Academic Freedom for High School Teachers

Originally published in Brooklyn Daily Eagle

From time to time, a controversy erupts at some major university as the school attempts to discipline something a professor said, whereupon the professor comes back that he’s being denied his “academic freedom.”

The latest example of this took place at Brooklyn College, where a graduate student who was teaching a political science course as an adjunct was removed from teaching because he allegedly didn’t have the proper qualifications. The adjunct came back and charged that he was being removed because of his pro-Palestinian political views, and said his academic freedom was being violated.

Regardless of how someone might feel about particular controversies, the overall concept of academic freedom for college professors is accepted.

But if academic freedom is OK for professors, why not for high school teachers?

I can almost hear the objects to this now: “High school students are still minors!” Technically, they are. But consider this: the age of the average high school student is, say, 16. The age of the average college student (other than adults who are returning to school after many years) is about 20.

Is there that much difference between a person of 16 and one who is 20 years old, particularly in today’s technological climate, where so much information is available to people at an early age?

Think back. When you were 16 or 17 years old, did you think of yourself as a child? You can be sure that the majority, if not all, of today’s 16- and 17-year-olds don’t, either. The law and the school system should recognize that fact.

Another objection that is sure to be heard is that by state law, high school classes have to reflect a certain syllabus. Obviously, students must know the difference between George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, between an isosceles and a right triangle, between William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. But why not make the curriculum a little looser, leaving more room for the teachers to express their creativity and impart some of their own special knowledge?

Thinking back to my high school years in the late ’60s and early ’70s, much of what some of my favorite teachers did — express their political opinions, tell humorous anecdotes about their own lives, make occasional risque jokes — would be considered a problem today. Everyone in the school knew who the liberal teachers were, who the conservative teachers were. No one minded. Kids liked teachers who were charismatic and entertaining, whether they agreed with their opinions or not. And these were the very teachers who inspired kids to study and get high grades. Let’s bring those days back again.