Housing and Development Newsletter For skeptics wary of letting the proverbial inmates run the asylum, it’s worth noting that the so-called adults in the room have amassed an abysmal track record. The most common causes of high school censorship are viewpoint-based discrimination (the principal doesn’t like your politics) and image control (the story makes the school look bad). Those aren’t valid reasons to interfere with students’ coursework. While some high school publications are extracurricular activities, most are produced in journalism and communications classes. And when principals swoop in to play censor, they undermine professional educators and throw out the approved curriculum to impose their own hasty, half-baked judgment calls.