“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea”

Alain

In an attempt to resolve a festering difficulty which won’t go away, the Concord School Board has embraced the bureaucrat’s favorite ploy and sent the uncomfortable issue off to a committee for “further study”.

Their nightmare began when educators at the Rundlett Junior High School arranged to show the new movie version of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel, “The Last of the Mohicans”.  However, before the curtain went up, one student’s parent took exception to the plan.  She and a handful of other parents objected to the school exposing their children to what they understood was the “R-rated” film’s graphic violence. 

The school struggled to make its a case, arguing the film was a vehicle to teach some one hundred eighth graders about life in pre-Revolutionary America.  In response to the protestor’s specific concern, they quickly imbued “The Last of the Mohicans” movie with an air of political correctness, intimating subsequent classroom discussions would provide an opportunity to address the issue of violence in America.

The protestors would have none of this self-justification.  Rather their response was loud and clear … show the film and we’ll sue you! 

The solution seemed simple enough to the School Board and the movie was cancelled. 

Meantime, other parents viewed this capitulation as nothing more than censorship.  They quickly discovered they had the support of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.  While not attempting to judge the merits of the movie, the NHCLU made it known any form of  institutional censorship was unacceptable and if the School Board succumbed to pressures to permanently cancel the film, they would face a law suit.

While the School Board, caught between a rock and a hard place, ponders its next move, the debate begs several important issues.

While “The Last of the Mohicans” was well made, it strays from Cooper’s novel.  Moreover, it not history!  As with “Dances with Wolves”, “Geronimo” and other recent releases, neither a carefully scripted screen play, professional costuming nor beautiful scenics can compensate for an inaccurately chronicling of historic facts.

More disturbing is the tendency to substitute popular movies for demanding standards of reading and comprehension.  It is “feel-good” education at its worst.  If the school system was truly committed to a challenging curriculum, students would have assigned to read and report on several works by not only Cooper, but a number of his contemporaries. 

Meantime, while prevailing psychobabble suggests entertainment depicted violence as the root of most of the nation’s violent behavior, there is little hard evidence to support such claims.  In fact, most Americans, including nearly every reader of this newspaper was exposed to thousands of acts of random and gratuitous violence on television and in the movies as they were growing up. 

Yet, the percentage of individuals committing violent acts as adults is infinitesimally small.  In reality, most of us respect for others and understand violence is not absent of significant consequences.  We learned such basic values from our parents, not the schools.

Parents are deceived if they believe their children can be insulated from exposure to the needless and often perverted violence and sex pervading our society.  From television sets to movie theaters to magazine stands to street corners and locker room conversations with their peers, this generation of teens, like that of their parents, is learning about all the “taboos”.

It is far better for parents to be aware of the messages to which their children are being exposed … so they can talk with them about such issues … imparting their views and values in the process.

Finally, no individual should presume to dictate or limit the materials to which people, including other’s children, will be exposed.  To do so is censorship … pure and simple.  Such suppression of ideas is an anathema of a free and democratic society. 

It’s now time for the Concord School Board to demonstrate its mettle and make a decision.  That’s what they were elected to do … not farm out the resolution to an instructional committee.  Moreover, educational curriculums cannot be dissected for popular referendums.

At this point, they should let the school show the film … permitting parents who strenuously object to their teenagers viewing it to request they be excused from the presentations.  But, perhaps those parents should check with their kids first.

To fear new (however discomforting) ideas is to fear life.