Yet another troubling story about censorship of conservative ideas on a public school campus, this time from Wisconsin:

On a recent day, Farnsworth Middle School seventh-grader Zoe Macknick wore a green T-shirt to school with the saying “Help Cure Abortion,” because she said she wanted to express herself.

When the school’s principal, Dave Williams, told the 13-year-old she could not wear the shirt, Zoe became upset.

“It makes me feel ticked off in a way because they let stuff like (heavy metal bands) Marilyn Manson and Slipknot be worn, but they won’t let me wear my T-shirt,” she said about shirts other students wear to school. “I just want to get the message out that abortion is cruel.”
Zoe said her mother, Betty, has told her about the “dangers of abortion and how it hurts a woman’s body.”

Williams said last week he understands that some kids are more advanced than others, but abortion is too sensitive a subject for middle school students.

“We’ve got students from sixth to eighth grade of varying developmental levels — socially and emotionally — a topic as sensitive as abortion is just not appropriate for this environment,” Williams said.

I have news for this principal – most middle school girls are physically developed enough to bear children, and thus should also be informed about the issue of abortion.

The article goes on to say that the student was asked to remove the shirt after another student’s parent complained about it. But I would ask, does this Principal censor all clothing after a single parent complains? Would he ban a T-shirt promoting a rap artist if a parent complained?

This is more outrageous than the recent censoring of anti-homosexual shirts on public school campuses. In that case, a case could at least be made (albeit still a fallacious case) that the shirts were a directed at a certain class of students, and thus the schools could ban them. In this case, however, the shirt was directed at no one in particular.

Sounds like this principal needs to see his US History instructor for a lesson on the first amendment.