A high school yearbook can include a picture of a teen in a “God is Dead” T-shirt. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear the case of a former student banned from playing an instrumental version of “Ave Maria” at high school graduation.
Huh?
Don’t look to me for a reasoned explanation of decisions regarding those two situations, both reported in The Herald last week. Together, they appear to show a double standard in terms of public schools and freedom of expression. We’re left scratching our heads.
If one student can come to school wearing the writing of Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th century German philosopher, why can’t another student play the composition of Franz Biebl, a 20th century German composer, at a school-related event?
Seriously, does anyone think either of these students was bent on proselytizing?
Just to recap: At Arlington High School, senior Justin Surber had often worn his “God is Dead” shirt to school. He’s president of the debate club, and had the shirt on when the club’s yearbook photo was taken. After discussions, yearbook adviser Anne Hayman said in Thursday’s Herald that the photo would be published in the yearbook, along with a school newspaper article about issues of possible censorship raised by Surber.
Arlington High School made a solid decision. It also allowed other students to share their views countering the “God is Dead” message.
School leaders could have viewed the picture as an embarrassment, banned it from the yearbook, and swept the whole thing under the rug. Instead, the debate became more than a teachable moment. It will live on in the pages of the yearbook, called “Stillaguamish Trail,” and will surely spark discussion long after the class of 2010 leaves school.
As for “Ave Maria” and Jackson High School’s 2006 graduation ceremony, Kathryn Nurre’s case taking on the Everett School District deserved better. If the high court had decided to hear the case, whatever the final ruling, we might better understand issues of religious references in public schools.
Why does music, without lyrics, step over a line, while students say the Pledge of Allegiance, with its 1954 addition “one nation under God”?
Nurre, a 2006 Jackson High School graduate, claimed infringement of First Amendment rights in her lawsuit, which was thrown out in federal court. “Ave Maria” — “Hail Mary” in Latin — was deemed by federal judges to be obviously religious.
You can’t read Shakespeare or U.S. history without bumping into Christianity. The Supreme Court’s thinking on the “Ave Maria” suit would have been enlightening. With the court declining to hear it, we’re left with the reasoning of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who dissented from the majority.
According to the Associated Press, Alito wrote: “The decision by the San Francisco-based appeals court could lead to censorship of other forms of student expression outside of music, like student speeches and other school events.”
Not only did the controversies at Arlington and Jackson high schools raise substantial questions, they gave us a glimpse of future leaders. In both Surber and Nurre we see young people willing to stand up for their principles and challenge the status quo — in a civil fashion.
Recent days have brought awful examples of self-expression.
We’ve read about the so-called n-word, written in hateful scribblings about a Mariner High School student and yelled outside Congress by health-reform protesters. Vice President Joe Biden was on camera when he used crude profanity to describe health care legislation — as a big bleeping deal.
What are we free to say? There are rules and laws about harassment and bullying as well as issues of religion in schools. There is also propriety. In some cases, what we can say is a matter of law.
Mostly though, it’s not the law that governs what comes out of our mouths. Lately, freedom of speech has sounded mighty ugly.
It’s not the law, but here’s a fine rule to live by: Think first, then speak.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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