AHA Session 159
Saturday, January 7, 2023: 10:30 AM-12:00 PM
Grand Ballroom Salon B (Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, 5th Floor)
Chairs:
Jonathan Friedman, PEN America
Sigal Ben-Porath, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Sigal Ben-Porath, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Panel:
Justin Driver, Yale Law School
Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, New School
Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, New School
Session Abstract
Schools are spaces of learning and discipline where students acquire the knowledge to thrive, but is it fair to presume that knowledge is apolitical? What rights should students have to express political views that may spark division and stir controversy in classrooms? These were the questions raised by a major flashpoint in the history of free speech for young Americans: Tinker v. Des Moines, a landmark ruling in 1969 in which the Supreme Court found that student speech could not be censored unless it disrupted the educational process. The event will explore the ways in which students' rights have consistently been a battleground for culture wars throughout the United States. This humanities discussion will touch on the range of methods students have found for expressing dissent, from anti-war armbands to social media posts, as well as the ways in which protections for free speech in schools have been altered in the years since the Tinker decision.
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