What lesson are we teaching when parents pick fear
By Brandon Evans | Published Sunday, September 6, 2009
"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold." - Helen Keller A river of fear flows through the heart of Wise County.
Last week, school districts throughout the county received a flood of phone calls from parents after the White House announced that President Barack Obama would be giving an address to the nation's students on Tuesday.
"We've had some parents call us and say they didn't want their children to watch it," said Lesley Weaver, spokesperson for Northwest ISD.
The same thing happened at every school district in the county.
In response, many districts decided not to air the speech at all. The fear of angry, irrational parents trumped students partaking in a nationwide, civic enterprise.
The lesson sent from these parents is that children shouldn't have any respect for the presidency. They don't feel comfortable with allowing their children to form their owns opinions or draw their own conclusions. They haven't prepared their children to function as independent thinkers.
These parents have chosen to cultivate fear through seclusion, like a mother bird refusing to teach her brood to fly. It should come as no surprise when a fat cat, stepping as quiet as the snow falls, sneaks away with a mouth full of feathers.
Instead of airing the speech, several districts decided to post a link to the speech on their Web site after it has aired. This is the policy being followed by Bridgeport, Decatur and Paradise ISDs.
The fear from parents is that President Obama intends to indoctrinate their children with socialist propaganda. This fear has nothing to do with reality. But fear spreads easy. It tends to avoid the rational.
Paradise ISD Superintendent Monty Chapman released a statement that social studies teachers in the district can show the presidential speech, which is expected to be 15 to 20 minutes in length, during their Wednesday, Thursday or Friday classes. However, before a teacher can show the speech, they must first prepare a lesson plan to go with the viewing that is approved by their principal. They must then send the lesson plan home with their students along with a permission slip to be signed by a parent.
Several districts in our county went the route of the permission slip. Boyd will make the speech available live, but students must first get a permission slip signed by a parent.
Permission slips are traditionally used when students engage in an activity that creates a possible liability issue for the school, such as going on field trips. When did listening to our president become a liability?
And what is so dangerous about this speech? Many schools in the country begin after Labor Day weekend. The speech is basically a back to school message. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the speech will "challenge students to work hard, set education goals and take responsibility for their learning."
In addition, teachers are suggested to assign their students simple assignments afterwards, such as writing down a list of educational goals.
The president intends to "indoctrinate" children with messages of hard work, proper planning and personal responsibility. Aren't these traits valued by most Americans?
But fear is a mindkiller. It's transformed simple differences of political philosophies into outright antagonism.
Disagreeing with the president on policy issues is a vital element of our political table. A lot of these fearful parents disagree with the president's proposed health care reform plan or massive government spending. That is perfectly understandable. But they are using these differences as an excuse to instill fear and mistrust of the president of the United States into their children.
Rather than allow their children to watch the speech in an independent environment and form their own opinion of the president's message, some parents have decided to instill fear rather than encourage critical thinking skills.
Not all districts are being cowed by fearful parents. Slidell ISD intends to make the speech available for all students in grades 6-12 if they choose to view it. They plan on showing it Wednesday though.
"Everything I've read about the speech is that it's mainly geared as back to school encouragement," said Slidell superintendent Greg Enis. "I don't see anything political in it."
Northwest ISD is also being reasonable about the situation. It's allowing its instructors the freedom to choose to air the short speech or not to their students.
Unfortunately, a few excessively vocal extremists have hijacked the realm of reason. Their version of political debate includes rolling around on the floor, kicking their legs violently and shouting hyperbole.
Texas is traditionally a symbol of wide open freedom and independence. It's amazing what a little river of fear can do to a landscape.
