Only poets are divine, said the ancient Greeks. When teachers in the public schools use unrighteous dominion to select offensive material and force it upon their students they are not in any way promoting intellectual freedom as they claim. They are in fact besmirching freedom. Test it out for yourself. Authors have the right to decide what they will write, and even how.
Publishers have the right to decide what they wil publish, and even how.
The right to read controversial material is NOT the issue here. The real issue is whether anyone, intellectual or demagogue, has the right to decide for you and me what we MUST read or spend our community funds on. Hitler dictated what people must read, and the whole nation followed him into war. Every despot in the world today is determined to force people to read and watch the political line favoring them. The freedom not to read what offends children must be preserved.