Read it yourself

Dear Editor,

I have a suggestion for Stan Garretson and anyone else who read and was disturbed by an article by Kathy Wilmot about the National Education Association's "Remember Sept. 11" Web site. The suggestion: Read in its entirety the essay she quoted from, and also spend some time examining the rest of the NEA site.

The essay Mrs. Wilmot quoted from can be found at www.nasponline.org/NEAT/tolerance.html, and the web site at www.neahin.org. The site has 100 lesson plans and 60 links to other sites. The essay Mrs. Wilmot quoted from is on one of those links.

The National Association of School Psychologists, not the NEA, presented the essay on Sept. 15, just four days after the terrorist attacks. The essay is titled "A National Tragedy: Promoting Tolerance and Peace in Children."

It offers suggestions to parents and teachers as they helped children cope with the horror of Sept. 11 in the early days following the attacks. Some of the other links from the NEA site are to the CIA, the proposed Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance and speeches by great Americans, including President George W. Bush, Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln, on "the foundations of our freedom, rights and responsibilities."

The site also has material from the American Red Cross and the American Library Association. It's my belief that a thorough examination of what NEA has offered will reveal that it is a celebration of American values. But don't take my word for it.

Go to the sites, study them and decide for yourself whether NEA's efforts received a fair assessment from Mrs. Wilmot.

Duane Obermier

President,

Nebraska State Education Association