A Student Bill of Rights?

Pete Reilly at Ed. Tech. Journeys has an interesting post on a students bill of rights he ran across in the UK (also check out today's post on the budget and deficit). The UK bill of rights flier contained the basics and was predicated on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The flier caused him to wonder, however, what a student's bill of rights would look like in the U.S.:

We have a Patients’ Bill of Rights, a Consumers’ Bill
of Rights, and an Airline Travelers’ Bill of Rights; but who speaks for
our students? For those of us that advocate K-12 public school
transformation, isn’t a Bill of Rights an important step?

So, what would you include in a Student’s Bill of Rights?

He had some interesting responses, but the content concerns me less than the idea. This idea, of having a U.S. Student's Bill of Rights, really strikes me as a good one. Let's put aside the content debate for a minute and assume all the Bill of Rights would do is reiterate the existing constitutional provisions as applied to education. So, a right to free speech, a right not to be searched unreasonably, a right not to be discriminated against without a compelling justification, a right to due process ... the basics. This would still be a great statement for the incoming president to make in his first 100 days in office. Why is it important, you might ask, if all the student's bill of rights did was reiterate existing rights? Well, let me remind you of Justice Thomas' concurrence in Morse v. Frederick. Let me just give you some of his exact words:

MORSE v. FREDERICK via kwout

And...

MORSE v. FREDERICK via kwout

Justice Thomas clearly wants to un-apply the Constitution to students. It took us over 150 years of American history to start recognizing that students, as citizens themselves, had rights, and there is no reason whatsoever to go back. It may be that a large percentage of the country does not support the removal of constitutional rights from students, but clearly some (and some extremely important individuals) do. A presidential statement on a student's bill of rights would unequivocally put an end to this notion that students are not protected by the constitution when in schools, not only from a legal standpoint, but also from a philosophical standpoint. It would be a great statement for a future president to make for a number of reasons, especially one riding a wave of student activism (ahem, Mr. Obama). (And yes I do know of the Students Bill of Rights Act of 2006 proposed by Sen. Dodd, but that was more a school finance bill than a statement of constitutional rights). If the president approached it as just a reiteration of constitutional law for students and did it in an executive order, much of the political battle of school finance and desegregation could be avoided (which is what I am sure has prevented this kind of statement up to this point).

Additionally, this would raise awareness amongst children of their rights as students. Just like what Pete saw in the UK, it is something that can be put on a flier. I know the administrators reading the blog are cringing right now, but students do have rights and failing to inform students of their rights is as bad as not giving them rights in the first place. If we say that we as a country value student speech, then let's actually value student speech and let students know they can speak their minds freely within constitutional bounds.  I think telling students what their rights are, and not just in a student handbook or code of conduct that gets tossed, is the right think to do ethically. Let's tell them that we want them to speak freely, but if their speech causes a disruption, we will punish. Not only is it ethical, it is honest.

I could go on, but I will save you the reading. I just think this is a good idea all around and I am surprised we have not implemented something to this effect at the federal level yet. I know K-12 students don't vote, but they do eventually, and what better statement to give them about American Democracy than being honest and upfront about their rights as students. I would be interested in the thoughts of others on this, but I think it is something we should push for right away.

Comments

[Jon Becker]

Right back atcha Justin.

I JUST taught Morse to my class on Monday night and had them read Thomas' concurring opinion. I love how he fancies himself as an educational historian. My favorite part? This: "I am afraid that our jurisprudence now says that students have a right to speak in schools except when they don't. a standard continuously developed through litigation against local schools and their administrators. In my view, petitioners could prevail for a much simpler reason: As originally
understood, the Constitution does not afford students a right to free speech in public schools."

Incredible.

[Justin]

Yeah, thanks Jon. I didn't even know where to start with the Thomas concurrence. Your quote was a good one too. The whole thing was just baffling to me. It was such a shock - I knew he would side with the administration, but to rescind constitutional rights for students ... well, like you said, incredible.