In a case about to go before the Kansas Supreme Court, “Attorneys representing students from the Shawnee Mission district say the story ‘Harrison Bergeron'” — by Kurt Vvonnegut — “shows that a world of forced equality would be a nightmare, so unequal funding of public schools is OK.” As a story by Scott Rothschild in the Topeka Journal-World reports, “Their legal brief says capping local taxes on schools was unconstitutional, and they cited the 1961 story, which depicts a future society where everyone is made equal by forcing impediments on anyone who is better.” But if the judges interpret the story the same way that the author himself does, Shawnee Mission attorneys are in trouble: Vonnegut has disagreed with their reading of his story. He tells Rothschild, “It’s about intelligence and talent, and wealth is not a demonstration of either one. Kansas is apparently handicapping schoolchildren, no matter how gifted and talented, with lousy educations if their parents are poor.”