Review: Freedom of Expression Under the Constitution as Applied to Public School Dress Codes

This article from Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal by Amy Mitchell Wilson, reviews the many court cases concerning dress code in public schools. Wilson, an attorney from Phoenix, Arizona addresses the controversy surrounding First Amendment protection as applied to school dress codes in “Public School Dress Codes: The Constitutional Debate.” According to the article, an increase in violence and decline in academic achievement has prompted public schools to enforce stricter dress codes and even school uniforms. Although the article may appear to be quite overwhelming and skeptics may question the religious-affiliated source, Wilson’s analysis of court cases surrounding school dress provides credible insight into the issue.

Upon first viewing Wilson’s article, readers may be overwhelmed by both its size and structural complexity. Spanning fourteen pages, the article is divided into five sections, some of which also contain subsections. It can be quite a daunting task to review and analyze such a long article. Critics may also question bias as the source, Brigham Young University, is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. With religious affiliation, Wilson may be more critical of allowing students to wearing gang-related attire or obscenity on clothing.

Although the article’s structure may alarm readers and indications of bias lead to questions of credibility, Wilson offers strong analyses of important court cases as they apply to public school dress codes. In fact, the article’s complex structure is helpful in guiding the reader through deep analysis of each court case.  Wilson guides the reader by first introducing the controversy, and then describing constitutional issues, analyzing specific regulations, and explaining the constitutionality of school uniforms.

Wilson connects the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case to each section of the article.  For example, the courts were overwhelmed with cases of student expression by hair length following the Tinker case.  Cases were heard in nine of the federal circuit courts with split results, as circuits used different constitutional reasoning for their decisions. Following a study of the decisions among the circuits, Wilson found the outcome “depends almost exclusively on the geographic location of the events.” The Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits generally upheld the school dress code as displayed in Zeller v. Donegal School District Board of Education. On the other hand, in Richards v. Thurston and Bishop v. Colaw, the First, Fourth, Seventh and Eight Circuits deemed the dress codes unconstitutional.  Wilson also connects the Tinker case to the regulation of obscenity on clothing and gang related clothing.  By connecting a single case to other court cases, Wilson analyzes and provides the reasoning for each court decision, guiding the reader through her complex article.

Despite Wilson’s possible inherent bias, she remains objective in analyzing and explaining various court cases as they apply to public school dress codes. Although the article may appear long and complex, the language is rather simple, and the structure is organized in a way that helps guide the reader through a large amount of information. This credible and scholarly source can be useful in examining constitutional protection of speech and expression as applied to public school dress codes.

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Works Cited

Wilson, Amy Mitchell. “Public School Dress Codes: The Constitutional Debate.” EBSCO Host, Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal, 1998, web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=b05ce3a0-aff1-42f2-85a3-84869ca4bfd4%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=682115&db=a9h.