What Is the Tinker Standard and how does it affect schools today?

Tinker vs. Des Moines resulted in 1965 after several Iowan students decided to wear black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War. The school's administration banned the armbands because they wanted to prevent arguments that may happen as a result of differing opinions. Several students were suspended after the rule was established and their parents filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court. The district court ruled that the school's disciplinary actions did not violate their freedom of speech, the parents brought the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court. After interpreting the Constitution in the context of this specific case, the court ruled that armbands are a form of 'symbolic speech' that is protected by the First Amendment, regardless of wether or not a school setting is involved.

Since the ruling of Tinker vs. Des Moines, it has been universally accepted that students do not leave their Constitutional rights at the door of the schoolhouse; the Constitution protects you citizens within any institution or facet of American life. The case was so influential that what is known as the 'Tinker Standard' has developed from the ruling. The Tinker Standard refers to the use of the Tinker vs. Des Moines case as a standard to help decide when freedom of speech and expression has been violated. More specifically, it helps withstand the notion of students' rights to symbolic speech.

The issue of free expression within public schools continues to challenge lawmakers to this day. In many of the southern states, schools have to deal with the imagery of the Confederate flag which is often worn on shirts. Students in Georgia and several other states have been disciplined for wearing garments with the flag on them, despite pressure from the ACLU that insists students have the right to express themselves in their clothing. This issue is more sensitive than that of the Tinker armbands: while the armbands dealt with the subject of national pride and politics, the Confederate flag issue deals with race and regionalism (i.e. matters that are more personal than national pride and that spark arguments daily). However, using the Tinker Standard it is evident that even though the flag may be insulting to others, it is a part of students' protected freedom of symbolic expression.

U.S. Supreme Court. "Court Majority Opinion, Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District". U.S. Supreme Court, 393 U.S. 503, 1969.

unknown author. "ACLU Challenges School Censorship of Confederate T-Shirts". Associated Press, 2001.

unknown author. "Student told to change Rebel flag shirt". Associated Press, 2003.