The Supreme Court is hearing a case this week about a high school student who was suspended for 15 days for holding up a sign that said "Bong hits 4 Jesus" at a parade. This was supposedly an important case because it may have implication of a student's free speech rights versus the authority of a school. I don't see that at all. The kid had put up a sign at a parade, not on school grounds so I don't see why the principal had the right to get involved at all. If he had put up the sign in the school, then certainly the principal had a right to hand out punishment if the kid did not remove the sign right away. Since it was outside the school the principal should have called the parent and let them handle it.
Interestingly the kid is now in his twenties and is teaching English in China. He admits that he was a kind of troublmaker as a kid but he felt that his free speech rights were violated. I wonder what he thinks would happen if he was to hold up a sign at a Chinese parade that says "Bong hits 4 Mao"? I hope he appreciates the freedom we have here and will take some reponsibility about drugs and insulting other people's religion. On the other hand, the principal should understand that to keep this freedom, she should not get bent out of shape by a stupid sign written by a kid. There was no need to make a federal case out of this incident.
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