Okay, here's a case for discussion. My sister-in-law is a librarian at a
public middle school housing 13 year-old children in a rural atmosphere.
She told me that they are studying the Ku Klux Klan so she, *the librarian*
"opened up the web browsers so the kids could read the Klan's web sites
firsthand".
I was completely shocked. I said that kids should *never* have access to
Klan sites in a public school. She countered with, "Well, that would be
censorship. They should have free access to do research."
I said, "No Anne. Let's say it's 1960 and there is no Internet. Are you
saying that if the kids were studying the Klan, that you would allow the
Klan to distribute a pamphlet (written *by* the Klan) to the school kids?
Kids don't need to see the Klan's point of view in their own words. The
Klan is pretty good at portraying themselves as a religious group and it
might seem reasonable to a child if they are exposed to primary material,
recruiting material from the Klan.
"School children need to have the Klan *interpreted* for them. I mean, if
not, there would be no stopping point.
"In sex ed class, if you told the 13 year-old kids about masturbation, are
you gonna distribute still photos of couples having sex so they can make up
their own minds about pornography? Or let's say you're discussing Current
Events. If there's a bomb on a bus in Israel, are you gonna distribute
instructions on building pipe bombs? Are you gonna let 13 year olds read
the manifestos of terrorists like the Unibomber too?"
I think my sister-in-law is way wrong on this one. Other opinions?
Lama
