Inculcation of Democratic Values
One goal of our public education system since the time of Horace Mann has been the inculcation of democratic values. In Ambach v. Norwick, 441 U.S. 68, 76-77 (1979), the court declared, "inculcate[ion of] fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system." These fundamental values of "habits and manners of civility" essential to a democratic society must, of course, include tolerance of divergent political and religious views, even when the views expressed may be unpopular. The schools must be a marketplace of ideas. However, the discourse cannot happen at the expense of the learning process.
The Supreme Court has struggled with the issue of students rights for decades. In New Jersey v. T.L.O(1985). Justice Powell stated,
"The primary duty of school officials and teachers, as the court states, is the education and training of young people. A State has a compelling interest in assuring that the schools meet this responsibility. Without first establishing discipline and maintaining order, teachers cannot begin to educate their students."
Sometimes the first amendment rights of children directly interfere with the ability of a school to fulfill its pedagogical obligations. The courts have struggled with the tension that exists between the maintenance of first amendment rights and the maintenance of order in the public schools.
The claiming of individual rights without giving a thought to what it means for our society could lead to the degeneration of our democracy. Abraham Lincoln wrote, "Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" We want to give students rights, and we believe they should have them, but in doing so we weaken our nation. Individual rights can only be pushed so far before they begin to chip away at the very system by which they were created. Students need to learn about the principles of our Democracy before they can understand what liberty means.
In Tinker v. Des Moines, Justice Black, stated, "I have never believed that any person has a right to give speeches or engage in demonstrations where he pleases and when he pleases." Justice Black strongly believed in the first amendment, but argued that limits to free speech are necessary in order to preserve order in society. The ability to preserve order in public schools, as opposed to the rest of society, may be a more difficult task because adolescents are not fully developed citizens.
Government 375: Educational Reform and Ideology