Bethel School District V Fraser Case Brief

1. In the case of Bethel School District v. Fraser a lot happened. In my understanding there was a school event in which students gave speeches. The one student gave a speech with language unaccepted in the school, and got suspended, and was not allowed to be voted in for the election. The Father got angry and believed that his sons amendment rights were being violated. He felt like his sons first amendment right of freedom of speech was being withheld from him, along with his fourteenth amendment right. The case first went to a general court and it could not be agreed upon, so in tern it went to the Supreme Court because it could not be agreed upon in the lower court system and was to controversial. The court case was taken extremely seriously because it could change school rights, as they were known.
The Supreme Court decided that the school was right. That the child should not have used the language and that they have a right to punish and suspend him. His rights were not taken away because schools have the right to make rules and they do not have to be extremely specific. The general rule is to not use slander language and or offensive language, which the child did use. The language affected other children in the school, and was highly inappropriate. There are rules and regulations in schools and they must be followed. There are certain places in which certain things cannot be said. The first amendment was not meant for children to use slanderous language within the school walls where the children are to be educated. The fourteenth amendment was not violated either because of the fact that it was in alliance with his speech and part of the punishment. In the end the school won the