Thursday, January 11, 2007 Older Editions

LETTERS

Law presenter: AHS students think for themselves

Editor, Townsman:

I am a local attorney and law professor who had the pleasure of leading two student discussion sessions on First Amendment law at Andover High School a couple of days prior to the Wheels of Justice presentation. I am also the father of two college students who were educated in the Andover Public Schools, and a third student who currently attends Wood Hill Middle School.

Having never taught secondary school, I was apprehensive initially about the ability of high school students to grasp the complexity and nuance of a body of law that causes consternation even for law students and practicing attorneys. Furthermore, I was concerned that we would not be able to do the subject full justice in an hour and one-half session.

Within minutes after beginning my first session, however, the students allayed any doubts I had about their ability to comprehend and discuss the material in intelligent fashion. The AHS students I spoke with are intelligent, inquisitive, self-confident and remarkably sophisticated for people their age. A number of them displayed high-level thinking skills that would rival those of law students. Some even exhibited methods of reasoning that experienced attorneys actually employ. I left the sessions believing that all of the students I met understood one of the primary tenets of First Amendment doctrine: while our Constitution respects the right of even the ignorant, ill-informed and misguided to express their views, no part of it requires us to give credence to any one view or accept it as our own.

The AHS students I observed are quite capable of sifting through dense and diverse information with a critical eye, and of drawing their own well-informed conclusions. These are not automotons who mechanically accept whatever they are told; they ask questions and challenge assumptions that trouble them. I am impressed with their intellectual capacity, and would like to credit them (as well as their parents) for taking responsibility for their education. But I am also impressed with the education that our children receive. It is clear Andover teachers expose our children to critical thought early and often.

The ability to think critically is the antidote for ignorance, and AHS students are well equipped to reject ignorance. While some may quibble with the format employed by the AHS administration, or with the position of the teachers who pressed the matter, the Wheels of Justice incident comprises but a small fraction of the educational experience Andover students will encounter. When the controversy has passed and we have had time to reflect, I believe we will realize that our public school administrators and teachers have imparted the critical thinking skills that will enable our children to intelligently sort through the views presented by the Kennedy School of Government and Wheels of Justice presenters, and to reject those that are misguided.

Peter M. Malaguti

18 Noel Road

The writer is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the Mass. School of Law in Andover.

Teachers' image formed by moves of union leaders

Editor, Townsman:

An open letter to the teachers of Andover:

Most of you are, individually, fine teachers. But, sadly, your collective image is that of the leaders of your union.

When the leaders of your union coerced Andover High School into exposing our children to the one-sided propaganda barrage of the Wheels of Justice, in the classroom, you must share the shame.

When the leaders of your union coerced the ACLU into threatening Andover with a lawsuit that would have cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars from the education budget, a lawsuit based on an extreme interpretation of the First Amendment, you must share the responsibility. When negotiations begin for the next teaching contract, the School Committee must view the premium Andover traditionally pays its teachers in the light of the actions of the leaders of your union.

You have a right to choose the leaders of your union, and you must accept all of the results of your choice.

Bob Willard

76 Tewksbury St.

Fix town seal

Editor, Townsman:

Instead of getting riled about Andover's latest teenage Wikipedia jape ("Wiki entry tries to tar town with brush of racism," Townsman, Dec. 21), residents should take a gander at the town seal on the town's trucks and cars. If we are so protective of Andover's reputation we will realize that the present design is a very real joke and somebody was "asleep at the switch."

We have a Plains Indian dressed in a war bonnet and buckskins pointing to the far distance! Just examine the Massachusetts state seal and you will see a Northeast coast Indian with no war bonnet and no buckskins. Did anyone at the town's Historical Society have any input on the redesign? Please, somebody check and get in touch with the National American Indian Museum in Washington, D.C.

Carol Rathore

256 North Main St.