Educational Quagmire

Is the tide finally turning?

At least one paper knows where to lay the blame for suppresing conservative speach - right at school officials who prevented an anti gay speaker from making a presentation at a diversity forum. The school has been ordered to pay the students legal fees. Good. The Detroit Free Press sums it up nicely

The high school soft-pedaled its actions, arguing that it was interested only in exerting some control over the content of the discussion. The school's lawyer also said officials wanted to present a positive message and encourage tolerance.

Encourage tolerance?

You don't do that by suppressing viewpoints, even if those viewpoints themselves are intolerant. Choosing what viewpoints are acceptable, even with the best of intentions, defeats the purpose of an informational forum.

Schools should know better. Muzzling a viewpoint provides a bad civics lesson for students.

In this case, it provided a costly lesson for the school as well.