Abstract
The purpose of this article is to look critically at an instructional practice which is inconsistent with democratic ideals: that practice is restricting students' topics based on the teacher's preferences or on the assumed norms of the community, school, or class. The democratic ideal with which this practice is in conflict is expressed in the First Amendment of the Constitution which states that freedom of speech cannot be abridged by law. Inasmuch as telling a class what they may not speak about is not a law, the teacher is not violating the First Amendment. However, the ideal articulated in that amendment is the basis for the belief that Americans have the right to speak out on any issue, that issues should be freely discussed by all sides, and that open discussion of issues is the fairest way to arrive at solutions to problems.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Speech Communication
Volume
13
Issue
1
First Page
30
Last Page
32
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Nelson, Paul E.
(1981)
"Freedom of Speech in the Classroom,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 13:
No.
1, Article 9.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol13/iss1/9
Copyright
©1981 Iowa Communication Association
