These kids have it right


Students fight a censored newspaper
This is the kind of thing that tells me liberty is still worth fighting for.

Administrators at Oak Ridge High School went into teachers' classrooms, desks and mailboxes a week ago to retrieve all 1,800 copies of the student-produced newspaper. An article about birth control and another on student tattoos and body piercings were cited by administrators as the reason for the seizure.

Bailey told The Oak Ridger newspaper on Tuesday the edition will be reprinted without the birth control story and with an edited tattoo story.

Calls by The Associated Press to Bailey Tuesday morning seeking additional comment were not immediately returned.

The seizure of the newspapers had sparked debate inside and outside the school. Monday night's school board meeting drew a large crowded that included students who wore tape with the word "censored" across their mouths and shirts with protest messages that read "Ignorance isn't bliss."

Brittany Thomas, student editor of The Oak Leaf, told the Knoxville News Sentinel Monday that students are talking with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Student Press Law Center about having a lawyer represent them.

"We're still pursuing this," Brittany said. "They (school officials) wronged us."

Imagine that. Teenagers standing up for freedom of the press and their right to be heard.

As far as "parental authority," if the young adults are old enough to raise the questions, they are old enough to deserve all the answers.

This is freedom with responsibility, and the kids have learned that lesson well.

Hat tip to Nobody's Business.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - November 30, 2005 at 04:56 PM  Tag


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