Editorial: High school students can handle free speech

Did you hear the one about the high school teacher in Colorado
who compared President Bush to Adolf Hitler?

We’re not joking. Read about what social studies teacher
Jay Bennish told his class at Overland High School the day after
Bush’ state of the union address. Using an MP3 player, a
student recorded Bennish’s remarks about Bush’s speech:
“Sounds like a lot of things that Adolf Hitler used to say.
We’re the only ones who are right, everyone else is backward,
and our job is to conquer the world.”

Bennish’s criticisms of Bush and U.S. foreign policy
““ during which he also called the United States “the
single most violent nation on the planet earth” ““ have
since led to the Cherry Hill school district putting him on paid
leave and some parents and conservatives calling for his ouster.
Other students have rallied to his cause, and 150 of them walked
out of class on Thursday in protest.

Unfortunately, in all the hoopla, what’s getting left out
too often is what Bennish said after he compared Bush’s
remarks to Hitler’s: “Now I’m not saying that
Bush and Hitler are exactly the same. Obviously, they’re not.
But there’s some eerie similarities to the tones that they
use.”

Modern society demands the sound byte over the whole tape reel.
To be sure the media is partly to blame for this, but it’s
not entirely at fault; people simply don’t feel like they
need the whole story before they pass judgment. Now, because of it,
we’re seeing free speech in a school dangerously close to
being squelched.

Ostensibly, the reason Bennish was put on leave was because the
school district was concerned about him presenting one-sided
arguments and because he was indoctrinating his class. And
it’s true that Bennish could perhaps have found a more
tactful way of expressing his views.

But he also acknowledged in class that his comments were
provocative because he is “trying to get (his students) to
… think about these issues more in depth.” He also told his
students they did not have to agree with him, and he encouraged
them to ask questions.

It sounds like Bennish was aiming more for pedagogical debate
than indoctrination. He didn’t present both sides of the
issue, but he didn’t force his students to take sides. To
suggest he is indoctrinating his class implies high school students
are so passive that they’ll swallow everything and anything
their teachers say without seeking information of their own
accord.

That not only insults high school students, but it sends a
contradictory message to today’s youth: Society blames you
for being politically apathetic, but it’ll coddle you when
anything that resembles a political discussion occurs.

If students aren’t encouraged to think independently in
the face of provocative debate, and if teachers only present them
with sanitized information, then students will be ill-suited to
participate in a democracy. And if today’s students
aren’t prepared to participate in a democracy, this country
faces troubling times ahead.

If Bennish had spoken out in favor of Bush, singing his praises
to the point of borderline ridiculousness, would any of this
controversy occurred? We’re betting no, it wouldn’t
have. So is the issue here that Bennish didn’t present a fair
and balanced argument? Or that he was questioning authority at a
time when it is considered unpatriotic to do so?

Hey, did you hear the one about the nation that claimed it was a
shining beacon for democracy while democratic principles were
discouraged at home? We’re not joking ““ though we wish
we were.