Tinker Standard

• Precedent set by the Tinker v. Demoines
• Defined students' rights to symbolic speech.
• Has nothing to do with Tinkerbell.

How does it affect schools today?

• Personal Experience: Having gone to a "normal" high school (not online) from preschool through middle school, I personally felt that my right to free speech was violated a number of times. An obedient student not looking to rebel against authority, even I felt uncomfortably restricted often.

The Controversy

• Fortunately, all humans have free will. With the opportunity to think differently than others, people develop their own opinions on controversial topics. In America, these differences are embraced and protected by the First Amendment. 
• However, disagreements between people often result in peace disturbing fights. For example, Eric might be proud of his affiliation in a gang and tattoo the gang's name on his arm.  Derrick, who is in an opposing gang sees the tattoo, follows Eric home from school and stabs him. Parents and students want to feel that schools are a safe place. The only way schools can do this is to limit students' free speech a bit.
• Lets look back at the example of Eric and Derrick. This time, let's scale down the gravity of this situation  by rewinding to when they were in elementary school. The two boys are on different soccer teams. One day, Eric wears his soccer jersey to school. Having recently lost a game to Eric's team, Derrick becomes upset and beats Eric up while at recess. What is the school to do? Ban kids who wear soccer jerseys? Where do you draw the line, and who is to decide? There is only so much a school can do in this situation. 

The Complications

• Power hungry teachers. As with people with any form of authority, some teachers feel the need to abuse their powers. 
• Rebellious students. Many young people feel the need to push the boundaries of their freedom of speech saying hateful or inappropriate things.