SUPREME COURT ATTACKS STUDENT'S RIGHTS

Fourth Amendment Under Fire?

Once again the Supreme Court has taken a swipe at student's rights. Its
ruling allowing random drug testing for students participating in
extracurricular activities is but one in a series of decisions attacking
students' constitutional rights.

The ruling turns every student into a suspect, even if there is no evidence
of drug use. Essentially, we students are all deemed guilty until proven
innocent, despite the fact that research shows students involved in
after-school activities are less likely to use drugs than other students.

Moreover, rulings like this are turning schools into "enclaves of
totalitarianism," to quote former Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas. To
quote Justice Fortas from Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School
District: "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed
their constitutional rights . . . at the schoolhouse gate."

Why, then, did the Supreme Court uphold what would clearly be a violation
of the Fourth Amendment if it occurred anywhere besides a school? In my
opinion, it is a result of the conservative justices' view that youth are
sort-of citizens, who are not entitled to the same protections as adults.
If we continue down this road, schools will soon only teach about the
Constitution, not abide by it.

As youth, we have to confront this belief every day. Our schools and our
society demand adult behavior and responsibility out of us, punish us as
adults, but refuse to allow us the same rights and freedoms as adults in
return. This is unfortunate because, as William Harvard once said, "The
greatest glory of a free-born people is to transmit that freedom to their
children."

Ryan Guptill is an incoming ninth grader at Miramonte High School in Orinda.