Court supports public education as "a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values" (Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, at 493 (1954)), and believes public schools should inculcate in children the "fundamental values necessary to the maintenance of a democratic political system" (Ambach v. Norwich, 441 U.S. 68, at 76-77 (1979)), the Court never has addressed in precise terms the restrictions that public school systems may place upon their students' fundamental right of free expression. In fact, beginning with Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969), the Court during a 19-year period fashioned a set of ill-defined guidelines by which student expression may be governed.To determine whether these guidelines have affected the meaning of free expression for non-university, public school students, a set of narrowly defined student publication decisions is analyzed using fuzzy logic, a relatively new science. The study reviews lower court decisions and appellate court decisions from the last four decades, and draws conclusions concerning the relationships between court language and case outcome.