Students need to be challenged, not coddled by the few

Newport-Mesa school officials must sometimes feel like they just

can’t win.

Take, for example, the case of the teacher showing R-rated movies

to a junior high history class.

The retribution from parents and community members was swift and

stinging as critics railed at district leaders for not having

stricter oversight and control over the content in the classrooms.

Now with their guard up, district officials acted quickly when

complaints surfaced over a flier being distributed to high school

students touting an upcoming speech by muckraking author Eric

Schlosser, who has written on such topics as the decriminalization of

marijuana and the nation’s penchant for eating fast food.

And even though the latter was the topic of his speech, part of

the Newport Beach Library Foundation’s Distinguished Speakers Series,

it was the content of his other books that riled some parents.

It’s hard for us to fault district officials for following their

instincts and nixing the flier from schools, but in the cold light of

morning, let’s take a look at the real debate.

Initially, the concern was the flier depicting Schlosser’s speech

was one promoting the drug use debate. It was not.

Others questioned why taxpayers were footing the bill for someone

like Schlosser in the first place. Taxpayers were not.

More troubling is the idea that the plaintive wails of a few,

possibly misinformed parents, should be enough to quash the ability

of young teens to hear and listen to varied points of view.

That, we can’t emphasize enough, should not ever be the case.

We agree the views of the minority must always be protected. But

let’s be clear, handing out a flier that promotes a speech about the

pitfalls of eating burgers and fries is hardly a threat to the moral

fiber of our children.

Further, those parents whose child may actually pick up such a

flier have a very real choice in this matter -- decline to have your

child attend the event.

But to take the views of that minority and decide that the

majority shouldn’t even know of the speech’s existence is

antithetical to the free marketplace of ideas and knowledge that

forms the very basis of our American democracy.

We agree that the district acts in the best interest of the

student when it screens what types of fliers can or can’t be

distributed to campuses. But the Distinguished Speakers Series is no

sophomoric event. It’s a prestigious lineup of speeches that has for

years featured the viewpoints of well-respected authors, dignitaries,

national and international leaders.

And the library foundation, which funds the series -- not the

taxpayers -- is made up of Newport’s finest philanthropists and city

leaders. Parents and district leaders should hardly feel threatened

by such a group.

So our appeal is for reason and critical thinking to win the day.

High school students are not sheep. They have vibrant and questioning

minds and they need to have their thirst for knowledge quenched.

To offer to quench that thirst with only syrups and sweet nectar

and deny the existence of the sour is not being true to those young

minds, especially to our values as a nation and a community.