By Peggy Venable | Published Sunday, September 6, 2009
For some students, Sept. 8 is this year's first day of school. This year it's also another first, the first time a U.S. president has asked to be invited into classrooms to speak directly to children.
It may seem innocuous for President Obama to speak directly to students about the importance of education. If that were the whole story, this could be a milestone that parents need not fear. Unfortunately, Obama may have an ulterior motive.
Obama is expected to talk about controversial policy proposals that would change our country. Many of us who have well-intentioned policy disagreements with the president have reason for concern.
Two lesson plans have been prepared by the Department of Education, produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows. One is for K-6 and the other is for 7-12 grades.
It is recommended that teachers discuss - among other things - "Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?"
The lesson plan goes further, saying: "Students might think about: What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?"
That's enough to send chills down my spine. Schoolchildren should not be indoctrinated in obedience to and service in support of the president of the United States. Our system is based on the rule of law, and a robust tradition of loyal opposition, not blind support for the president in power.
Obama is expected to address the "challenges" facing him in Congress and will likely use that opportunity to promote global warming taxes and a Washington take-over of the country's health care system. Hearing only one side of the story, many young people could be swayed.
In the proposed curriculum, it is also suggested: "Teachers can extend learning by having students write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."
It appears to be nothing short of training our children to support Obama policies. When the recruits are children, doesn't that constitute indoctrination, even brainwashing? Perhaps the most disturbing part isn't the teachers having students write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president, but that these letters would be used by teachers to "make students accountable."
Indoctrination is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned. Indoctrination is common in totalitarian societies, and completely alien to our system of government.
As the American public learns more about Obama policies, support for those policies has diminished. Now he is taking his message to the schools where the audience is not only impressionable children but teachers, educational bureaucrats and parents.
As a former White House liaison to the U.S. Department of Education in the Reagan Administration, I can say with certainty that this type of approach is an abuse of power. Public policy decisions are made by voters, and America's children should not be used to influence opinion, to organize the education unions, or to sway parents - they simply should not be used.
This may be President Obama's vision of change, but it is not one shared by many Americans. It is past time to empower parents to have meaningful alternatives to the government-run schools in which they can be subject to such indoctrination. All parents should be able to make the choice Obama made for his own children to send them to a private school if that best suits their needs. Until that day happens, we need to remain ever-vigilant against attempts to use the government schools to indoctrinate our children.
Peggy Venable was the first White House liaison for the U.S. Department of Education in the Reagan administration and is now Texas director of Americans for Prosperity.
