In 1969, in response to the "Tinker v. Des Moines School District" case, the supreme court ruled that "student do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate." So why can a school official go through my possessions WITHOUT probably cause? Why can I be told what not to wear and what not to say? With all these "slight modifications" to our most basic constitutional rights, schools have become more like private institutions than government-run facilities. I say this due to the fact that very basic rights such as freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, and at times freedom of (or from) religion, are all heavily restricted.
Perhaps the most abhorrent of these violations is the change from "probable cause" to "reasonable suspicion." I would say that in America, one of the rights our people value the most is the right not to be searched unless there is some tangible evidence against us. In school that rights is stripped from us. Instead, it is replaced with "reasonable suspicion." Does that sound very, very, VERY vague to you? That's because it is! "Reasonable suspicion" could be anything from photographic proof to an anonymous phone call, but regardless of what it is, it gives school officials the right to search just about all of your stuff. That includes your locker, phone, backpack, laptop, pretty much anything you have on you. If they find something, you're screwed, and if they don't, they say "sorry" and go on their merry way.
This all begs the question: why are students' rights taken from them, and why are people not up in arms about it? Why are students' most basic constitutional rights taken from them "at the school house gate?" And what can we, as students and concerned citizens, do to combat this?
