Tom Horne's real sin is he wants Arizona high schools to be too safe

Tom Horne should know better.

Arizona public schools, like most in this country, are creatures of the left. That’s not a conspiracy theory. That’s an unavoidable fact with some exceptions.

Institutions dependent on government for their budgets are more likely to support the political party that wants to give them more money.

That is generally the party of big government — the Democrats.

So, if you’re Tom Horne, the Republican chief of Arizona public schools, and a natural adversary to teachers and administrators, you’ll want to play a little defense.

You’ll want to make sure you’ve done your homework before you advise two Valley high schools to get rid of Amnesty International clubs they don’t have — before you tell them their schools have been dispensers of antisemitism.

Otherwise, you’ll find yourself the subject of mirthful clucking at your expense on campus and in local media.

Horne wants to keep kids away from ideas

That said, this is all thin gruel.

The Amnesty International story doesn’t do any real damage to Horne, but it does raise a lot of interesting questions.

For instance, how much should public school children be interacting with the political world around them?

Given the paradigm shift underway in global communications and the algorithms manipulating what we watch and read online, it would seem our high school students had better have the skills to navigate all that, which requires robust contact with the outside world.

And, in fact. they already do engage the outside world a lot — unchaperoned. They’re on the internet. You may have noticed.

But they would do well to start applying critical thinking as they engage more and more new and controversial ideas. And the best way to do that is with the guiding hand of faculty serving either as teacher or adviser.

Schools should help sort through them

Does Amnesty International pose a threat to young Jewish students?

Amnesty International leaders have expressed hostility to Israel and questioned its right to exist. They have called Israel an illegitimate state.

All of this can be countered.

Israel is the only Democratic state in the Middle East.

Antisemitic college protests: Are far more vile now

Arab citizens in Israel enjoy greater rights than the citizens of any Arab nation in the region.

If Hamas had done to, say, Pakistan what it did to Israel on Oct. 7, Gaza would be a strip of glass and the world would witness real genocide.

A public school that is ferociously neutral on politics and aggressively teaches critical thinking can help young Jews navigate the world they’re about to enter.

Or, for that matter, young African Americans, or young Latinos, or young Native Americans or young Catholics or young conservatives.

Students need to understand counterpoints

Everyone is going to get slapped around. Time to get ready.

Expose them to the world of point and counterpoint. Teach them that to every argument there is a counterargument. I know Horne believes in this.

Help them understand that opposing points of view are not your enemy. They are the tools that efficiently dispose of your bad ideas and sharpen your best ones.

Teach them how to discern between the people who are really thinking and the people who are mere ideologues. The ideologues are incapable of seeing the world from another person’s perspective.

Make sure any student who graduates from an Arizona public high school has that rudimentary capacity — to step into their opponent’s shoes. It’s what makes us civilized.

Both schools have other controversial clubs

When I look at the websites from the two high schools cited in the Horne story, I see lots of controversy.

For instance, under activities at Chandler’s Hamilton High School is a listing for M.E.Ch.A — Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan — “a student organization that promotes higher education, Hispanic culture, and history. We seek to gain self-determination for our members through their Hispanic identity.”

Great. If M.E.Ch.A is still an activity at Hamilton, let’s ask the kids what they think of Arizona State University suspending its M.E.Ch.A chapter after it called for killing white farmers in South Africa, European immigrants in North America and all the people who support Israel.

That would be a great discussion for Hamilton seniors.

Under clubs at Cactus Shadows High School in Scottsdale, I see a listing for Turning Point USA — a young conservatives’ club. Let’s ask those students if ASU was right to press charges against Turning Point USA members who harassed and pushed and injured an LGBTQ faculty member?

Likewise, a great discussion for Cactus Shadows seniors.

Teach them how to think, not what to think

And if I were participating, I would tell students it seemed to me that ASU handled both cases just right, but I'm open to other points of view. I’d very much like to hear theirs.

What are the important elements? Tell me why I’m wrong.

The greatest thing our public schools can teach our children is not what to think, but how to think.

It is the most vital skill they’ll carry into adulthood. And more than ever, they'll need it.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with the Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tom Horne's real sin is he wants high schools to be too safe