First off, I primarily want to respect other people’s opinions while giving them the chance to respect mine. That may be impossible, but at least I can try. If you’ve been in a cave the past week or so, there’s a large amount of controversy across the state about President Obama addressing the schoolchildren of America on September 8. Parents have been in arms over the speech, mostly due to one of two things: (1) they don’t agree with Obama as a person or as a politician, or (2) they don’t know what he’ll say to kids.
People disagree with each other all the time. Unfortunately, the state of political discourse in this country, spurred on by talk radio and news programs, has allowed the most vitriolic of opinions to get equal time. There are people who believe Obama is a socialist who wants the government to run everything. There are people who believe Obama is also the chosen savior of the United States. I personally voted for him, but I don’t hold any illusions about Obama’s stance on things. His stance on FISA which gave large telecommunications companies immunity for illegally wiretapping U.S. citizens (something done post 9/11) makes him willing to compromise politically. His willingness to give money to large corporations in the form of TARP monies while allowing executives to reap large rewards irks me. About the only change for people that has been seen at our end is a small reduction in the tax rate (at least the one I pay) and the CARS program, which is now no longer in service. So my personal opinion on Obama is mixed, but he shares culpability in leading the country with the Senate and House, and right now, there’s a huge fight with tons of misinformation about health care going on.
But the hue and cry about not wanting your children to see the President address the nation just confuses me. Where else are kids supposed to learn about basic civics and government if not from the highest elected official in the land? Let’s face it: Presidents have done this before without having people getting concerned about the content of his speech. Ronald Reagan did it. George H. W. Bush did it. And I don’t think anyone protested back then. Admittedly, we didn’t have the same technological infrastructure as we do now, but still, Presidents have spoken to kids before without any permanent brainwashing.
Now, the government has altered the supporting materials to remove letter writing to the President, and they’ve also agreed to make the text of his speech available on Sept. 7. Thus, people who want to know ahead of time now have that ability. That roadblock is no more. This still won’t deter some people from objecting, but that’s more personal than anything else.
At some point, parents have to allow their children the freedom to make decisions about elected officials unless they want their kids to remain ignorant of the reasons why they pay taxes, or why we go to war, or why there are laws in the first place. And kids won’t be able to make that if they’re prevented from having that interaction. And that’s what saddens me most–that kids will be stuck learning how to take a test instead of getting a chance to apply some higher-level critical thinking skills about what the President has to say.