FREE SPEECH 4 TEENS

Even Silly Antics Deserve First Amendment Rights

Adolescents have long adored the absurd use of language to shock,
amuse and -- best of all -- draw attention.

When an Alaska high school senior, Joseph Frederick, unfurled a banner
that said "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" outside his school in 2002, no doubt he
embraced that ridiculous message for all of those reasons.

But this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the message was
designed to promote illegal drug use. And on that basis, the majority
agreed that the principal did not violate Frederick's First Amendment
right to free speech when she suspended him from school.

Frederick's message was not obscene nor did it disrupt learning in the
classroom. That day the students were standing outside their school
waiting for the Olympic torch relay to pass by.

This time, the majority of the court went too far.

Adolescents have always been enthralled by the puckish nature of
language. A generation or so ago, teens listened to "The Grateful
Dead," a name that adults of that era might have translated as
advocating suicide. They wore T-shirts that read, "Make love, not
war," which might have been interpreted as promoting underage sex.

Certainly, school principals can dream up all sorts of illicit
activities that could be inferred from the nonsense messages their
students spout. They might worry that these sentiments could detract
from school values, everything from remaining drug-free to supporting
U.S. troops at war to looking both ways before crossing the street.

Yet the country is safest when its citizens, including its
exasperating teens, can employ language, not violence, to draw
attention. The court's decision this week limits that important
freedom -- and that community protection.

Albert Einstein, according to Walter Isaacson's
new book, "Einstein: His Life and Universe,"
admired this country's emphasis on free speech.
The author quotes Einstein as saying, "From what
I have seen of Americans, I think that life would
not be worth living to them without this freedom of self-expression."

Indeed. Whether that expression includes the sublime words of Einstein
himself, or the ridiculous slogans of a Juneau-Douglas High School
teenager, America's strength rests on that very freedom.