CASE STUDY: A STUDENT'S FREE SPEECH

To the Editor:

When students go on field trips, their actions are supposed to
represent the school, and students are usually asked to sign a
permission slip saying they would conduct themselves as if they were
at school.

Instead, Joseph Frederick flashed a sign saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."
Mr. Frederick was doing this as a joke; he was representing himself
and not the school. There is no reason his freedom of speech should be
taken away.

As a high school student myself, I feel that if we are allowed to be
tested for drugs, then we should be able to talk freely about them.
People have considered the sign offensive, but that shouldn't even be
a valid point because both Ann Coulter and Gen. Peter Pace have
offended people recently.

If people argue that the sign was promoting drugs, then others can
argue that Ann Coulter was promoting straight people. If right-wing
political commentators can have freedom of speech, so should students.
Let them deal with the consequences of their mistakes rather than with
a court.

Brittany Houlihan

New York