The Monitor has published several articles about the removal of four stories from the curriculum of "Short Stories," an elective class for upperclassmen at Campbell High School in Litchfield. The ACLU is strongly committed to the principle of free inquiry and diversity at all educational levels. The removal of material from a high school curriculum is a matter of great concern.

The stories in question sound like tough reads. They were stories about cannibalism, cocaine use, abortion and homosexuality. It is possible that some of the students in the class might not be ready to explore those issues. Those students could elect some other class.

One of the objectives of universal free public education is to develop in children the intellectual capacities required for the effective exercise of the rights and duties of citizenship. This is best accomplished in an atmosphere of free inquiry and discussion. Instructional material should make available to students a wide range of ideas and a diversity of political viewpoints. Material shouldn't be removed simply because it expresses unpopular or controversial views.

The principal at Campbell High School said he was not censoring the material. But it sure sounds like censorship, especially when one of the parents who objected to the material said she didn't like teenagers reading "I Like Guys" because it "promotes acceptance - as opposed to tolerance - of homosexuality."

The material being excluded from the Short Stories class can be added to the list of other "controversial" material that has been banned from schools: John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, Richard Wright's Black Boy, Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House and J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, just to name a few. Even "Little Red Riding Hood" was once censored. Empire, Calif., removed the book from its schools in 1990 because Little Red Riding Hood brought a bottle of wine to her grandmother and thus condoned the use of alcohol.

The ACLU believes that the best method for selecting teaching materials is to give final authority to teachers to make selections on the basis of their professional competence in consultation with supervisors, parents and students and within guidelines established by school boards.

In making their selections, teachers may take into account the degree of maturity of the students as well as the educational effectiveness of the instructional material.

High school students have achieved a certain level of maturity. The material they read should present the multiple realities of a pluralistic society which portray the many facets of life and provide a full airing of controversial issues.

Banning stories about homosexuality, drug use or abortion won't make the issues go away. Campbell High School's decision to remove these short stories in such a perfunctory way after complaints from parents should be reviewed.

Our schools can do better than censor material that may make us feel uneasy.

(Barbara Keshen is staff attorney for the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.)