Symbols in School

Symbols in School

Symbols in School focuses on schools having regulations on expression of speech. Such as T-shirts and things that symbolize regional or ethnic pride. The article uses an example of previous court case where teens are penalized for wearing racist shirts such as the confederate flag. The Southern Resource Center has made massive efforts to stress the need of more regulations within school systems and freedom of speech. In the Castorina example two Kentucky students were suspended after sporting T-shirts of the confederate flag and the slogan "Southern Thunder". The Castorina case a decision was ruled that the suspension was erred and flawed due to the fact that the school had no previous racism problems. In another example a boy came to school wearing a shirt with the slogan "Not only am I perfect, but I am a redneck too". This term redneck has been very controversial, so much so that he was suspended after being to remove the shirt. Ten days after the school enacted a new policy of prohibiting "racially diverse" clothing. Referring back to the Southern Resource Center these efforts to prohibit freedom of speech is being argued to violate the rights of the first amendment. 

After reading this article a lot of different emotions come into play. On one hand we believe that one should not condone racism or criticism of any individual due to their ethnicity. On the other hand being an American our rights are very important and it is agreed that the first amendment has allowed us the power of freedom of speech.  All and all the article shows the power of self expression and verbal communication within personal style. In any means if something can be taken offensive it should not be worn within a place such as school or for that matter at all.