Censorship In Schools

The Future: It Begins Now American poet Mattie Stepanek proclaims, “Even though the future seems far away, it is actually beginning right now.” Planning for the future began yesterday, for America, time is certainly of the essence. While America’s school system currently does an aquadate job at preparing students for life after high school, there’s always room for improvement. Schools must begin properly planning for the future of our youth. In order for the flourishment of education and student betterment, schools in America must change policies to better fit for our ever-changing society. Censorship in schools is alive and must be halted. The article, “Schools Fail Free Speech 101” by USA Today, proves why censorship is a backwards methodology
Well, a school in Rhode Island banned a student's photo because it depicted him in medieval attire. This attire included armor, a helmet, and a sword prop. Of course, the family sued over freedom of speech. This is teaching students to eliminate individuality. Schools are so standardized, they seemed to have forgot the importance of creating character and how crucial it is in these high school years. Censorship doesn’t stop there, earlier this year a student was suspended for bringing a homemade clock to school. In September, Ahmed Mohamed, a 14 year old student at MacArthur High School, created by hand a clock that he wanted to show his fellow classmates. An article by Manny Fernandez and Christine Hauser shows Mohamed was “suspended from his suburban Dallas high school and
An article by Sarah Bradley shows how, “four out of every five teen pregnancies are unintended. Every year, one million American teenagers will become pregnant.” Regardless of views, schools that have an abstinence only policy must be required to change. For a parent to believe their child isn’t engaging in sexual activity is not only ignorant, but also bombastic. They’d love to think that sex isn’t apart of life, wake up America. Bradley’s article also shows how, “The increase in abstinence-only programs is quite frustrating in an era of HIV and rampant of STD’s.” Yes, it’s sad but STD’s are among us. They are diseases that shouldn't be shunned, but rather learned. Learned so that our youth can understand the risk, and how to safely get around them. Another interlinked topic is birth control. The Baltimore Sun created an article showing, “After Baltimore became the first in the nation to provide Norplant to students more that 20 years ago, city leaders say they continue to be pioneers in adolescent reproductive health.” This is proof that American’s still like to deny. Baltimore's policy of allowing birth control to be offered in schools is an amazing opportunity for students. So many girls in America don’t have this option because of religion, money, or parents. The list goes on, but the idea remains the same. School is a safe-haven, and by allowing the opportunity for