Professor Ronald Den Otter to Guest-Blog on Student Free Speech in Public Schools

Reason announced that Prof. Ronald Den Otter of Cal Poly will guest-blog this week on his new book, Education in Democracy: The Importance of Free Speech in American Public Schools. The publisher's summary states that the book contrasts recent efforts to increase authority of parents and school officials with an argument for respecting student autonomy and expanding free-speech rights.

It focuses on junior high and high school students, a group the summary says has received less attention than college students in recent debates.

U.S. Supreme Court decisions on student speech lack consistency and clarity, often restricting student speech while granting school officials broad control, as in Justice Clarence Thomas's concurrence in Morse v. Frederick. Den Otter proposes applying a stricter version of the Tinker v.

Des Moines Independent Community School District substantial disruption test to public junior high and high school students, treating them the same as public university students. The summary adds that the book addresses challenges of hate speech while arguing that paternalistic censorship by school authorities is morally and constitutionally unacceptable.

It frames public schools as laboratories in pluralism and democracy where students develop tolerance and learn responsible disagreement.

Endorsements The publisher included jacket blurbs from several legal scholars.

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, stated the book makes a powerful case for greater protection for student speech in high schools and junior high schools. Justin Driver of Yale Law School described the work as a comprehensive defense of free expression's significance in public schools.