i think a thoughtful-- a thoughtful parent coming into school to talk about something is always welcome. it's the zealot that we all jump away from. thoughtfulness is appreciated always. is it--is it, then, that teacher's job to change the book? i don't know. (mannino) well, i'm hoping that the decision-- people make bad decisions. i mean, not every book that's taught in the public schools is a wonderful book. i mean, i think we can all agree to that. there are books-- i mean, i've known people who've read goosebumps books aloud to third grade, and i think, you know, i'd let them read 'em themselves. that doesn't seem, to me, to make a very good read aloud. i agree with judy. i mean, i think if someone came in and said, "you know, i really want to question "whether this is really appropriate for somebody in the fourth grade," i would want to talk about that.

and it would depend on what the person said that i might not teach that book again. but they would have to be awfully convincing if i'd thought-- which we would hope ahead of time teachers had-- about appropriateness before they selected the book. i find my bigger problem with teachers is not taking risks, but, you know, it's that they're not taking risks. not that they are and getting in trouble. it's that they're censoring before the book ever reaches the child. i'm getting teachers saying, "well, now, i really can't take that book, "because it has a witch on the cover. "i really can't take that book, because i've heard it has this or that in it." and, in fact, i just had it last week. i mean, i have it almost weekly, that i deal with this in one way or another, either with a parent or with a teacher. and so what i'm worried about is a sort of blanding out. and when the teacher that taught shabanu, who was the most wonderful woman-- i mean, she should really be here. she was the genius behind how the book was taught. when at the very end of this process, someone-- the final salvo with somebody at the administration calling her in and saying to her,

"well, why would you want to teach a controversial book?" and she had the most wonderful response. she said, "well, can you name any book "that is meaningful and meaty that i could teach that wouldn't be controversial to someone?" you know, any book that really has content-- someone is going to be offended by it. it's only the most bland kind of literature, the kind of formulaic literature with no voice and no character and no whatever that's going to meet the test of-- everybody's going to be yawning, but no one will be offended. i do want to speak on behalf of the publishers for a moment, because after years and years and years of running scared-- and i'm not saying that they still aren't scared, but i do--i think i see a new dawn coming, where they've had it. they've had enough, and they are beginning to be willing to take some risks again. and i think, maybe, the harry potter controversy--

or maybe they've just seen how well scholastic has done with it. [laughter] but i-i hope that i do see this, that the fear is lessening and they're beginning to stand up. a wonderful conversation. thank you all for joining us today. i'm ken paulson. back next week with another conversation about the first amendment and free expression. hope you can join us then for speaking freely. captioning provided by the freedom forum first amendment center captioning by captionmax www.captionmax.com

we are celebrating the glorious grand opening of the chinese rec center. ♪ 1951, 60 years ago, our first kids began to play in the chinese wrecks center -- rec center. >> i was 10 years old at the time. i spent just about my whole life

here. >> i came here to learn dancing. by we came -- >> we had a good time. made a lot of friends here. crisises part of the 2008 clean neighborhood park fund, and this is so important to our families. for many people who live in chinatown, this is their backyard. this is where many people come to congregate, and we are so happy to be able to deliver this project on time and under budget. >> a reason we all agreed to name this memorex center is because it is part of the history of i hear -- to name this rec center, is because it is part of the history of san francisco. >> they took off from logan airport, and the call of duty

was to alert american airlines that her plane was hijacked, and she stayed on the phone prior to the crash into the no. 9 world trade center. >> i would like to claim today the center and the naming of it. [applause] >> kmer i actually challenged me to a little bit of a ping pong -- the mayor actually challenge me to a little bit of a ping- pong, so i accept your challenge. ♪ >> it is an amazing spot. it is a state of the art center. >> is beautiful. quarkrights i would like to come

here and join them