David Pakman received a disturbing voice mail from a student named “Mark,” who says he’s 16 years old, and claims that a teacher from his school in Kansas City makes political statements about abortion in class. The student goes on to explain that during a classroom discussion about Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the teacher compares Huckleberry Finn’s moral choice to not turn Jim — a slave — in to his masters, with the pro-life movement’s stance on abortion, because Finn went against conventional society and the morals of his time period. Pakman appears to regard this moral equivalence as dubious, at best, and urges the student to call in with more information, because this matter needs “more looking into.” Pakman acknowledges that he has not yet been able to vet the students’ claims “in any way.”


