In an effort to instill a sense of civic duty among elementary school children, a Madison teacher assigned her third-grade students to write letters addressed to various elected officials advocating a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

While we appreciate teacher Julie Fitzpatrick's attempt to spark an interest in government among young children, we hold deep reservations about the project itself. It appears, sadly, that Frank Allis Elementary School teachers attempted to use children as a channel to spread their personal political views.

Children — and adults, for that matter — in this day and age are becoming increasingly apathetic toward world events, and any attempt to engage young students in the world of politics certainly deserves applause. However, such attempts should not be biased in one direction.

A teacher handing out an assignment for students to tell elected officials to stay the course in Iraq would be equally tactless. An assignment allowing the students to voice their own opinion in the letters would have achieved the same desired goal without resorting to indoctrination. And while these children were given a permission slip — so those whose parents objected to the assignment could prevent them from writing the letter — the assignment nonetheless did not allow for a marketplace of ideas to come to fruition, as the teachers only called for letters representing one specific view of the situation.

It is important to remember the students asked to write the letters are not much older than 8 years old. At such a young age, these children's minds are like sponges soaking up every morsel of information they hear from anyone in a position of authority, especially teachers. And it is certainly not a teacher's place — nor is it a neighbor's or even a religious figure's place — to use children as a mechanism for spreading their views on war and peace.