In 1997 the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that school officials at West High School did not violate Rachel Bauchman's constitutional rights by including Christian religious music as part of its curriculum, or by staging school performances at religious sites. Three philosophical questions are investigated in this paper: whether the…

On September 9, 2009, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that officials from Everett School District #2 in Mill Creek, Washington did not violate student Kathryn Nurre's constitutional rights to free speech by denying the Jackson High School Wind Ensemble the opportunity to perform an instrumental version of Franz Biebl's "Ave…

Blogging is a widely used means of communication for millions of Internet users around the world. Blogs, which are Web sites or Weblogs where entries may be posted on a regular basis, frequently serve as online diaries or commentaries and may include text, images, and links to other sources. Diaries are no longer kept under lock and key. Today's…

Intended to make the First Amendment relevant to young people by addressing issues that speak directly to their lives, this guide assists teachers in using "Talk about Freedom," a series of eight educational print advertisements (ads) for teenagers, in the classroom. The eight print ads presented in the guide address: (1) censorship of…

Due to increasing attacks on school curriculum and policies, administrators must understand the law associated with education and religion. Guided by this knowledge, school leaders can foster an educational environment while simultaneously protecting individual expression. If a lawsuit occurs, an administrator can best protect both the school and…

This document discusses several aspects of teaching about religion in the public schools. While religion is an important element in many areas of literature, art, and music, the social studies, especially history and civics, provide the best opportunity for including religion in the curriculum. Teaching about religion in public schools is examined…

Topics like employment discrimination, personal jurisdiction, first amendment and copyright, are commonly taught in many legal environment and business law courses. Law faculty often seek to find new and interesting vehicles for helping their students to better understand and critically analyze these traditional legal concepts. Today's college…