http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/11549087.htm

Posted on Tue, May. 03, 2005

Operation Stress Students?

High schoolers ready to take stand against extremism and hatred

JESSICA FLAXMAN

Special to the Observer

Once a week, I tutor a student who attends Myers Park High School. I'll call him David. Like most kids his age, David worries about doing well on the SAT and getting into a good college, so we spend an hour doing practice questions and essays together and, when there's time, discussing books he is reading in class. He has a great work ethic and is making steady progress.

I enjoy working with this diligent and soft-spoken young man, not only because he is dedicated to his education, but also because he is so open-minded, so willing to accept criticism. When David gets an answer wrong, he doesn't grow sullen or angry; he laughs, rubs his eyes, and prepares to try again. But what I like best about him is the fact that he pays attention to the world around him, not just the insular high school environment of which he is a small part.

In the middle of a recent session of intense test prep, David asked me if I had heard of Operation Save America. I said I had read about their visits to North Mecklenburg High School this past March. He told me that he had heard that Operation Save America was planning to come to his school. If and when the group came, he said, he and his friends were going to stage a silent protest by wearing arm bands.

Operation Save America, formerly Operation Rescue, led by the Rev. Philip "Flip" Benham and headquartered in Concord , says on its Web site that it "unashamedly takes up the cause of preborn children in the name of Jesus Christ." But Operation Save America is interested in protecting more than the unborn. The group is also invested in protecting the Christian world from the threat of Islam and the heterosexual world from the threat of homosexuality. The pamphlet given out by Operation Save America during the five-day "Bring God Back to School" campaign outside of North Meck in March was titled, "Abortion is Murder -- Homosexuality is a Sin -- Islam is a Lie."

David and I only have one hour a week together, so I tried to direct our focus back to his vocabulary words. But David wanted to talk more about Operation Save America. "They hate everyone who isn't white. They're like the new KKK," he said. His concern was palpable, and kept us from our studies.

I have always been in favor of teenagers being aware of the world they live in, engaging in current events, and developing a political identity. In the classroom, I have taught literature that challenges preconceived notions and demands that students think hard about why they hold the views they hold.

Discussions such as these are the backbone of a good education -- they encourage critical thinking skills and force students to come up with persuasive rationales for their arguments. But there is a difference between open discourse in the classroom and forced confrontation just outside its walls.

High school students have enough stress in their lives as it is. They have to make good grades, earn a good score on the SAT, distinguish themselves in important ways so as to gain admission to competitive colleges and universities, and negotiate their intricate social lives. They shouldn't be bombarded with pamphlets detailing one group's perception of sin or be forced to look at gory photographs of dead fetuses while on their way to a first-period English quiz.

It is distressing that Operation Save America -- or any group -- plans to target children coming to and from school. But leave it to our kids to teach us a thing or two about limits we should be setting for ourselves. At North Meck, students tolerated Operation Save America and took their pamphlets, for the first three days, anyway. On the fourth, they greeted members of the group with super soakers, water balloons and eggs. Members of Operation Save America clearly need to spend more time with teenagers -- they don't realize that the one thing teenagers really won't tolerate is adults who repeat themselves unnecessarily.

I'm glad to say that my student does not plan to resort to throwing things at members of Operation Save America if they come to his school. Quietly, yet with purpose, he and his friends are ready to stand up to extremism and hatred. In this and only this way, perhaps Operation Save America is doing some service to our children.

Jessica
Flaxman

Observer community columnist Jessica Flaxman is a free-lance writer. Write her c/o The Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308, or at jessflaxman@hotmail.com.