To the parents who were concerned about President Obama’s speech addressed to their school-age children:
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I would like to address all of the parents of this county who didn’t want their children to hear Obama’s speech because of its possible political content.
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First: From what I have read and observed, parents have a greater influence on their children than Obama will, because during your child’s life you will most probably spend more time speaking and modeling values and political ideology to your children than Obama ever will.
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Second: By being Americans, we have the privilege to make decisions about politics, spirituality, economy, and values. If you are able to tell your children why you believe the way you do and impart logic based on history, your personal experiences, and intuition, your child will probably listen to you more than Obama.
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Third: As an American, I would hope that you would allow your child the ability to listen to points of view other than your own and that he/she would able to discuss these value differences with you. In sheltering your children from other points of view, they may never develop the ability to defend the values they cherish and might get swayed by others who are more persuasive, powerful, or harmful.
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Fourth: If you read the transcript of Obama’s speech, you’ll know it was mostly about taking advantage of education, and it seemed pretty free from a liberal or conservative point of view. It’s my opinion that both Democrats and Republicans want children of America to be educated either in public schools, private schools, or at home. I can’t see how Obama had a strong political agenda here.
This article appears in Sep 17-24, 2009.