Speech in Schools

This resource is an Inquiry Pack to accompany the Students’ Rights Timeline on LegalTimelines.org, which explores the evolution of students’ rights inside the schoolhouse gates and beyond.

Built around primary sources from the Library of Congress and other collections, this Inquiry Pack facilitates a deep dive into an important aspect of the history of suffrage and voting rights in the United States.

Each Inquiry Pack includes a background reading, several primary sources (documents, articles, images), discussion questions about the sources, an inquiry question, and an inquiry extension question.

This pack includes the following components:

• Introduction: Speech Behind the Schoolhouse Gates
• The Right Not to Speak in Schools
• Symbolic Speech in Schools
• Lewd Speech in Schools
• Speech Advocating Drug Use
• Off-Campus Speech
• Inquiry Question: Under what circumstances should public schools be permitted to regulate student speech?
• Inquiry Extension Question: How should the Supreme Court define “off-campus school speech” when considering whether student speech can be regulated?
• Inquiry Question Graphic Organizer