7th grader's pro-life t-shirt banned from school

[Juanfran]

(from mynorthwest.com)

Clearly it's acceptable for kids to wear shirts in the public schools that have political and social messages.

At the school where I coach, it's impossible to go ten feet without seeing several students wearing "Obama", "Change", or "Gay pride" t-shirts.

But what happens when the t-shirt doesn't reflect left-wing ideology? Well... it gets banned.

So goes the story of a 7th grade girl in Merced, California. On "National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day" in April of last year she wore... this pro-life t-shirt:



According to the family's legal complaint, the school principal and assistant principal ordered the girl to remove the shirt and confiscated it for the remainder of the school day. She was ordered to never wear the shirt to school again.

School officials say they ordered the girl to remove the shirt because it constituted "inappropriate subject matter" in violation of the school's dress code.

Every year, schools across the country participate in the National Day of Silence to promote gay rights. If that is allowed, why can't a pro-life 12-year-old girl express her social views at school?

Are our public schools about free speech? Or only free left-wing speech?



- This is why I think all schools should adopt a strict uniform policy by the way.

[silent killer]

I live down the road from Merced. 60 miles give or take, really. This wasn't on the news, but a boy who was suspended for wearing a shirt with the stars and stripes on it did get mentioned awhile ago.

[Kiba]

I'm glad you brought this up. I completely agree, Avon.

[Ryudo]

I still don'r like the idea of uniforms. These cases are so rare. You always hear a handful of cases but in all the millions of kids every day that go to school without incident that it's such a small fraction of a percent it does not really matter.Besides when they get uniforms they will still find ways to wear those where it breaks policy and get suspended.

I find slapping a uniform on kids no different than ripping away freedom of expression in any form and promoting censorship to it's fullest.
When I was in school I only saw once a kid get suspended for his t shirt but it was just when it had a photo of a nude nun and the print "Jesus is a cunt"
Despite what happened to me at my high school graduation I still don't believe in uniforms,

I shall just copy and paste what happened about that here from a post I made a few days ago at SD.


"I was just fucking pissed as hell by the douchbag who ran the high school grad ceremony would not let me in because my clothes I wore were not as nice looking as the other kids(my school was mainly rich kids and I was the poor kid) Took the full year and my family saving up and even my moms co workers as a gift pitched in so i could rent the grad robe and buy my class ring.

So there I was standing waiting in line to go into the Uof U huntsman basketball center where the event was held and this asshole said he would not allow me in.
Even my dad of all people came from rehab to see me graduate.
I looked forward to this day the entire year and one asshole ruined it.

I got pissed stormed to the parking lot up to the car and just without thinking swung my fist and it just happened to land through the car window.
My hand was fine but the window was completely gone"

[Riku]

In the UK I don't know one school that let's kids wear anything. Over here almost all schools have uniforms.

[Jeff]

Kiba is back YESSSS!!!!!

[KennyNOL]

I hate uniforms. I always hear that argument for them but in reality it doesn't change a damn thing. For one, people wear shirts under their uniforms anyway regardless if they check or not. Plus where I went to school, its usually a sign that you're part of a rich school and you're treated differently anyway just cause of that. Its even worse when you're in there but are treated different there, usually if you're poor or don't conform to the "rich" lifestyle. You're essentially fucking ostracized. I had to wear that stupid shit too and they were always uncomfortable anyways. Basically everything Ryu said was true.

Anyway, i'm pro-choice but the kid should be able to wear that shirt.

[rome]

If your not gonna allow students to express themselves, then you might as well enforce uniforms and see where that gets you. Back in the day, i got in trouble for wearing a South Park tshirt of Kenny all hacked up.

If someone tried to tell me that shit now, i'd tell em to go fuck themselves Let the girl wear the shirt.

[tao]

I was prepared to see gruesome pictures of the remains of fetuses after an abortion, but that shirt was actually very clean yet effective and clever in a way. Not enough to make me switch sides on the matter though, lol. But it's still a lot better than a many of the scare/shock tactics I see hanging around campus every once in a while.

A lot of public schools are shit anyway. Crap happens all the time because the person(s) in charge is a jerk. I suppose I see how it can be distracting in class, but it's not like a heated political debate in the middle of algebra class is going to do any harm. It'd probably be more productive getting kids to be more politically aware than the actual subject matter anyway.

Sucks what happened at your grad, Ryudo. Mine wasn't so great either.

[beedle]

Yeah, that's a bit stupid. I'm curious as to what these other "expressive shirts" that were allowed actually are, though.

That said, even if you do ban offensive stuff, there's nothing really bad about that.

[Hei Long]

Perhaps since I had to wear a purple uniform at school, I've never particularly wanted to defend uniforms in general

I always found them bullshit anyway. Teachers would always defend our uniform policy by stating that it was so children with less money wouldn't be bullied or teased for not being able to afford big name brands.

Personally I saw that as letting the bullies win.

Especially as I found, during secondary school, it was a time when kids were struggling with identity and learning to try and define just who they are and what they believe in.