Are we allowed to think?

Virginia Postrel had some brilliant and startling thoughts on the restrictions within college campuses. Her post, Turning College Into a No-Thought Zone, explained the contradictory rules placed on campuses currently. She opened her piece by telling the story of a college student who was scolded and threatened to be expelled because he ventured to talk about a controversial subject outside the college's “free-speech” zone. This so-called "free-speech" zone was one where students inside could announce their views, desires for social change, ethnic issues on their minds and so forth. Postrel went on to explain the rationale behind this rule- that it was originally put in place to protect studious students from being disrupted among their studies and respect privacy. However, at some campuses, the rule has escalated to prevent students from being able to share their wishes and concerns about the society they are learning to live in. To look at this in a very basic view, Postrel reminded her readers of the first amendment, and how there are two problems with the “free-speech” zone rule on campus. First, it is constitutionally wrong to deny students to talk about their views. Second, it is not educationally sound to prevent students to think about and be exposed to different views. This evidence provides a very strong point in the argument against speech zones, and Postrel does a good job of breaking down her thoughts. Since her post is on the internet, her audience can range from any age of adulthood. I think this is a good medium for this kind of post because it makes people aware of the culture of thought being provoked currently, and encourages readers that are students to be aware and exercise their extensive rights of free speech. Her claim is simply that this restriction put on colleges is unconstitutional, and discourages students to be independently thoughtful. She agrees (and I do too) that it is difficult to navigate a crowd where thoughts and pamphlets are being thrown at you, but she makes yet another valid and important point that young people must begin to learn how to navigate the world of thought around them, defending what they stand for.