The Hollidaysburg Area School Board engaged in a refreshing discussion April 8 about whether to approve for adoption a psychology textbook that eventually was approved — correctly — by a 6-3 margin.

At a time when virtually everything is available to young people via the internet, should relevant — even if sometimes controversial — topics such as social justice and gender identity, including LGBTQ issues, be considered topics that would “poison” young people’s minds? If the information is presented correctly, as the course would seem to dictate, the answer should be “No.”

If or when young people of the Hollidaysburg Area School District go to college, should they be oblivious regarding classroom discussion topics that are not “cloistered” or taboo in most other school systems? The answer should be “Definitely not.”

If censorship is victorious in Hollidaysburg, how will Hollidaysburg graduates keep up in college with students of school districts where there is no censorship of well-evaluated learning materials like that proposed at the April 8 meeting? Those graduates could be at an immediate disadvantage, from an understanding standpoint, in the college classroom and, whether parents or others like it or not, such information is not going to “go away” or be locked up in some impenetrable vault.

And it is not just a matter of topics or a textbook being discussed. Anyone who chooses to look between the lines of the April 8 discussion, especially comments emanating from those speaking in favor of censorship, might harbor the suspicion that there is lack of confidence in the judgment and professionalism of HASD teachers and their ability to present the matters in question appropriately.

The quality of the HASD teaching staff is indicative of the fact that there should not be such suspicion or lack of confidence.

The fact is that Hollidaysburg teachers have the skills, judgment and professionalism to present educational materials in a way most people would consider to be correct and proper. The teachers in question just need to be accorded the opportunity to do their jobs to the best of their ability without being inhibited by, yes, some of the questionable politics of the day.

The goal of education is to train future leaders — the kind of leaders who are willing and able to evaluate positions on all sides of issues before hopefully arriving at the right conclusions.

At the same time, the goal of education is not — and should not be — to try to sway students toward a particular political philosophy or party.

Proponents of censorship oftentimes are trying to do just that.

Students and/or graduates will eventually be able to make up their own minds about whom or what to support, if they have been taught in a good educational/learning environment, such as Hollidaysburg’s.

The issue of censorship goes way back, even to the days of this nation’s Founding Fathers. Anyone who has followed this nation’s history can point specifically to a number of highly visible instances when that has occurred.

Free speech? It is under attack on a number of fronts today, unfortunately, and some of those attacks have become increasingly concerning.

Some people were deeply concerned and outspoken — and urging boycott — when Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 black-and-while film “Psycho” arrived in theaters. Today people watching that film are puzzled about why the concern existed.

Someday, perhaps soon, will Hollidaysburg Area School District residents chuckle over the fuss that the psychology textbook in question generated?