Though the number rose sharply in the late 20th and early 21st century, speech codes haven’t always existed. Perhaps the first example of a threat of speech in schools was in 1969 with the now famous court case Tinker v. Des Moines when 5 teenagers wore black armbands to protest the ongoing Vietnam War with the school suspending the students until they agreed to take them off. In a 7-2 decision, the teenagers won the case and set a precedent that school officials "must be able to show that [their] action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.” This is now known as the Tinker Test and is used in court cases today to determine when a school’s actions violate student’s First Amendment
Though the number rose sharply in the late 20th and early 21st century, speech codes haven’t always existed. Perhaps the first example of a threat of speech in schools was in 1969 with the now famous court case Tinker v. Des Moines when 5 teenagers wore black armbands to protest the ongoing Vietnam War with the school suspending the students until they agreed to take them off. In a 7-2 decision, the teenagers won the case and set a precedent that school officials "must be able to show that [their] action was caused by something more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.” This is now known as the Tinker Test and is used in court cases today to determine when a school’s actions violate student’s First Amendment