Americans tend to think about local school boards at only two times: when colorful signs dotting yards indicate an upcoming election, and when schools’ inane decisions provoke media firestorms. Today, it’s the latter: In what has become an annual tradition of school boards provoking outrage with curriculum decisions, a school board in Oregon is taking serious heat.
Two weeks ago, the Portland Tribune reported on the Portland Public Schools’ (PPS) decision to ban textbooks containing words like “may” and “could” in reference to climate change. Speaking about the unanimously approved ban, Bill Bigelow, a former PPS teacher who advocated the change, accused fossil-fuel companies of pressuring publishing companies, saying, “We don’t want kids in Portland learning material courtesy of the fossil-fuel industry.”
This is just another link in the chain of censorship that has become commonplace in American public schools. And just like all forms of educational censorship, this PPS decision — along with the environmentalists who pushed it — has completely missed the mark. Schools are first and foremost institutions of learning, and, as such, have a responsibility to expose their students to as many different opinions as possible. Doing so sharpens students’ critical thinking skills, affords them the opportunity to think for themselves (the horror!), and creates an environment where all views — even and especially niche or unpopular ones — are respected.
However, instead of celebrating intellectual differences – in the interest of that diversity educators so often espouse – this decision seeks to eliminate them. Regardless of academic subject, whether it be environmental science, English, or history, room should always be made for the expression of more views, not fewer. The National Coalition Against Censorship agrees, writing, “Students should be conversant with, and equipped to address, the various questions and issues that are the subject of public discussion.” If anything, exposure to alternative or conflicting views will only help students form a stronger defense of their own.
To those who argue that climate change is accepted by a majority of scientists: I hear you. But that does not change the principle of the issue. Strip this Portland case of the details — if you do, the story is just about a school board banning an opinion it does not want its students exposed to. And if that does not bother you, even a little bit, then I’d like to introduce you to an author named George Orwell.
Portland Book Ban Stifles Education
