Rights and Privileges

I will state this right away, you might not agree with me. That is ok. I don't always agree with myself either. That said, What are my rights and privileges?

Every student will shout out, its my First Amendment Right. I can say anything I want. I can post anything to the web I want. You can't block sites. As the ACLU is doing by threatening law suits over blocked Homosexual sites. Someone with a little knowledge will even state, the Supreme Court states a Student have Amendment rights. They are allowed to say what they want according to Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969).

Those who support this Tinker Rule fail to ever mention Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986) or Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988). In Bethel, the Court upheld the right of Washington state high school administrators to discipline a student for delivering a campaign speech at a school assembly that was loaded with sexual innuendo. The Court expressed the view that administrators ought to have the discretion to punish student speech that violates school rules and has the tendency to interfere with legitimate educational and disciplinary objectives. In Hazelwood, the Court relied heavily on Bethel to uphold the right of school administrators to censor materials in a student-edited school paper that concerned sensitive subjects such as student pregnancy, or that could be considered an invasion of privacy.

I don't think anyone is going to say that our students have the right to bear arms? Maybe there are some people who believe that, but I am sure most can say that is not right. But that is an Amendment. Shouldn't we allow students be able to buy guns then?

I do believe that students should not and do not have all these rights. Students are under the supervision of their parents. They can not make rational choices. This is not to hold them back or restrain them. This is to protect them. It relates with Spiderman's theory, "with great powers comes greater responsibility." I do not think a student should be held to the same criteria as adults. The Constitution and the Bill or Rights are written for Adults. Children are going to make many mistakes and it is good for them to make mistakes. It is ok to fail, see my recent post.

So what should our students rights should be? What are their privileges.

Student Rights (not a complete list, but a growing live list that is related to Education)
1. The Right to a Great Education
2. The Right to be loved by the teacher
3. The Right to be challenged
4. The Right to learn

Student Privileges (not a complete list, but a growing live list that is related to Education)
1. The Privilege to express original thought and creativity.
2. The Privilege to question what is important.
3. The Privilege to use 21st century tools to promote their Right to learn.
4. The Privilege to be themselves.

Now not all privileges are granted or professed to each and every student all the time. There are times when a child needs to be told "NO".

Now you can also question what does it mean to have the Right to a Great Education and maybe that will be a post for a future time. Relatively speaking, I am just beginning my career and life as an Educator, and I don't have all the answers and know that what might work for one person, will not work for another.

I rather see sites that promote education in the classroom, like scratch, flickr, some social network sites be unfiltered before a site that is promoting one view on a political debate. Again you might agree with the Supreme Court that a Student has the Right, I on the other hand disagree with the Supreme Court often.

But, What Rights should students have? And what are just privileges? What are your thoghts?

Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/seidior/3103221850/