The Free Speech Rights of High School Students
Updated Sept. 26, 2024
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Background
“The most notable phenomenon we have observed recently is that free speech is being aggressively challenged at the high school level, including in student publications. In some cases, school administrators are squelching views they find outlandish or disagreeable, but the complaints often have less to do with ideology than with avoiding controversy of any sort. Often, after acting harshly, they have second thoughts or outsiders step in to calm the situation.”
—Sanford Ungar, Free Speech Project Director, February 2019
High school censorship takes several different forms. See these examples from recent years on the Free Speech Tracker:
Student Press
Texas high school censors paper, fires award-winning journalism adviser — March 2018- Utah high school censors student newspaper story about a teacher under investigation — January 2018
- Vermont principal’s censorship of high school newspaper overturned by school commissioner — September 2018
- Student journalists in Indiana prevented from writing about sexual assault — October 2018
- Arkansas high school censors investigation by student newspaper — November 2018
- Denver student journalists reporting on teacher strike silenced by school officials — February 2019
- California school district reluctantly allows high school paper to publish article about student working in porn — July 2019
Graduation Speeches
- California high school valedictorian’s microphone disabled when speech veers off script — June 2018
- High school valedictorian in Kentucky prevented from giving graduation speech that touched on personal identity — May 2018
- High school graduation speakers cry censorship over talks urging climate change action — June 2019
- New Jersey high school principal cuts microphone on queer valedictorian’s speech — July 2021
Other Events
- Michigan high school violates federal law by opposing religious language in grad speech: complaint, Fox News, May 2021
- High school valedictorian says school ‘censored’ his speech about LGBTQ identity, Today, June 2021
- Regis Jesuit High School Fires Journalism Advisors, Removes Winter Issue of Student Magazine Over Pro-Choice Op-Ed, Union Street Journal, January 2022
- Florida high schooler who says he was censored in graduation speech speaks out, ABC News, May 2022
- High School Journalists In LA Learn About Censorship — From Their Own Principal, LAist, September 2022
- A Student Journalist’s Plea: Stop Censoring Us (and Our Advisers), Education Week, March 2023
- Oakland Tech student calls out censorship of school newspaper story critical of rising death toll in Gaza, CBS News, March 2024
- McClatchy High School is censoring the student newspaper, trampling on free speech | Opinion, The Sacramento Bee, May 2024
Related Incidents on the Free Speech Tracker
The restriction of Free Speech cuts across other genres and venues:
- Louisiana high school imposes sanctions on students who protest during national anthem — September 2017
- Florida teen faces disciplinary action after racist ‘promposal’ — April 2018
- Artist claims censorship after removal of portrait at Massachusetts private school — November 2018
- Wisconsin school district declines to punish high school students for Nazi-salute prom photo — November 2018
- California teenage girl banned from wearing MAGA hat sues her high school — February 2019
- High school cheerleaders cautioned for displaying pro-Trump banner at football game — September 2019
- Texas high schoolers suspended for wearing dreadlocks — January 2020
- High school junior sues school district for Free Speech infringement, wins settlement — April 2020
- Georgia high school students suspended for posting photos of crowds of unmasked students during COVID-19 pandemic — August 2020
- Supreme Court rules for high school cheerleader punished for expletive-laden Snapchat message — June 2021
- Pennsylvania Supreme Court sides with student who was expelled over school shooter meme — December 2021
- Texas student settles harassment lawsuit against school over refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance — May 2022
- Wisconsin school board denies students access to book about internment of Japanese Americans during World War II — August 2022
- Students sue Georgia school district over repeated racist incidents and ban on BLM attire — February 2023
- Michigan school district bans “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts, provoking First Amendment challenge from student’s mother — June 2023
- High school student sues Texas governor and attorney general for failure to Intervene in school district’s hair discrimination practices – October 2023
The Role of Free Speech
Do Students Still Have Free Speech in School?, The Atlantic, April 2014- A nationwide movement protecting the student press from censorship gains momentum, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, September 2017
Points of View
Choose an example from the options below and use it to analyze the issue. Do these points of view change yours? Do they complicate it?
- Hate speech is showing up in schools. Censorship isn’t the answer, The Washington Post, November 2018
- Most states are failing student journalists like me, CNN, March 2019
- A Conversation With the Valedictorian Whose Speech Was Censored, NPR, June 2018
- Seven Ways High-School Student Views on Free Speech Are Changing, Knight Foundation, December 2018
- High School Students Value Free Speech but Feel Uncomfortable Speaking Up, American Enterprise Institute, June 2022
Discussion Questions
- Under the standard of the 1988 Supreme Court case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, school administrators in elementary, middle, and high schools can legally suppress speech when the censorship is “reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns.” Based on the examples you read about above, what qualifies as a “legitimate pedagogical concern”? In what cases did the school overstep and infringe on students’ First Amendment rights?
- What should be the role of graduation speeches and student newspapers, respectively? Given those roles, when are schools justified in censoring graduation speeches and school newspapers?
- How are the Free Speech conflicts emerging in high schools similar to those you’ve heard about on college campuses? How are they different, and why? Should college students (and college newspapers) have greater Free Speech protections than high school students, and why?
- How might the conditions of a high school (public, private, or parochial) influence how administrators approach Free Speech? Did you ever experience suppression of Free Speech in your high school?
- This module has mostly discussed speech that occurred in on-campus forums, like graduation speeches or school newspapers. But some incidents — such as the racist “promposal“ or the alleged Nazi salute in a prom photo — did not occur on campus, though the circumstances were still related to school activities. Should schools be allowed to regulate students’ speech when it doesn’t occur on campus? How might the type of school (public, private, or parochial) affect your answer?
Activity
Click on these themes below: Hate Speech, Press, Identity
Click on these categories below: Education
Discuss: What patterns emerge? What does this selection of stories tell us about Free Speech issues in the United States? What does it say about Free Speech on high school and college campuses?