The Central Kitsap School District made the right decision in allowing its students to view President Barack Obama’s speech on education Tuesday morning.

Shame on those schools throughout the nation that boycotted the speech because of parents who sided with ignorance and even went as far as to call it a socialist act. All differing political views aside, this was a straight-forward message from our president and it should have been shown to any students who wanted to see it.

It leaves one to question why all of a sudden it’s become such a big deal for a presidential speech to be shown in the classroom. We are a nation with deep roots in democracy, but this act of boycotting a presidential speech leaves one to think otherwise. It’s not as if the speech should have been broadcast in all classes, but to show it in a relevant class such as history or political science, there should have been no qualms.

While people will always voice their opinions and they certainly have that right — hence, the reason we call this great nation the land of the free — schools throughout the United States should have had at least one classroom showing Obama’s speech.

There was no political message in the president’s speech — only a message of encouragement to stay in school. The controversy surrounding the speech sent a different message that, unfortunately, clouded that of the importance of a good education. The real message from those who boycotted the viewing: Sometimes grown-ups have a lower maturity level than those who Obama’s message was directed toward.