Tinker VS Des Moines is a case that took place during the Vietnam War. This case is about three students John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and Christopher Eckhardt who wore black armbands to school and got suspended. These were black armbands that had the peace symbol because the students wanted to voice that the Vietnam War should end with a truce, which is a very good cause. When trying to stop a war, to stop deaths, to stop violence, these kids got education taken away from them. School is supposed to be a safe environment for students to learn, and for adults to hear the opinions of the future generation but instead the school violated the student’s constitutional rights.
These kids got suspended for wearing armbands while there were other students in the school that were also wearing clothes and jewelry with other symbols and meanings. However only these three kids are in trouble, is it because the school is teaching students to treat certain people differently or punishing people for voicing their opinions? Christopher, Mary, and John also got their constitutional rights violated by the school. Their constitutional rights of the freedom of speech were violated since they were told unless you change what you are thinking you will not be able to attend this school. Since the first amendment was violated does this mean that when students enter school property all of their constitutional rights get taken away?
This case could have also affected other areas of the school such as being able to use armbands during gym, school sports teams that require armbands and hair ties. If the school had a volleyball team would students be able to wear their elbow pads or will they be counted in as armbands as well? The Tinker VS Des Moines case is one of the most important cases that everyone should know about, especially students. This case also led other schools to think about rules to protect the student’s and staff’s rights and other school rules such as dress code.