Bethel V. Fraser L. Jones Term Paper

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" And perhaps points to a key deficiency within the public school milieu. After all, just because a particular educational principle is not carefully scripted into the classroom plan or even school year does not mean that its unexpected inclusion is an interruption of learning. In fact, I would submit that any discussion concerning the "protected nature" of the student's speech, as well as the issues surrounding it would, in itself, constitute "education" if of an unscheduled kind. Further, I would also submit that the ability of individual teachers to on occasion "roll with the events" and use them as a teaching opportunity would point directly to principles of quality education, rather than an excessive reliance on pre-scripted or scheduled lesson plans provided by affluent text-book publishing companies.

Whether the student's disciplinary action was founded is another matter. I, for one would tend to err on the side of the Court, but for different reasons (in that I don't believe that the educational process was necessarily interrupted). Instead, I believe that the speech was lewd and offensive, and as such is curtailed within the school as stated in school rules.
However, one wonders if the student and the student's parents would have been less likely to bring the matter to court had they had an opportunity to enter into the protected speech discussion and education following the incident. I submit that a constructive inclusion of the matter in a public dialogue (in itself, educational) may have made a difference in the levels of misunderstanding and perceived grievance on the part of the student, the student's family, as well as the student body and staff.

Findlaw. "Bethel School District v. Fraser." 2004. Retrieved from Web site on October 3, 2004 http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=U.S.&vol=478&invol=675

Fretzin, Leonard. Kelsey, Yvette. Loschen, Darren. "Internet and E-Mail Policy." 2004. Retrieved from Web site on October 3, 2004 http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/ykelsey/eol469/internet_emailuse.htm

UMKC. University of Missouri, Kansas City. "Bethel School District v. Fraser." Retrieved from Web site on October 3, 2004 http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/indecentspeech.htm

United States Supreme Court. "BETHEL SCHOOL DIST. NO. 403 v. FRASER, 478 U.S. 675." 1986......

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