There are so many controversial issues today in the United States – the war in Iraq, health care reform, immigration, gay rights, gun control; and the list goes on and on.

But one issue that I feel certain that the majority of us can agree on is the importance of education.

This is not to say that education is free from controversy because it’s certainly not. However, I am referring to the fundamentals of education that I feel are universal: stay in school, work hard, take responsibility for your actions, listen to your teachers, do your homework, study, learn from your mistakes, education will further your career.

Essentially, this was the message that President Barack Obama delivered in his back-to-school speech to school-age children all over the country Tuesday.

His speech was full of encouraging words about studying and working hard, some of which these students never hear from their own parents, guardians, or, sad to say, their own teachers.

Not once did Obama mention anything related to politics, nor did he make any policy statements. He did not try to persuade the students with his so-called “socialist agenda,” which Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer accused Obama of last week, according to CNN.

So why in the world would some parents and Obama’s political opponents not want students to hear his message of welcoming students back to school and explaining the merits of education?

Personally, I think this would be the message they would want students to hear over and over again. This is the same message I tried to deliver to my students when I was a high school Spanish teacher for five years.

This is also the same message I am currently trying to give my students at the elementary school where I am interning as a school counselor.

I just don’t understand how anyone, regardless of political leanings, can be opposed to this message.

I think what makes me angriest about this totally overblown controversy is how quickly Obama’s opponents spoke out against his speech before they ever read it.

A friend who is also currently interning as a school counselor was telling me how her school received several heated e-mails and phone calls before the Labor Day holiday about their children being subjected to religion and politics in school because of Obama’s speech.

This happened three whole days before the speech was published, so how would they even know the content of the speech? Tell me where religion and politics were mentioned in the speech because I certainly didn’t read any.

In spite of our political beliefs, President Obama is still our president and still the leader of the United States. We should all be grateful that he took the time out of his schedule to address our students, give them some encouragement, and wish them well for the year.

We may not agree on all his policies or his beliefs, but seriously, people really jumped the gun on this one.

And is this a better message for our students to learn than the message in his speech? I don’t think so.

- Betsy Brafman Alpert is a graduate student from Cincinnati studying school counseling