In December 1965, a group of students in Des Moines, Iowa, held a meeting in the home of 16-year-old Christopher Eckhardt to plan a public showing to protest the war in Vietnam and to mourn the hundreds of soldiers killed in action. They decided to wear black armbands to school throughout the holiday season. The principals of the DesMoines schools learned of the plan and met on December 14 to create a policy stating that any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it, and refusal to do so would result in suspension. On December 16 Marybeth Tinker wore her black armband to school and was called to the principal’s office, at which point she was suspended for violating a district ban on such armbands. By week’s end, four other students across the district—her sister Hope and her brothers John and Paul, and Christopher Eckhardt—were also suspended.
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The significance of Tinker v. Des Moines upholds that the First Amendment protects the right of students to express controversial views when they may disagree with school policy but are not disruptive. While the Tinker ruling has had some positive effects on free expression in high schools it does not give students unlimited rights in this area. The impact of these limitations has been brought before the courts, with school districts winning on grounds that they have a right to place limits on certain types of expression. This case set a precedent that First Amendment protects the right of students to express controversial views when they may disagree with school policy but are not disruptive.