Should schools be able to expel students because of their speech

[pbrower2a]

There is obviously much less tolerance for speech violations in a K-12 environment.

Most of us know the "magic words", basically what the late George Carlin used in his act "The Seven Dirty Words that You Cannot Say on Radio". Of course having been a substitute teacher I can deal with "I don't like this f---ing assignment" with a little lesson on how empty the vile word is in that context. I've told the kid "Now try saying that without the bad word". It works, and then I explain why the assignment must be done. (What is funny about the sketch is that like all words they are meaningless without context).

"F--- you!", said in anger, is for school administrators to deal with not so much because of the profanity but because those are "fighting words". "I will kill you!" also gets an immediate trip to the school administrators even if the kid said that he did not really mean it.

Children operate on a different level of morality than adults, and some conduct is likely to cause a fight. Because classroom fights result from hostility that escalates, I prefer to stop a fight before anyone resorts to assaultive behavior.