I’ve blogged previously about an Alaska high schooler who, at a parade with his classmates during school hours, held up a banner that said “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” The school principal took the banner away and suspended him, and he sued on First Amendment grounds.
As I said previously, the student has every right to argue against drug laws and even, if he wants, for drug use. But he must do so at an appropriate time and in an appropriate manner. The principal did the right thing — the student acted inappropriately and immaturely.
Unfortunately, that’s not the way the case panned out. The Supreme Court says:
A principal may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school event, when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use.
In other words, even if it doesn’t stop other students from learning, and even if your case for drug use is stated in a scientific and honest manner, you can’t say things the principal doesn’t like. This is an attack on what you say, not how you say it in a school environment, and it’s a shame.
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4 users commented in " ‘Bong Hits’ case: Right ruling, wrong reasoning "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackIronically, Jesus probably smoked pot back in the day…
Not to mention that the Supreme Court has absolutely no problem with Churches selling caffeine inside the sanctuary to get everyone all hyped up for the sermon. Jesus certainly would have drove out these coffee-merchants if he saw a Starbucks inside a temple.
I don’t like how they are classifying this as a “School Event”. Sure, school was let out early for the event, but from what I understand it was not mandatory. In addition, the event took place on a public street, not on school grounds, so how does the principal have any authority over the event? I could see if only students were allowed in the area at the time, but from what I can tell is that this was open to the public and thus is a public event, unlike say a school football game which is on school grounds and is intended for a school audience only. This would be different if the students were standing on school owned property but it doesn’t appear to be the case.
Common sense.. what’s that? Sensibilities that are common to the society. We’re so divided, ideologically, that we no longer have any “common” sense. That’s why this kind of thing happens… Read a book America..
I have always believed that standard schools do not promote individuality. Instead, we are pumping out sheep by the millions. Kids who grow up to question authority and speak out at events such as these are punished while those that go with the flow are rewarded. We are surprised no one has any common sense anymore. Why? Seems everyone is waiting for someone else to tell them what to do…just like we learned in school.
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