Nobody hates dress codes more than me. And what's more, nobody supports the right to protest more than me. But more important than the right to wear and say what you want, to me, is to have a reasonable approach. For instance, I realize I can't wear to work my hilarious t-shirt that makes it look like I'm a topless woman. It's fine on the beach, or during most of the 16 hours in which I'm not at work. Because an employer has a right to demand professional attire. That's where the government isn't allowed to step in. It's basically part of your job to dress right. The same is true for schools. If a school sets a restrictive dress code, it sucks and it may be something worth trying to change (perhaps through a piece in a student newspaper or a talk with an administrator), but at the end of the day, they've got the right to do it.
And I know, it seems like I'm picking
a strange case for me, but I'm drawn to this because it comes so close to the boarder of acceptable, but is still unacceptable.
BRIDGETON — A Bridgeton High School (BHS) student is suing the school board in federal district court because officials did not allow her to participate in a worldwide protest against abortion during the school day last month.
The student, identified only as C.H. in the suit because she is a minor, said she had planned to hand out pro-life pamphlets, wear an armband with “Life” written on it and remain silent throughout the day unless she was called upon in class.
Oct. 20 marked the sixth year of this protest, known as the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity.
Religious groups and abortion foes encourage students to wear duct tape over their mouths or otherwise remain mostly silent that day to symbolize fetuses forever silenced by abortion.
The suit filed on Friday claims that school officials told C.H. “nothing ‘religious’ is allowed in public schools.”
It also says school policy banning religious expression violates the 1st and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. It names as defendants Superintendent H. Victor Gilson, the Board of Education, BHS Principal Lynn Williams and Assistant Principal Stephen Lynch.
“We have a very strict dress code, and we don’t allow students to pass out literature,” Gilson said on Tuesday. That includes political and religious pamphlets and speech.
Religious expression is not the only type banned, he added.
“We don’t allow any insignias at all unless they (promote) Bridgeton High School or Bridgeton itself,” Gilson explained.
Now here's the thing. I think that in a public school some protests might be OK, but others aren't and I'm not just labeling this one 'not OK' because it's religious or conservative.
If my high school class had staged a walkout, we'd all face punishment, but we'd have gotten our point across and that would be it. If this student wanted to wear an armband and then get suspended for a day because of it, that's her prerogative, but she's got to accept the punishment. Although I find the 'literature' a problem, I support her up until she files the lawsuit. Because she's wrong. You can't use school, a public school, as a platform for religious and political debates. Talking politics is one thing, but when you start handing out pamphlets, you've begun interrupting the learning process. For the seven or eight hours you're in school, that's the third of the day you're expected to act professionally.
Not to mention that she's flat-out wrong about this case violating the first and fourteenth amendments — because she wasn't arrested or fined. She violated a school rule and she was punished through the school. As long as she wasn't punished through the legal system the case on this has got to be closed.
But what is she doing? OF COURSE, she's clinging to her religion and trying to give it precedence over school rules. Look how much effort religion goes through to interrupt education.
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