The Gazette-Enterprise

Checking the computer this morning, I did not find that the country in which I live had become the United Socialist States of America.

I am sure that is what a lot of people thought that would be the new name because President Obama gave a speech to encourage young people.

According to some, the president asking students to accept responsibility, study, set goals, and finish school was just another attempt to make them little socialists.

That was just too much for some parents. Allowing their students to hear a speech by a president was just too socialistic.

What those parents really missed was an opportunity to open a real dialogue with their student or students.

One of the major problems in this country is a lack of dialogue between people who have differing views.

The town hall meetings we saw on television this past month were not informative; they were shouting matches, generally with only one side doing the shouting.

What a difference the meeting might have made had there been a true give and take of information between people.

There wasn’t and that was a loss for America.

If reports on television, in newspapers, and online are to be believed, Texas was one of the states where President Obama’s speech to students caused the most outrage.

Schools across the state were confronted by parents who did not want their student to hear the speech. What a sad commentary on a state that has the highest dropout or non-graduation rate of any of the states.

If one student was convinced that he or she should stay in school, the speech was a success.

If one student quit blaming his or her failure on everything and everybody except him or herself, the speech was a success.

The failure of parents to see an opportunity to open a dialogue with their student about their views or the child’s views is the real failure.

Parents missed an opportunity to analyze the reasons why they think the way they do and explain those reasons to their child. They failed to let a child hear an opposing view and thus, be able to question their own views and the views of the parents.

How often do we hear that there needs to be more discussion in families?

School is a place for learning, questioning, and espousing one’s view in a rational and logical manner.

One cannot do that unless one is willing to listen to differing views.

Public schools are not supposed to be indoctrination centers. Refusing to allow a student to listen to an opposing view is denying that student the opportunity to become educated.

For those of you who demanded that the president’s speech not be viewed or by keeping your child home from school, you missed an opportunity.

You showed that you are not firm enough in your own skills or beliefs to counter an 18 minute speech.

If listening for 18 minutes can change a child who you have had under your guidance for many years, we are in serious trouble as a nation.

The negative reaction prior to the speech says much about some in America today.

They are what they feared would happen to their children. They are the ones who have been swayed by the rhetoric of a few. They are the ones who have been victimized by speakers.

Do they not see that they are what they feared their children would become — products of rhetoric?

Jack Linden is a retired history professor and a regular contributor to the Gazette Enterprise editorial page.

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