On the way to work this morning I heard a local talk radio host talking about it. My father overheard some men at the coffee shop talking about it. At the local university, professors talked to their students about it. Though reactions are certainly mixed, one thing is certain, people are talking about Obama s address to public school students scheduled for September 8th.
Next Tuesday, Obama will deliver a short speech to all children in public schools via the internet concerning the importance of education. Naturally, conservatives are calling this Marxist, communist, Nazi, socialist, and reminiscent of the Hitler Youth. In response, liberals have already launch counterattacks stating that the dissenters are simply racist and ignorant. Personally, I don t entirely agree with either side.
There s a firestorm of questions with very few real answers. How would people react if a similar speech were given by Bush, Reagan, or Clinton during their presidencies? Is this indoctrination or just an innocent attempt by the President to motivate the next generation of leaders? Is this a onetime occurrence, or the beginning of a larger project?
While many explain their fears concerning the speech by attempting the answer the abovementioned queries, for other, the reason for many is simple: Obama addressing our children involuntarily on a nationwide scale, for whatever reason, is just a little spooky.
Controversy also surrounds the discussion questions that were sent out by the Department of Education for teachers to present to their students before and after the speech. Troubling questions include:
Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?
What is the President trying to tell me?
What is the President asking me to do?
What specific job is he asking me to do?
Again, the innocence of the questions can be debated, and is being debated. Some would say that the impropriety of the questions lies in the fact that they urge children to give allegiance to the President and other elected officials, and doing what they ask of them, rather than encouraging children to support their country and do what is best for it. Rather than attempting to create patriots, they are creating partisans.
Though I don t think Obama is a Nazi, and I also don t think conservatives are racists, I must agree that this is ‘just a little spooky.’ After perusing pages and pages of comments on articles concerning this issue, I found one that really struck a chord with me. Pacojc wrote:
I don’t care what the heck he’s going to talk about, unless he holds a teaching degree for every state, and he plans on actually teaching a lesson, this should not be allowed.
So this morning, I made a few phone calls. My school age sister will be staying home on September 8th. My stepchildren will be staying home on September 8th. They are not doing this as an anti-Obama statement or to protest against Democrats or liberal leaning elected officials. Rather, they are staying home to take a stand against the president and federal government getting entirely too involved in our children s schools, and as a result, in their lives. As parents, family, and communities, it is our jobs to shape the hearts and minds of our children. To the federal government, please stay out of my kid s school. And to all the children who will be staying home next Tuesday, enjoy your four day weekend.
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Excellent! Purely excellent! While I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing for a sitting president to do, I do agree it “smells fishy”. He should encourage kids to stay in school. As for him endoctrinating the kids, well that depends on what he actually says doesn’t it.