In December of 1965 three students in Des Moines decided to wear black armbands to protest the deaths in Vietnam. School officials had heard of their intent, which was in response to a call by Robert Kennedy for a Christmas truce, and quickly passed a policy which would mean the action would result in a suspension. The three students had planned to end their protest at the end of the year, and they were suspended until after January 1st. Eventually with the help of the ACLU the Tinker family, from which 15 year old John and 13 year old Mary Beth came, filed suit in US District Court. They lost until the case reached the Supreme Court in November of 1968, where in an opinion written by Abe Fortas and issued the following February, the Court by a 7-2 vote made clear the belief that students had free expression rights in school.
Maryland requires high school students to know the case. On Thursday several hundred of our students really got to know it from one of the participants, as Mary Beth Tinker came to share her experiences and answer their questions.
Let me quote one part of that opinion:
In our system, state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism. School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students in school, as well as out of school, are "persons" under our Constitution. They are possessed of fundamental rights which the State must respect, just as they themselves must respect their obligations to the State. In our system, students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate. They may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments that are officially approved. In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views.
Yet as powerful and direct as those words may read to us today, they do not necessarily connect as powerfully as does the presence of one on whose behalf they were written,although Mary Beth Tinker made clear that she saw the actions of three Iowa teenagers as part of a continuum of action by young people seeking rights,and certainly they had had the model of young people in the many activities of the Civil Rights movement,some of whom - and she specifically named Schwerner, Cheney and Goodman - had died in the process.
I had recently learned that Mary Beth Tinker lived in the DC area. I was able to pass a message to her inviting her to come to our school. She readily agreed - she willing talks to students, and to others, on behalf of the idea of student rights in particular. We arranged on short notice to have the auditorium for one period,and teachers of government were invited to bring their classes for that period and to make provisions for students from other periods to come with permission of teachers of other subjects and parents. We had some faculty and administration who came, some senior students from an AP English class, all told something over 250 people. It was a remarkable event.
I try to connect my students with the real world whenever possible. I do not often take field trips,but I am shameless and infamous for beseeching well-known people to come in and talk with my students - earlier this year Rep. Carolyn McCarthy had been kind enough to do so. I have had famous journalists, Congressional candidates, political staffers,lobbyists. We are about half an hour from Capitol Hill, and only a bit further from our state capital (Annapolis)and our County Seat(Upper Marlboro), and there is a Federal Courthouse less than 4 miles from our school. Students are used to seeing important people come through our school.
But this was different. This was someone about whom they had learned, who when several years younger than they are(most are in 10th grade)had taken an action which greatly expanded the rights they enjoy.
And the experience was also different because of the style of the speaker. Mary Beth did not simply get up and talk. From the very beginning she was reaching out and getting students involved - she would ask question, engage in dialog, even as she was recounting what she had experienced,putting it in broader context of what had happened before, and what has happened since. She told the students that her father was a minister,that her parents had gone to Mississippi in 1964 for Freedom Summer. She explained that the three students had wanted to honor those who had died, black armbands being a common sign of mourning. As she explained this,she wore a black armband to show the students. After they returned from their suspension,for the rest of the year,since they could not wear the armbands, the three dressed all in black to make the same non-verbal point.
Mary Beth engaged in this dialog/presentation for about 23 minutes. We only had about 40. She had asked not to be separated by being on the stage, so we gave her a podium and a mike at the front of the stage. To expedite questions we had passed out index cards on which students could write their names and their questions. When we got to Q&A, I read the student name, so s/he could stand up, and then after I had asked the question, Mary Beth could direct her answer to the student who had posed the question. This enabled us both to recognize the student yet use the time better in order to get through more questions.
Let me share some of those questions, which came from students across the entire range of classes present(out of about 230 students present,70 were AP and perhaps an equal number were from honors classes,the rest being ordinary kids - and these last asked some of the best questions):
"If the judges had voted against you,how do you think it would have affected your life today?"
"Were you ever intimidated that your case was going all the way to the Supreme Court?"
"Was it you or your parents that pushed for your case to go to court?"
"Has this Supreme Court case changed your outlook on life? If so, what changed the most?"
"How did the administrators at your school justify banning armbands?"
"How would you describe the nation's progress for young people and children's rights since Tinker v Des Moines? A lot of progress? A little?"
"How did you feel that the decision was in favor, but the Supreme Court couldn't enforce the decision?"
"What are we supposed to do when we are required by law to go to school, but school takes away some of our rights like freedom of speech,and we get penalized if we break the school rules?"
And because Mary Beth had mentioned in the continuum of rights the case of Loving v Virginia,in the sense that loving couples should be allowed to marry, we got this:
"What is the difference between interracial couples and homosexual couples? Why aren't homosexuals allowed to marry even though they love each other? And lastly,how do you define a loving couple?"
We were honored Thursday with the presence of a person who made a difference, who stood on principle, not knowing the outcome, who has chosen to continue to speak about her experience in order to encourage others to be willing to speak up.
Students are hungry for this kind of learning experience. They thronged around her even though they had to get to their next classes. Mary Beth was able to come and continue talking with one of my classes for about half the next period. They all asked to take a picture with her, which of course she obliged, because she is very gracious, and because she connects well with kids.
Thursday 2nd period,during that assembly, was one of the most productive periods of my teaching career. Because Mary Beth Tinker came and shared herself with the students. They are hungry for experiences like this. They will remember - even cherish - this experience long after they forget any particular grade on a test.
This is what should be the experience of school. Too often it is not. Thanks to Mary Beth Tinker, my students got at least one rich and rewarding experience last week.
I thought it worth sharing.
Peace.