Evan Cohen
1-16-11
2nd Quarter Benchmark
Judicial
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier was a case brought before the Supreme Court where The principle of Hazelwood High School edited two articles that students were planning to publish in the schools newspaper, the students argued that that was breaking the first amendment to Free speech. The Supreme Court disagreed stating that an administrator can edit materials that reflect school views. I would say the outcome of this case definitely affects me negatively seeing as it limits what I can say against my own school if the case is liberally interpreted.
Engel v. Vitale
Engel V. Vitale was a case brought before the Supreme Court where The New York School System was challenged because it was established that each school day would be started with a prayer to god. This action was challenged as an “Unconstitutional state establishment of religion in violation of the first amendment” The Supreme Court found that they could not sponsor such religious activities and ruled against it. This positively affects me because I personally like to keep religion out of school seeing as it is brought up so much by other students.
New Jersey v. T.L.O
New Jersey v. T.L.O was a case brought before the Supreme Court where a student was suspected of smoking on school grounds. She was forced to go to the principles office on only an assumption and had her bags searched. They found cigarettes and drug paraphernalia and she was branded a delinquent in consequence. She challenged the claim stating the school had violated her rights but the Supreme Court ruled that the school was well within its limits because students have less expectations or privacy in school. I would say this affects me negatively seeing as it allows the school to search me on the slightest suspicion that anything thing is wrong. I being 18 see this as a complete violation of my rights as an American.
Board of Education of Independent School District #92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls
The Board of Education of Independent School District #92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls was a case brought before the Supreme Court that decided that a school that does drug tests for all new athletes is legal and not breaking any amendments. I find this ruling to be very beneficial to any athlete who wants fair play in sporting events. With the drug test there can only be equal sporting opportunities.
Executive
Fasfa
Fasfa is a program that allows students to get financial aid for college according to need and merit. The requirements for receiving aid are, must be a U.S citizen, must have valid social security number, must have a ged, and must be registered with the U.S selective services. This is an insanely helpful program for someone like myself, my family’s income is less then 15,000 a year which does not allow any money to go towards college. With fasfa I can actually attend college.
No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind is an act that supposedly aims to allow every student an equal opportunity to education. The way it works is a school district will receive more funding according how well their students do. Some teachers have taken to the practice of teaching the test and skipping over more important details in education. I personally experienced this in my elementary school. Our school had been on a steady decline of test scores for several years so our teachers literally changed our curriculum to suit the citywide test we would be getting at the end of the school year. I feel as thought I lost out on so many other things I could have learned that year.
Tax Returns
Filing taxes is a process in which the government returns money to the taxpayer. It is a somewhat difficult process that can be done with or without the help of others. Generally people will spend 20% of their tax returns just to get them, I find it to be a positive action.
Getting a license
Getting your license is a generally easy task that allows you to get a Identification card. With that card a whole new world of opportunities open for you, the most important being anything that requires you to be at least the age of 18 is now accusable to you since you can prove your age.
Legislative
Controlled substance act
The controlled substance act is a system of laws that prevents people from using various drugs. This is an overwhelmingly good act seeing as it gets dangerous drug addicts off the streets and into places that can help them.
Brown vs Board of education
Brown vs Board of education was a court case that made the decision that having segregated schools was unconstitutional. This case allowed the de segregation of schools across America to happen. This is a positive case for humanity because it allows multiple cultures to mix their ideas in a safe learning environment.
National minimum drinking age act
This law makes it so as an 18-year-old American I cannot drink alcohol, I would say this limits my freedoms seeing as I can join the military and die for my country as well as smoke cigarettes. So I would definitely call this a negative seeing as it puts a leash on an adult.
Citations
"Landmark supreme court cases." uscourts.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan 2011. <http://www.uscourts.gov/EducationalResources/ConstitutionResources/LegalLandmarks/LandmarkSupremeCourtCasesAboutStudents.aspx>.