The students wanted to publish two news: one is about teenage pregnancy and the other is about the divorce and negative remark about the father. But the principal removed these two stories. I think the conflicting rights in this case are freedom of expression/speech. The interests in this case are personal and inappropriate for the school’s newspaper.
2. In what ways is this case similar to the Tinker case? In what ways is it different?
It all happened in school obviously, their rights were taken away by their principals. Their conflicting rights were the same: Freedom of expression. The different part is their result. In Tinker case, they went to the court and they got their rights back but in this case, student didn’t get the rights back, the articles were removed by the order of principal.
3. Examine each of the two opinions on Page 205. Which opinion would you select to decide this case?
Explain your reasoning.
I will select the second option. I don’t really think the principal really have the power to remove students stories from the newspaper. He violate the First Amendment law. I think the students have the right to publish their stories. And also the articles didn’t obstruct the school at all. P.S. I think students can write “You might feel uncomfortable when you read these two story. ” So some of the readers may just skip it.