In September 1997, fourth-grade parents at P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village discovered that there would be four classes instead of the usual five, because of a slightly shrunken enrollment....  It wasn't just bigger classes for their children, but the fact that class 4-406 was being disbanded and their teacher, Lauren Zangara, moved to another school that upset the parents. A letter went home to fourth-grade parents asking them to donate $360 toward the $46,000 needed to keep Ms. Zangara and the extra fourthgrade class at P.S. 41. Amazingly, P.S. 41 was successful in raising the funds virtually overnight, to the delight of then-District 2 Superintendent Anthony Alvarado.  But once the commitment of the parents to their own children became public knowledge, they found themselves at odds with then-Chancellor Rudy Crew. Such a generous action would result, he believed, in an "imbalance" in the system, giving more affluent parents and their children an "advantage" over children from poorer neighborhoods. Mr. Crew allowed the teacher to be retained, but the school district had to come up with the cash. So serious an infraction was this, that there was even talk of bringing Mr. Alvarado up on charges for accepting the parents' generosity.

On July 4 we celebrate American Independence Day--the anniversary of the day we freed ourselves from British tyranny.

On July 9, on the other side of the world, Iranian students and their followers will demonstrate in support of their own independence movement.

Their goal is freedom not from a foreign power but from their own theocratic dictators who have stifled every attempt at freedom of thought and expression. What strikes terror into the heart of the Iranian government is the idea that people will think for themselves instead of blindly obeying the dictates of the mullahs.

Let us hope that the Iranian freedom movement will ultimately triumph despite the terrible risks and odds which the students are facing, and that Iran will be the first Muslim country to recognize individual rights--the principle on which America was founded. To quote Ayn Rand, "The spirit of man will remain alive on this earth. It may sleep, but it will awaken. It may wear chains, but it will break through." And for the Iranians, the sooner the better.

The United States should give its full moral support to the hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents who took to the streets this week to protest a set of "anti-subversion" laws about to be imposed on them by China.

The new laws, which would make illegal "treason, secession, sedition [and] subversion" against Beijing's government, are designed to extend to Hong Kong the same censorship and control China imposes on individuals on the mainland. Given China's record of considering any criticism against its government to be treason or subversion, the new laws will, in effect, abolish freedom of speech on the island.

When China took over Hong Kong in 1997, it made the empty promise to give its people 50 more years of freedom. Now it threatens them with endless oppression. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the American administration is silent, apparently unconcerned with this ominous event.

It is imperative that America protests China's move and support the pro-freedom citizens of Hong Kong to whatever extent possible. The United States should, at a minimum, offer to take in any immigrants from Hong Kong who wish to flee China's rule.

While it is probably too late to save Hong Kong from China's oppression, it is never too late to speak out in defense of freedom. Not doing so means abandoning not only the people of Hong Kong, but America's founding values.

If China succeeds in clamping down on freedom in Hong Kong, the majestic skyscrapers will remain, but the energy and vitality that created them will vanish.