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Really Leaving No Child Behind: How The Supreme Court's Student Speech Doctrine Compromises Modern Education Reform - And How It Can Use The In Loco Parentis Doctrine To Change It, Scott J. Street

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

tudent speech" doctrine defined by Tinker in favor of an in loco parentis standard that defers to the expertise of school officials in maintaining a safe, effective, and orderly school environment. Contrary to what its critics assume, an in loco parentis standard would not give school officials carte blanche to violate their students' rights. It would, for example, prohibit school officials from discriminating against students on the basis of viewpoint. But as long as Tinker's student speech doctrine survives, efforts to improve our schools and prepare our children for the rigors of the twenty-first century will suffer. The in loco …