Semaj and Kevin wanted to wear all green in support of saving the environment. Their teacher, who also happens to own a gas company grew angry when finding out about these plans. He gave them lunch detention after hearing about their plans.
Analyze the scenario and decide whose Fourteenth Amendment right is violated.
(1 point)
Responses
This scenario represents a violation of the teacher’s Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This scenario represents a violation of the teacher’s Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Nobody’s Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated in this scenario.
Nobody’s Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated in this scenario.
This scenario represents a violation of Semaj and Kevin’s Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This scenario represents a violation of Semaj and Kevin’s Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This scenario represents a violation of the administration’s Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This scenario represents a violation of the administration’s Fourteenth Amendment rights.
This scenario represents a violation of Semaj and Kevin's Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The Fourteenth Amendment includes the Equal Protection Clause, which requires states to provide equal protection under the law to all people within their jurisdictions. This generally means that public school students cannot be discriminated against or punished for exercising their rights to free expression, as long as that expression does not disrupt the educational process or infringe on the rights of others.
In this case, Semaj and Kevin's plan to wear green to support environmental causes appears to be a form of symbolic speech, which is protected under the First Amendment, and by extension, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. If the students are being given detention simply for expressing their views on the environment and not for any actual disruptive behavior, it would likely be seen as a violation of their Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The teacher's ownership of a gas company and his personal feelings about the students' environmental stance do not override the students' constitutional rights. The teacher's Fourteenth Amendment rights are not implicated here because he is acting as an agent of the state (a public school teacher) and is expected to uphold the constitutional rights of the students, not because the students' actions directly affect his business interests or personal views.
Therefore, the students' plans to express themselves through wearing green do not constitute grounds for legitimate punishment and the teacher’s giving them detention for this reason infringes upon their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.