Indoctrination? Parents Wary of Obama's Address to Students

Much has been made of president Obama's plan to address the nation's school children. I can't imagine the kind of furor this event is causing occurring during my school years, whether it was Carter, Reagan or Bush Sr. so why is it such a big deal now?

I suggest that it is the lack of trust that so many have in this president. So many of his truly radical left ideals have finally sunk in to the public only after his election.

Obama's association with William Ayers, no matter how the administration tries to downplay it, is a matter of fact. Their work together on education reform in Chicago is well documented and Ayers makes no secret of the fact that he is a "small 'c' communist" as Andy McCarthy reports.

The truly disturbing nature of that relationship is not Ayer's past terrorism but his current agenda of indoctrinating children with socialist ideals through education. In a speech given by Ayers as a guest of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, Ayers made clear that the path to "revolution" is through shaping the minds of our children.

… education is never neutral. It always has a value, a position, a politics. Education either reinforces or challenges the existing social order, and school is always a contested space – what should be taught? In what way? Toward what end? By and for whom?

Contrast that with Obama advisor David Axelrod's statement that "There's nothing political about [the speech], and it's a shame that some people have tried to politicize it."

I hope David Axelrod will forgive parents if the evidence tends to cast a little doubt on his statement. We tend to be a little skittish about the co-opting of our children.