Free Speech, Schools, and Children | Jimmy Mullen

Former Brain in a Vat producer Jimmy Mullen returns to discuss free speech in schools, exploring how educational institutions should balance student expression with their responsibility to maintain an environment conducive to learning.

Drawing on constitutional law and landmark cases on student free speech, the conversation explores viewpoint neutrality, the role of political disagreement in education, and the limits of school authority.

It ultimately considers how schools can prepare children to think independently while participating in a democratic society.

Chapters:

[00:00] Two Cases of School Censorship

[05:00] Tinker v. Des Moines

[10:25] The Case for Apolitical Schools

[16:10] Education or Indoctrination?

[23:07] The Culture of Self-Censorship

[26:01] Student Speech After Tinker v. Des Moines

[30:33] The Anarchist Challenge

[38:59] Learning Through Disagreement

[43:14] Schools as Democratic Training Grounds

[49:56] Public and Private Schools

[55:24] The Coddling of the American Mind