The Ultimate Professor

Freedom of Speech in School

Abstract

Freedom of speech is a civic issue which affects the social development as well as the overall well being of a society. It is one of the civic issues which to me seem to be neglected yet very important. The problem affects a lot of students in our nation today. In the United States, for example, the issue affects every one individual out of five people giving an approximate population of 43.2 million in every year as reported by the national alliance for education. The statistics however continually grows due to inadequacy in addressing the vice (Perry, 2015). The issue has been left out to be solely education problem which should not always be the case since it affects everyone's life in the society. In this piece, therefore, there is going to be a detailed analysis of the issue of freedom of speech in various schools in the United States, offer reasons why these issues require more than education sector's intervention but civic action as well as to critically identify the best-suited action level that can help eradicate the civic issue.

Introduction

The freedom of speech in schools is the ability of the students to be allowed to say what they think is right and to air their grievances freely. The speech is the ability to talk and be heard by another person. The act of conveying a word is what is called speech. Freedom, on the other hand, is the act of being at liberty to act on your way without being neither controlled nor barded by other individuals as long as it does you do not infringe on other people's rights. A school is a set up which acts like an organization, whose primary role is to manufacture future individuals who can help build the nation through equipping them with the relevant knowledge and skills. Teachers, as well as other authorities within the school body, have lately been reported to abandon the freedom of speech in schools citing some types of harms which can result from the free airing of grievances (Zimmerman & Robertson, 2017). The teachers say that embracing free speech with the school setup depreciates the level of discipline within the school. However, it is believed that this vice affects the society significantly and should therefore not be overlooked but be solved using the best possible means like involving society as the whole to help eradicate it, thus the purpose of this piece.

Why lack of freedom of speech in schools requires civil action

Freedom of speech in schools is not just an education issue as aforementioned. The issue affects all aspects of our civic society such as health, education as well as the country's global economy. It, therefore, requires civic intervention since it is a problem which interferes with the entire society and not only has the individual lived (Kohlmeier & Saye, 2014). Economically, freedom of speech in schools is one of the significant negative influences of the economic development of a country. Lack of freedom of speech in schools today, costs the United States over 193.2 billion annually in the lost revenue. This is due to the increased number of dropouts whose grievances are taken as insults in schools and not able to complete their studies to aid in economic development (Kohlmeier & Saye, 2014). This comes due to a mixture of various factors related to this issue. For instance, the mentioned alliance also depicts that the primary cause of hospitalization among the school going individuals in the United States is the mood disorder resulting from lack of free communication in schools. The given group of individuals who suffer from the civic issue presents a significant gap of age which includes other disorders such as dysthymic, major depressive as well as the bipolar disorders resulting from lack of shared stresses among the youths.

Another considerable factor causing this increased number are those individuals struggling to fit in a given school setup but cannot manage it since the schools are nowadays more or less like prisons and not favorable. The statistics are mentioned in this piece of analysis to help emphasize the fact that lack of freedom of speech in schools is not merely a problem involving a small group of people in a single country's sphere but a vice which affects almost everyone in one way or the other in every corner of the nation (Buckley, 2014). Despite failing to be able to emphasize on the emotional level of the issues of freedom of speech in schools, it affects you whether or not you notice it. Moreover, even though philosophers spend long days and nights with the aim of establishing more about human beings psychology and treatment exceptionally how fair treatment of youths in the school environments can influence academic performance, there is yet a lot we still do not know and forever shall we not know. I, therefore, believe it is essential that every member of the society realizes this fact and strive towards educating themselves concerning students' freedom of speech in the school ecologies for an in-depth understanding of the issue (Buckley, 2014).

Other than the economy, lack of freedom of speech in our schools has a tremendous negative impact on the education system in a country, particularly in the United States in this case. In America, reports have it that over 37 percent of the students aged between 14 to 21 who can identify and know their rights and freedoms are violated by denying them the chance to speak for themselves tend to drop out, forming the highest rate of dropouts for any groups in the globe (Perry, 2015). This is a clear indication that majority of students are unable to complete their education due to their condition since they are not able to share their experiences and even difficulties within the school. It is to some extent reassuring to hear people discuss this problem as an issue even in the universities and campuses. However, it is still firmly believed that there is a lot that still needs to be done to assist individuals who are in need and to help promote awareness in the school within which such practices are rampant. Better education on the same would enable teachers and students to understand each other in the best possible way and try to create the best solutions to the vice (Perry, 2015).

Similarly, lack of freedom of speech in schools also affects many political activities of a country. Every day, for example, over 18 students commit suicide in the United States, making suicide the tenth leading death cause in the nation among the youths increasing the government's expenses on eradicating the same (Kohlmeier & Saye, 2014). Dedication towards helping the students, therefore, is put into total focus to avoid such deaths and money wastages. This alone is enough to encourage individuals to create awareness and civic action on the issue of students' freedom of speech inadequacy. The mass shooting which recently occurred in the United States additionally was found to be initiated by people who were mentally inflicted possibly caused by lack of sharing and free communication, leading to debates on the legal and social issues as well as the gun law discussions. All this knowledge, as well as the statistical evidence, apparently makes it possible for the citizens and the country at large to accept that indeed freedom of speech in schools is a civic issue which can only be eradicated through civic actions (Kohlmeier & Saye, 2014).

The action level required to address the issue of freedom of speech in schools

The issue of students' freedom of speech being a civic issue requires a national standard of remedial action. The problem involves the cooperation of every citizen to be eliminated since the process of initiating and legislating in favor of it requires a lot of time, resources as well as attention which individuals have not the ability to afford on their own (Zimmerman & Robertson, 2017). The government of the united states due to their ability to offer education services which are more efficient and effective, should not seek international intervention nor leave the issue of lack of free speech in schools for the local community and the local schools but rather put more emphasis on it right from formulating proper legislation to offering best treatments of the students within the school environment to seeing the laws implemented in every school. The government should also establish national bodies to be charged with the task of creating awareness on the issues to avoid discrimination of the physically challenged students but to enable them to be helped and treated with respect by both the fellow students and teachers within the schools and beyond. The primary goal of the national government towards students' lack of free speech should be to transform individuals' understanding of the importance of free speech and communication within schools through sponsoring and conducting basic as well as educational research on the same. This is essential to help pave the way towards recovery, prevention as well as complete eradication of the problem to accord students their freedoms, especially the one to freely communicate and raise complaints where possible (Zimmerman & Robertson, 2017). Nationally, the government can and should foster through relevant organizations, initiative thinking and make sure that a complete array of unique perspectives related to education are utilized to further aid in the discovery of the evolving teaching, behavioral as well as experience among the teaching and the non-teaching staffs in schools. In this regard, the government can ensure breakthroughs in education which may translate to advances in lack of speech among the student's eradication in the country, thus the quality standard of education.

The national level of intervention can also be useful in eradicating this civic issue especially if the United States if the government establishes policies which are free from discrimination to the students who are less fortunate and are always not allowed speaking (Perry, 2015). The politicians, for example, should strive towards formulating policies which give room for increased accessibility of the opportunities of education including foodstuffs to the students who have a specific disability and are often looked down upon by either the teachers or fellow students. They should build on such actions as the education equivalence and Fairness Act, which was made to eliminate some policies which were discriminatory particularly in certain private schools and make equal the treatment, terms to every student who would want to air his or her issues for assistance. Additionally, the government at the national level can increase the funding they allocate for feeding the students in schools since lack of proper feeding is the primary cause of chaos in most schools especially where the students have to spend or the boarding institutions of teaching and learning. The funding should not, however, be issued just blindly but with the aim of ensuring it works towards the elimination of the vice in the country and not misused by the money hungry teachers (Perry, 2015). This is because; blind budgeting towards the vice without follow-ups would instead of helping towards a remedy, merely increase the country's economic loss.

Conclusion

The constitution of America gives every individual the freedom of speech since they understand the essence of free communication without censorship. The same should extend to our schools to allow the students to freely interact and communicate with the aim of solving the issues with which they are faced within the school environment (Perry, 2015). Due to lack of freedom of speech in schools, the whole country suffers consequences of economic decline, poor education services as well as societal incorrectness. It is therefore evident that the vice is civic and not a problem of individuals and therefore should be nationally eradicated.

References

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