Editorial: Arizona classroom-censorship bill something to b*tch about

A new Arizona bill would punish college instructors who violate obscenity standards in their speech or actions. A new Arizona bill would punish college instructors who violate obscenity standards in their speech or actions.

This means that the state would hold the classroom to the same standards that the Federal Communications Commission holds broadcast TV.

The bill would subject instructors to this censorship at all public schools, including community colleges and public universities in the state.

You’re probably thinking, WTF? We’re right there with you.

We don’t see any reason for a state law for this.

First of all, consider the amount of subject material that calls for graphic description or recountings of historical events. For example, imagine taking a human sexuality or anatomy class. Then imagine being forced to learn the more “graphic” material without your professor’s input.

Or you might take a hip-hop history class in which you wouldn’t be able to say the name of the genre’s iconic song by N.W.A., “F*ck tha Police.”

You might, consequently, be inclined to speak out against another establishment: Arizona’s ridiculous government.

Second, imagine if a student received an undesirable grade. It’d be all too easy for him to make waves by claiming his instructor violated obscenity standards. There would be infinite hoops for teachers to jump through, and they already have to deal with enough.

By allowing students to have this sort of “power” over teachers, the entire teacher-student dichotomy would be skewed.

That brings us to our next point — this bill assumes that all teachers are morally corrupt. Instead of dealing with issues of harassment or other types of student harm on a case-by-case basis, the state is demonstrating that it would rather treat teachers with the assumption that they all use graphic language and expletives without any educational or rhetorical purpose.

But language is not the problem. Even if a teacher utters a simple “f*ck,” there is no harm done. The problem comes when such language is inserted into an offensive context, i.e., “f*ck you.”

But one could be offensive in “appropriate” ways, too, i.e., “Go kill yourself.” Words can be extremely powerful — or destructive — whether they’d be allowed to air on broadcast TV or not. And disrespect and harassment are neither OK nor addressed under this legislation.

Thus, the bill would only constrict the flow of information. Students deserve to be taught without censorship, and teachers deserve to teach without censorship.

If you don’t agree, note that the Supreme Court threw down similar ideology in the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District: “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” And that was circa 1969.

Hopefully this bill won’t pass — Arizona would step decades back in time if it did. It’s important to remember your rights and to exercise them often.

And with that, we leave you with our final exercise in free speech today: F*ck classroom censorship.