As students return to school in the U.S., the news is filling rapidly with reports of student rebellion. The amazing thing is that students and some attorneys are claiming legal rights for the rebellion.
Want to wear a tee-shirt with a political message but it’s against your school dress code? Rebel and claim your right to freedom of speech. Want to wear your hair longer than the school code allows? Rebel and claim right to religious freedom. Want to use an obscenity in your school newspaper when referring to the President? Rebel and do so, claiming First Amendment Rights.
The list goes on and on. Why? Because students, frequently insubordinate during passage from childhood to adulthood, have learned that a claim of legal rights may excuse many forms of rebellion.
Character surpasses legal rights, however. A student who has built character into his or her life is not as likely to rebel against authority. Such a student has learned to exercise respect. That respect extends to teachers, principals, and school boards. That respect extends to the regulations set forth by those in authority. It also extends to fellow students.
Character surpasses legal rights, but it does not negate them. Look at the tee-shirt issue. Respect for school regulations and fellow students would keep the student from wearing that tee-shirt. He might reason, “Agreeing not to wear that specific tee-shirt does not cancel out my freedom of speech. I don’t have to speak with a tee-shirt. There are other ways to let people know which political candidate I support. I suppose speaking with a banned tee-shirt is similar to speaking with banned language.” The student can then look for respectful, permissible ways of speaking.
Character surpasses legal rights in the case of the student who claims his long hair is required by religious beliefs and the school ought not to suspend him for breaking rules? But wait. Doesn’t courage of convictions, as taught in the books, Courage, and Passport to Courage, demand that he hold his religious beliefs, no matter what? Yes. The key is the phrase “no matter what”. Courage of convictions means a student keeps his hair long according to religious belief “even if” it means suspension. No public school guarantees that every religious belief will be honored. Students have been forbidden to pray in school, hold Bible studies, or even carry Bibles to school for free-time reading. Character demands that they respect the regulations even when they think their legal rights have been breached.
Character surpasses legal rights in reporting news. A college newspaper editor has First Amendment Rights, but those rights ought not to be interpreted as allowing obscenities. That student has the right to speak his mind about the President, but character – specifically respect – demands that he speak his mind in decent terms. A man of character does not need, nor want to stoop to such language. It is the language of those who lack character.
Character is more interested in moral excellence than in legal rights. Character recognizes a difference between individual rights and ethics. Men and women of character exercise respect for those in authority in the home, schools, churches, communities, and countries. They exercise respect for their country’s leader. They know how to speak _with respect_ about what they perceive to be poor leadership.
These three young students pretend to know much about their legal rights. They appear to know little about character. Unfortunately, our schools are bending over backwards to protect their legal rights and ignoring their lack of character.
That’s the view from my chair. What’s your view?