Letter: We must teach our children well

To the Editor:

The rock group Crosby, Stills and Nash had a hit called “Teach Your Children Well.” It seems local parents and teachers are being tested with this premise right now.

One teacher has her online learning avatar wear a "Black Lives Matter" shirt. Seeing that, a parent rants that BLM is the kind of BS that children should never see or hear. She goes on to claim personal knowledge that the ranks of Antifa are filled with teachers.
 
I do not defend the practice of teachers using their special status to promote partisan politics. However, a case can be made for respect of Black lives as a universal value that teachers and parents should indeed be passing on to the youth. BLM is not BS.

And to teach children well we should teach them to respect evidence-based truth claims. No, there is no vast, well organized Antifa movement. No, it is not an army of leftist teachers. And no, teachers, scientists, career diplomats and prosecutors are not a cabal of elitists trying to takeover and destroy the world.

You who are young—you who are students of today – it is now time, as Crosby, Stills and Nash foretold, for you to turn away from fear and respect  those you don't understand. As Graham Nash wrote:
 
And you, of tender years,

Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,

And so please help them with your youth,

They seek the truth before they can die.
 
John Seraphine

Sycamore