To Protest or Not To Protest:

Based on the Tinker vs Des Moines (1969) Supreme Court Case

Ronnice L. Little

P.S. 123M

5th Grade

rlittlel@yahoo.com

 


INTRODUCTION:

John and Mary Beth Tinker attended public school in Des Moines, Iowa. In December of 1965 a community group in Des Moines decided to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands. The Tinkers agreed to wear their black armbands to school. However, principals in the school district created a rule that any student wearing an armband to school would be suspended unless the student removed the armband. Although the Tinkers knew about this rule, they came to school wearing their armbands. After refusing to take the armbands off, John and Mary Beth Tinker were sent home by the principal. Their suspension lasted until they agreed to come back to school without the armbands.

The Tinkers filed a suit in the U.S. District Court to stop the school principals from enforcing the rule in the future. Although the District Court said that this type of protest was a form of expression protected under the First Amendment's freedom of speech clause, the Court sided with the school officials, saying that the rule was needed to "prevent the disturbance of school activities." The Tinkers appealed their case to the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, but they lost. The Tinkers decided to appeal the case to the Supreme Court of the United States.

 

TASK:

          You are a student in a fifth grade class in New York City.  You have written a letter to The Department of Education in New York requesting that the sink in your classroom gets fixed.  Also, the class needs new books, too.  No response comes from The Department of Education.  You and your classmates decide that you want to wear red armbands in protest.  Will you do that, too?  Although the Principal passed a role forbidding the wearing or armbands, you have to decide if you are going to wear one anyway.

 

 

 

PROCESS:

Step One: You organize the other students in the class to discuss what can be done about the non response from The New York Department of Education.

You make copies of research on the Tinker Case and give a copy to each classmate to read.

 

Step Two: You have peer discussion based on the research.  You decided that you have freedom of speech and that you will wear armbands in protest to the non response like the Tinkers did.

 

Step Three: You make the armbands with your fellow classmates.

 

Step Four: You get a message to the Principal to inform her about the plans.  She passes a rule that any students who wear armbands will be suspended from the school.

 

Step Five: You organize the students and also their parents.  You have a group meeting to discuss the pros and cons of the protest.  You all agree to protest anyway.

 

Step Six: You have all of the students come to school on a certain day wearing the red armbands.

 

Step Seven: The Principal suspends the students wearing armbands because they broke a school rule.

 

Step Eight: You call the local newspaper and have them come to the school to do a story on the protest and the suspensions.  Each students gives an interview explaining why he or she participated.

 

Step Nine: You send The New York Board of Education a copy of the story from the Newspaper.

 

RESOURCES: 

https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/Lessons/Speech/speech5.html

http://www.landmarkcases.org/tinker/background2.html

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=10386

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/bor.html

 

EVALUATION:

You will be evaluated by the teacher based on your understanding of the Tinker Case and also on your participation in the process.  During the peer discussion and during the planning sessions, the teacher will observe how you participate and what you have to say about your protest and the Tinkers protest.  From the initial meeting to the suspension, you will be accountable during peer discussion for your actions.  You will have to be “interviewed” by the newspaper and based on this interview, the teacher will further evaluate whether you understands your actions as based on the Tinker Case.

 

CONCLUSION:

After completing this activity, you will have an understanding of the Tinker Case.  You will also have learned about the First and Fourteenth Amendments.  You also will have written a letter to The New York City Board of Education, participated in group meetings with classmates and their parents.  You will have made armbands and participated in a protest.  You will have learned how to deal with the Principal and would have suffered the consequences for your actions.  Finally, you will have given a newspaper interview standing up for your protest actions.

 

STANDARDS:

 

Social Studies

Civics, Citizenship and Government.

5-2 Students value the principles, ideals and core value of the American democratic system based upon the premise of human dignity, liberty, justice and equality.

5-4 Students respect the rights of others in discussions and classroom.

Language Arts

E1 Reading

E3 Speaking, Listening and Viewing

E3b Participate in group meetings.

E3c Prepare and deliver individual presentation.

E3d Make informed judgments about TV, radio, film.