President Obama's plan to deliver a talk to school students today has triggered yet another controversy. According to The New York Times, many parents opposed his speech, saying they didn't want the President to "indoctinate their children" with his "socialist ideas."

Brett Curtis, an engineer in Pearland, Texas, said he is keeping his three children home, according to the Times article. "I dont want our schools turned over to some socialist movement," Curtis said. Although the talk has been on the schedule for weeks, conservative talk show hosts began fuming about it just last week. On "The Rush Limbaugh Show," conservative political commentator Mark Steyn accused Obama of creating a "cult of personality" and compared him to Saddam Hussien. Jim Greer, the Republican Party Chairman in Florida, said he was "appalled" Obama was using taxpayer dollars to further his "socialist ideaology."

Could Greer, Steyn and Curtis please grow up? Let's let the President talk to the children. If he makes the mistake of using the talk to "spread his socialist agenda," we can address that later. What we need to teach our children is they need to critically examine what they are told themselves, even if it comes from a high authority - even the President of the United States.

Thinking and decision-making are skills that can be learned, and the President's talk gives a great opportunity to teach children about these skills. Teacher's can use Obama's talk to stimulate conversation about the great policy debates of the day, to teach our children to think criticallly, and to respectfully challenge what they are told by high authority figures.

Labels: Education, Obama, Question Authority, thinking mistakes