A Hilo High School teacher who invited longtime Christian peace activist, Jim Albertini, to speak to several classes about public participation in democracy, has been told they will be barred from meeting in the school library unless “the presentation will be strictly informational with zero negative slants” about U.S. military or foreign policy.
The restriction on library use was bluntly stated in an email on Friday from librarian Amy Okuyama to Joseph Watts, the teacher who organized Albertini’s appearance on campus.
Okuyama wrote:
Thank you for this outline of your speaker’s topic and your class objectives. I welcome any speaker in the library for educational purposes. But in this case, the speaker is a “well known activist”, and (I now find out that) the topic is the military. As a “military mom”, I request that the speaker stick to the topic as described here, and not deviate to personal negative opinions/attacks on the military, its actions, or its presence anywhere, with instructions on how students can or should protest the military, etc. in any manner. I can’t opt out of my library and be forced out of my own work site and I won’t be subjected to anti-military speeches as had once occurred w/another speaker in here. My son was deployed at the time and it was extremely upsetting to me; Mr. Dircks said he wouldn’t permit it to happen that way again.
Okuyama’s email, as well as Watts reply, are posted on the website maintained by Malu ‘Aina, an organic farm and “spiritual community” near Hilo founded by Albertini three decades ago.
Okuyama’s position appears contrary to the Department of Education’s “Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities” adopted way back in 1974, which guarantees freedom of expression and communication:
Students shall have the right to hear and express publicly, various points of view on subjects without fear of reprisal or penalty.
Watts responded that the teachers would move Albertini’s presentation back into their classrooms if necessary.
It doesn’t appear that Hilo Principal Robert Dircks has yet taken a position on the controversy despite Okuyama’s reference. Hopefully he’ll take steps necessary to assure students have the opportunity to hear dissenting views.
Albertini’s response was straightforward:
My presentations will be critical of the military presence in Hawaii and U.S. wars abroad and I hope to instill critical thinking and questioning in students as well, even of my own presentation. Does speaking out for peace and being critical of government policies constitute “negative viewpoints?” To me, respectful dialogue is an important part of participation in a democracy. I hope I can encourage and motivate students to become responsible, politically engaged citizens, and speak out for justice, peace, and the future of their world. I would suggest that if this is not acceptable in the Hilo H.S. library, we switch the site of my presentations.
Then he added a good question:
I wonder if military recruiters and ROTC instructors have similar difficulties making presentations.
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This is absolutely appalling that a school librarian would bring her personal thoughts into denying educating the students. I would suggest that this should be cause for Mrs. Okuyama’s removal from this position as Hilo High School Librarian. Unfortunately they don’t in answer to your question about military and ROTC recruiters access, although in my opinion they should not have access to our schools.
This is a first amendment violation- this a time that I am proud to be a supporter of the ACLU!
Last semester around election time my son’s history/government teacher declared to the class that she no longer cares about elections because both sides are the same. That could be true depending on perspective, but I was horrified because I felt it taught the kids that participating in democracy was a waste of their time. If my boy wasn’t learning something different at home he may never vote.
But at the same time, where do we draw the line between fact an opinion? A negative slant on the military is sometimes fact and sometimes opinion, and even that distinction is a matter of opinion. We are not religious and certainly don’t want out son taught facts that are slanted by the religious beliefs of the presenter, anymore than we want a school librarian who is also a military mom preventing any negative information from being shared.
We want him to learn critical thinking and hear all points of view, but what parent isn’t a little leery of any POV that opposes his or her own?
It’s really tough finding the proper balance.
School is about equipping students to think critically and that, by definition, means exposing them to different perspectives.
Elementary, no?
Depends on the age appropriateness of the perspective. There are some perspectives that children need to be protected from until adulthood, and where I draw that line for my child isn’t going to be the same as my neighbor.
I don’t think what the librarian did was right, and I’m not saying the kids need to be protected from this particular subject matter, but I don’t believe that every Joe Speaker with an opinion should have the automatic right to speak at a high school either. In college, no limits.
I faced similar issues at Haiku School when my kids were in Kindergarten when the Iraq war started. I raised concerns about how a 5 year old’s civil rights can be protected when it comes to saying the pledge of allegiance, wearing yellow ribbons, and writing letters to soldiers thanking them for “protecting democracy.” Teachers at that time said, “we’re a government school, therefore we have to support the government.” And the ACLU was not supportive when I contacted them. I totally get that it was a tricky situation since the kids themselves are too young to really have an opinion. But my concerns were about one-sided indoctrination. (Please note that I also belong to a military family, with a brother-in-law who was in Afghanistan last year. I appreciate the sacrifice he made – -and it was huge — but I have concerns about the indoctrination of children.)
You are concerned then about gays indoctrinating kids? You are concerned about liberals indoctrinating kids about abortion being okay? Where do you draw the line? Liberals are indoctrinating kids all the time in schools. Are you fussing about them doing it? And I bet there are very few teachers saying they have to support the military. I bet they do it because it is the right thing to do. Why would you, an alleged military family member, protest kids being nice to military away from their home and family? Where is your heart? Obviously rotting away in a liberal box somewhere.
This librarian has every right to protest this just as others have protested religious meetings on school grounds. Freedom of speech is for everybody, not just for progressive liberals.
Shutting other people up is not freedom of speech. That librarian should have been taught about academic freedom when she got her library science degree, but apparently it didn’t stick. If she’s trying to censor speakers, what is she doing to the books in the library?
This person is a librarian in a public school. The librarian’s email is job-termination material.
But this person will not be fired. No way.
And the education field wonders why people hold such a negative view and expect more from the people they pay!! Thank you, Ian, for shedding some light on this. Unfortunately, I have zero confidence that the state department of education and the teacher’s union will do anything useful about this. They still haven’t settled the bloody contract.
I have a couple of opinions on this matter. First, how does the Librarian Amy Okuyama feel about her son being deployed to use his military skills to further support the International exploitation of other sovereign countries for Private Corporations? As a pawn in their game.
Second, many, many Americans have died to give other American citizens the right of free speech, so now she has taken it upon herself to cease such expression? I don’t think so. The teacher and students should move if necessary to another, more appreciative venue and the Librarian should be shown a copy of the Constitution with a requirement to apologize in a published letter to each student.
And regarding CiCi’s son’s history/government teacher; that instructor really missed a chance to further the thinking of the student. There is an effort, actually several efforts to repeal the horrible results of the Citizen United decision. https://movetoamend.org/ is one. http://anticorruptionact.org/ is another.
That teacher really blew it, in my opinion.
Critical thinking… what a concept!
How did Joey Watts “blow it”? A careful reading of Ian’s blog reflects that he intends to do what you suggest.
In that statement I meant the teacher in CiCi’s post.
Not the teacher in Hilo.
I was struck by the fact that Librarian Okuyama made no reference to school policy to justify her right to censor Jim Albertini’s remarks if he spoke in her library, except by claiming that Principal Dircks supports her position.
She says, so straightforwardly and naively, that no speaker should say anything that she personally finds upsetting.
What a way to run a library.
What a way to run a school system!
Mahalo Ian and everyone for your thoughts. Joan Conrow, a journalist from Kauai made some good points.
“Maybe the librarian should take a couple of vacation days if she’s so offended. Can she really control who comes to speak in the library, or set guidelines for what they say? Since when does being a school librarian make her an arbiter of free speech or what can and can’t be presented to students? And is she, someone who is obviously pro-military, actually able to determine what is truly a “negative viewpoint” or “objective?”
So far, there’s nothing in the Tribune-Herald about this.
As a librarian, I forget that people like her exist. She can remedy this by presenting a speaker with an opposing view. And stop taking things so personally. How can our children think critically without being offered varied ideas and POVs?
I was stunned when I read the librarians’ remarks of how she insisted that Mr Albertinis’ participation and the military debate at the high school be restricted in such a way as only to agree with her point of view.
in my opinion the responsibilities of a librarian are very similar to a judge’s in a court of law.
they are both charged with gathering all information pro and con and making such information available to their charges so they can make an informed,unbiased decision.
If the librarian were a judge, I shudder to imagine the verdict if the only evidence allowed was positive.
What she is attempting to do is steer her students to agree with her biased point of view.
She is blatantly implying that her students are incapable of forming their own opinion by knowing
all the facts.
Who does this woman think she is? (This isn’t a slam on librarians, who I generally think are some of the greatest people in the universe.) It’s not up to her to deny free speech.
Librarians are usually leading the charge for free speech, not trying to stomp it out. This is distressing.
It’s not her library. It’s ours.
Discussing U.S. military operations, the imperialism that necessitates them, the funding that requires future citizens to bear the costs, Mutually Assured Destruction, environmental degradation, and the violent reality of warfare — all without taking a “negative slant”?
Might make a good Woody Allen movie, if it weren’t such a tragic commentary on our school’s policies of “Just Say No” to critical thinking.
Ye Gods & Little Fishes!!! Has Amy Okuyama gone through all the books and other materials in the school library to toss out anything with which she disagrees?
Maybe she needs to talk to military personnel who’ve challenged the decisions to carry out the killing and destruction on behalf of the United States – for example: Secretary of State John Kerry who served in Vietnam.