v. United States, 1981). The speech was found not to be disruptive to the education process. The school district failed to bring in a sufficient amount of evidence to convince that the educational process was disturbed. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court, holding the student's speech equivalent to the armband in Tinker. The court of appeals made it clear that the student's speech was not prohibited by any disciplinary rule that the school had in effect. Although the speech contained a sexual metaphor that undoubtedly might have been offensive to some listeners in some settings, the court of appeals again stated there was no evidence that students found the speech to be offensive. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court stated that the rights of students in public school do not coexist with the rights of adults in other settings. The Supreme Court found Fraser's speech offensive to both teachers and students, and especially insulting to teenage girls. The First Amendment does not prevent school officials from deciding what is vulgar and lewd speech. Given the school's need to be able to impose disciplinary sanctions for a wide range of unanticipated conduct disruptive of the educational process, the school disciplinary rules need not be as detailed as a criminal code that imposes criminal sanctions. (Arnett v. Kennedy, 1974) The student was given enough warning that his speech could subject him to disciplinary

offical language of the us essays

offical language of the us essays Official language of the United States In the world there are many types of languages and there are many types of cultures that go along with these languages. These peoples culture is part of their heritage and most people will do anything to keep their heritage alive. When these people come to America they will keep their heritage alive at any cost. But when it comes down to their language these people will learn English to fit in to American society. Even though there are millions of different languages in America today English is our nations official language. When immigrants from different countries migrate to America they know a different language. These immigrants soon fine out that the only way that they are going to survive in the United States is by learning how to speak English. This is what happened to John Silber Father when he emigrated from Germany to the United States in the early nineteen hundreds. John Silber father found out really fast that the only way that he is going to find a job and be successful is to learn how to speak English. Different countries around the world realize that the primary language spoken in the United States is English. They also understand that the only way that they are going to be able to do any business with the United States is to know English. Different countries are teaching their young kids very early in their lives to speak English, so that their youth can be able to communicate with the American businessmen. English is the united states official language and it seem like pretty soon Engli sh will be the worlds official language. English has become the primary language of the Unites States. I know hat many people dont want to face that fact because they fill when there language is not being recognized as a form of communication part of their culture or heritage is being ripped away from them. This is not true the only reason English has become the primary language of ht U...

Failure of the League of Nations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Failure of the League of Nations - Essay Example The research illustrates that Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and later Germany and Russia – all great powers in their own right - joined the League of Nations and the United States, on the other hand, was the only major power not to join the League in spite of having been instrumental in creating it in the first place. This dichotomy i.e. the failure of the United States to join the League of Nations, in spite of being its staunchest advocate, could thus be ascribed to its inability to reconcile domestic political compulsions with its international obligations. Was this domestic compulsion a clash between the ‘realists’ and the ‘idealists’? This is the main theme that the research paper will seek to examine. The idealist view of international relations envisaged the creation of, â€Å"international institutions to replace the anarchical and war-prone balance-of-power system. The realist view,  on the other hand, viewed the state as the most i mportant player, subservient to no other (external) authority. The idealist view was endorsed by president Wilson who in his, â€Å"celebrated Fourteen Points speech, delivered before Congress in 1918, proposed the creation of the League of Nations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . Although the League of Nations came into being in 1919, Congress refused to ratify the United States’ entry into the league. This challenge to President Wilson’s worldview was spearheaded by a group of Senators led by Senators Henry Cabot Lodge, William E. Borah, and Hiram Johnson. Part of the realist view was that the US should revert to its policy of ‘isolation’ that had been in vogue pre-World War I in keeping with the Monroe Doctrine. This was at odds with the League’s charter, which enjoined that, â€Å"the international community had not only the right but a duty to intervene in international conflicts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ .