In our view there is absolutely no reason for prohibiting our students from watching and listening to the president of the United States urge them on to bigger and better things through education. The decision of District 200 to “screen” the president’s remarks is inexcusable.
Learning is a lifelong pursuit, and the die of success begins to be cast early on in a youngster’s educational journey. True, the primary nurture of the learning process emanates first in the home and then from school. However, it is also embellished by the “village,” from clubs, churches, libraries and the like, and now, of course, by the Internet.
In the process, parents, teachers, and our elected leaders become role models, valued over the centuries to provide words of wisdom. The range of modern communication continues to become broader, more massive and more efficient. Yet the fundamental content remains the same.
Unfortunately, in the current superheated and fractious political era, we are plagued by those who habitually cast aspersions and doubts on the motives of the most genuine of communicants, in this case our president, as he, like other leaders before him, seeks to emphasize for our children the value of education.
His message is far from esoteric. It is printed for all to see, and it includes a lesson plan for teachers to use if they wish to make the most of the moment in stimulating student motivation to excel in school.
It is the golden rule of success, is it not? Seeking your future through educational pursuits will empower you intellectually and financially. What could be simpler or timelier?
Unfortunately, the ideologues among us cannot resist the temptation to make something out of nothing for some dim sense of political gain. Desist, we say! You are trampling the simple seeds of hope and future in our children. Nothing more heinous is underfoot.
A timid District 200 school district avoided the controversy by not mandating universal viewing of the president’s message. Hopefully the content of the message will still be shared with all who desire to witness it in the district’s schools. But avoiding the controversy has only created a more sinister one.
Who do we count on to monitor the quality and credibility of our children’s education? After all, we require a major educational and professional background for those we hire to teach our kids? Don’t we wish our kids to stand on their own and seek open searches for truth and justice? Why then do we flinch from controversy rather than use it as a moment to learn from each other?
Last time we checked, no one was the sole source of knowledge, truth, justice or fairness. Those are golden nuggets found best by all of us working together to build a trusting community.
Seeing the devil in the unknown or darkness is an apt definition of paranoia. Is that what we wish to pass on to our newest generation?
