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We cannot protect our children from this world, which is a scary place. The only
thing we can do is help them develop an inner strength to meet the inevitable challenges
they will face. (Katherine Paterson) As Paterson so wisely says, it is impossible to
protect children from the obvious problems in our society today, but as a community it is
our civic duty to inform children on how it is they can prevent, take action, or simply
become aware of these problems.
Education in a democratic society requires developing citizens who can adapt to
changing times, decide important social issues, and effectively judge the performance of
public officials. However, rapid social, political, and technological changes have
escalated controversy over what and how schools should teach (Hull). Issues like
sexuality and profanity have raised questions for generations of parents and educators,
but they are even more complicated now, when most school communities are made up of
individuals with differing cultural traditions, religions, and often languages. With
students and parents bringing a range of expectations and needs to the classroom,
educators frequently face a daunting task in balancing the educational needs of an entire
student body while maintaining respect for others (Brown).
The First Amendment establishes the framework for resolving some of these
dilemmas by defining certain critical rights and responsibilities of participants in the
educational process. It both protects the freedom of speech, thought, and inquiry, and
requires respect for the right of others to do the same.

Since public schools and public libraries are public institutions, they are bound by
the obligations imposed by the First Amendment as well as many other provisions of the
Constitution. However, as this manual will make clear, the First Amendment applies
somewhat differently in schools than it does in many other public institutions (Brown).
Public schools are the institution, which in some respects most embody the goals of the
First Amendment: to create informed citizenry capable of self-governance.
Recent Supreme Court decisions have made clear, the right to free speech and
expression can sometimes be subordinated when necessary to achieve legitimate
educational goals. A school is not comparable to a public park where anyone can stand on
a soapbox, or a bulletin board on which anyone can post a notice. While students and
teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the
schoolhouse gate (Tinker v. Des Moines), speech is not quite as free inside educational
institutions as outside (Cheun).
Due to these changes, high school newspapers have begun to face a price. Before
looking at the issue of censorship, it is important to recognize just how important
journalism classes are in high schools. However today high school journalism is under
fire across the United States as educators face budget cuts and an increased pressure to
improve test scores. It seems to be that the first thing to go after the arts is journalism.
However, new research commissioned by the Newspaper Association of America
Foundation suggests that if student achievement is the goal, then schools would be well
advised to offer journalism classes. Journalism helps students become better thinkers,
better communicators, and, as a result, better citizens. Developing student writers are
expected to achieve an increasingly broad and deep knowledge and understanding of the

value of writing in their lives, of their own individual writing processes, of the range of
writing strategies available to them, and of the benefits of sharing and publishing their
writing for a wider audience. It is essentially that schools realize the importance of
journalism programs, as well as the benefit that they have on students. As one student
says,
"So starting off high school I never really knew what I wanted to be or what field
I wanted to major in, but I knew that I really liked to read and write and my dad
encouraged me to join journalism and I did (mostly to humor him) and its so
strange because now coming out of high school and into college, I know exactly
what field and subfield I want to pursue a career in all because of one class. But I
think the greatest parts of my high school journalism experience was being a part
of something that everyone really cared about and worked hard for. Every other
week we would come out with this 12 paged paper and a few days before
publishing, everyone would put off their social and academic obligations and just
focus on making this paper and writing and reporting about everything that was
going on in the school and community, whether it was photo slideshow on a
soccer game or an in-depth article on teenage pregnancy within our school. I think
thats my favorite part of journalism: the fact that the point of this field is to spread
awareness to people about concepts that really affect them, like genocides in third
world countries or financial crises in their state. And thats why I think, when
done correctly; journalism is a really noble field. And then personally, though the
class really helped me decide what I wanted to do, it also really helped me
become a more confident person. I was really shy freshman year, but having to
talk to new people for information, speaking at editorial meetings, fighting for the
papers first amendment rights, and later being editor in chief for the paper has
really helped me become a more confident person, which is an important life skill
no matter what field I go into."(Mabel Kabani)
That being said, today high school journalism programs are facing an even greater
issue: censorship. Today topics such as teenage pregnancy, divorce, drugs, and many
others are being censored by high schools due to their disturbance. Due to the ruling of
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, administrators now have a great deal of leeway in determining
what is and isnt acceptable material in school-sponsored publications and events (First
Amendment Center).

But topics such as teenage pregnancy, drugs, divorce, and many others, are those
that are most relevant to students in high school, and yet they are the topics that are
constantly being censored by high school. We have nearly seven times the teen
pregnancy rate of the Netherlands, seventy-four times the adolescent gonorrhea rate of
France, eight times the teen abortion rate of Germany, and young people in these
countries commence sexual intercourse later than U.S. teens. According to high schools
the reason for this censorship has to do with providing for a safe learning environment.
Mike Rose argued that many schools, in spite of good intentions, actually deny
students the opportunity to develop intellectually: "Our approaches to language and
literacy as often as not keep us from deep understanding of differences and problems
and possibilities" (128). While the attempt to keep children pure for as long as possible is
admirable, it takes the form of leaving gaping holes in their education, if not
academically, then about life. Censorship is not simply an attempt to control what is
taught in our schools; it is also an infringement on the legal learning rights of students
(Brown). A growing majority of Americans (68%) agree that public school students
should be allowed to report on controversial issues in their student newspapers without
the approval of school authorities, while only 27% disagreed. As one student says in an
interview, " Administrators should realize that the world young people live in is not a
fairy tale. Allowing students to write about their experiences can mean a world of change
for them, and at the same time educate those in need. I've seen it happen. It's important
now more than ever to have students educate each other, because many young people
can't talk with their parents or other adults about personal issues without fear."
As Judy Blume, a world renowned childrens author, says, "In this age of

censorship I mourn the loss of books that will never be written, I mourn the voices that
will be silenced writers voices, teachers voices, students voices and all because of fear.
How many have resorted to self-censorship? How many are saying to themselves, Nope
cant write about that. Cant teach that book. Cant have that book in our collection. Cant
let my student write that editorial in the school paper.
Is it constitutional for schools to censor newspapers? Yes. Is it fair? Well that is a
question that has proved to be quite controversial, especially among students. It goes
without saying that students, in contrast with administrations, have quite a different view
when it comes to censorship. High school students continue to find that their First
Amendment rights are invisible to school administrators, despite years of struggle against
censorship. While most administrations choose to see censorship as a way to conserve a
distinguished learning environment, most students see censorship as an act of injustice
against their first amendment rights. As Rachel Schneider, a student from Fond Du Lac
High School, We are the students that know what is happening, what is going on at
Fondy (high school), and we heard this (rape jokes) was one of the issues, Schneider
said. If we know it and the staff knows it, why arent we saying it? We are the voice. If
they censor it, we dont have a voice.
This censorship has brought up many questions, one of which being what is a
legitimate pedagogical concern. This seems to be the main reason to why articles are
being censored today, but what does this even mean? The phrase "legitimate pedagogical
concerns" is not defined by any court or federal statutes, so basically it becomes up to
the administration to decide what they find to be a "legitimate concern." This
gives administrations a huge deal of power. Topics such as drug use, teenage pregnancy,

abortion, divorce, and many others are some of the most commonly censored articles
in high schools, but the question still remains are they really "pedagogical concerns," or
is this just a way for schools to protect themselves?
This brings up a topic that I find to be rather interesting, is teenage pregnancy
really a legitimate pedagogical concern? According to a survey that I conducted, students
do not feel that to be true.

As one student says, If anything I felt as though my article was informational to the
students, it didn't promote or object anything, so why was it controversial?
(Anonymous). I understand that some parents may see this topic as one that is too mature
for a certain audience, and that discussing this topic may in fact promote this idea that
teenage pregnancy is acceptable, but I also dont necessarily agree with this. As one
student says,
I think that is appropriate for teenage pregnancy to be discussed in high school
newspaper articles. I believe that this is a topic that is extremely prevalent for
high school students, and I think that it is important for safe sex to be encouraged.
I think that the school should be allowed to review anything that is being

submitted to the school, but I don't think that they should be ultra protective and
not expose students to certain topics. I think that ignoring the topic, teenage
pregnancy is indiscriminate and failing to expose students to something like this is
just not really the right way to go about things if their concern is awareness and
safety for their students. Also many students might not see this as a bad thing if it
happened to them, so censoring these kind of articles would essentially make
some people feel as though they are doing something wrong, even if they agree
with teenage pregnancy" (Daniel Elchediak).
I agree with this standpoint, and the fact that teenage pregnancy is a topic that is
extremely relevant to high school students, and one that is essentially only relevant to this
age group, so why should it not be addressed. I dont think that by having articles written
about this topic that we are encouraging any sort of behavior, and I definitely do not think
that it is a legitimate pedagogical concern.
In conclusion, through the surveys and interviews I conducted, it is clear that both
students, and parents do not see a problem with addressing teenage pregnancy in high
school newspaper articles, so I do not understand why administrations would. It's not like
teenagers don't know about what is going on around them, and by trying to shield them;
schools are only promoting these acts more. While researching and reading on
censorship, I realized that there is really no basis on to how schools decide what to
censor, and what not to censor, for it seems to be almost rather subjective in my opinion.
While some schools do censor articles on teenage pregnancy, others do not, so if it is a
"legitimate pedagogical concern," in one school, how is it not in another? There is clearly
a lack of clarification on this idea of a "legitimate pedagogical concern," and one that
needs to be addressed within the near future, for until school find a legitimate reason as to
why teenage pregnancy is a disturbance, then there should be no reason as to why it
should be censored. If we look at the Hazelwood case, "the principal objected to the two
articles because pregnant students at the high school had been interviewed for a survey

and the principal was afraid that their identities would be disclosed; the principal also felt
that the references to sex and birth control were inappropriate for the younger students at
the school" (Bittner, 113). However, if the students consented to the article how is that a
problem? In regards to the age problem, going into high school students are around 14 to
15, and are obviously already aware of topics such as teenage pregnancy, and so forth. In
a generation where some of the most popular shows have to do with teenage pregnancy
(Teen Mom, 16 and pregnant, etc.) it is clear that these younger students are not oblivious
to the topic. In the end I believe that this censorship has more to do with schools trying to
protect themselves, rather than trying to protect students. Having a pregnant student may
not be the kind of advertisement a school wants, and having an article written about it
only brings more attention to the topic, attention that the school definitely does not
want. Therefore my conclusion is that no, teenage pregnancy is not a "legitimate
pedagogical concern."