I'm not a brainwasher

I'm angry that in this huge blow-up over President Obama's speech to the nation's students on September 8th, there is little to no mention of the role of teachers. Aren't teachers the people who are going to be making the actual decision to show the speech in their classrooms? The conversation has been degrading to say the least: We can't trust the teachers to discuss the speech in a meaningful way, so we either need to tell our kids to stay home or convince the school administration to make the decision for them.

The controversy has revealed the patronizing, stereotypical view of teachers held by the media and some politicians - that teachers aren't smart enough to make curricular choices in their own classrooms, that teachers are raging liberals, that teachers will take lesson plans from the White House verbatim and plop them down in front of the students for lack of anything better to do.

Even worse, the conservatives' "concern" shows extremely low confidence in our kids' ability to think for themselves or in the value of teaching kids to think for themselves. According to some, it is better for children to be told what to believe by their parents and to shield them from ever having to face challenges or questions to their beliefs. Who is doing the brainwashing here? No matter what we adults, parents or teachers, personally believe - we can make sure that children have the ability to think critically about information they are bombarded with and the positive guidance to make choices about their future plans, much less their political leanings.

As a teacher, I want my students to know what it means to live in a democracy. To become informed and active citizens. To know how to weigh perspectives and form their own opinions. Equating the President's speech to socialist indoctrination is antithetical to democracy and exposes the lack of trust in teachers and schools to educate our children. Actually, it should make us think once again about the purpose of education and how much better our democracy could be with citizens who know how to listen to one another.