Letter: Teaching right from wrong
December 1, 2004
iyoshi Martinez doesn’t know what he’s talking about in his Tuesday column about the ACLU. Since when weren’t schools a “moral training ground”? This idea that schools have no place teaching students right from wrong is dangerous. Of course, there are controversial topics such as abortion, where a school should “stick to the books.” But imagine learning history without any moral context. Everyone should feel a sense of moral certitude when learning about the success of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
That point aside, this is a school district that advocates discrimination. They did not allow a student group to meet on school grounds because they did not want to tolerate it. Is it so ridiculous to want to reverse that kind of thinking? And if a school refuses to bow to reason, is it so absurd for the ACLU to take the only action they can?
It’s easy to start pointing to things like textbooks and teacher salaries to garner support. But what about those students whose discrimination has been school-sponsored? I don’t think we should let their livelihood boil down to an “absurdity”.
Vishal Doshi
senior in engineering