At 12:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET), September 8, 2009, President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to the students of America. (Please note that this is a change from the originally scheduled time.) During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.
Seems pretty benign to me, but, then again, I’m an Obama supporter so I’m biased. That said, I’m all for anyone challenging “students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.” I also support politicians speaking directly to students, instead of about them. It’s for the kids, what about the children, and children are our future are the normal, meaningless phrases bandied about by adults to sway other adults into doing what they want. These phrases usually have nothing to do with children… and the kids know it.
In the spirit of full disclosure, if George Bush was going to give a speech to students I would probably roll my eyes and make a joke about his habit to make up or mispronounce words. Not very grown up of me, but true. What I wouldn’t do is have a fit, threaten to pull my kids out of school, and scream brain-washing, socialist. Welcome to the Right’s latest outrage. (Anyone else having trouble keeping up with what outrages Republicans? Seems being outraged is their normal state of being.)
Over at Fix Red Clay the outrage is thick on the ground.
Anonymous said… This is America not a third world country. Obama wants to be dictator.
Monica said… Let the brainwashing begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous said… Why does he need to disrupt the school day with this unnecessary address? He’s got some ego.
Its for the Kids said… Red Clay should immediately post or phone message parents of their agenda for Tuesday so that parents can decide whether or not to leave the students for the program or pick them up.
And my personal favorite. (Notice how Christina pretends not to have an agenda while pretending to be civil.)
Christina said… First of all, we all should agree to disagree and stop the insults.
We live in America; the land of the free. Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. From what I have learned over looking through the comments on this blog and other blogs, the liberals are not going to change to conservatives and vice versa.
I am not a political person, and I usually base my opinions on politics as issues arise not as a liberal or conservative.
That being said, my children will not be watching Obama on Tuesday if Red Clay decides to show the speech.
I feel that Obama has been sneaky about this speech. I have not been able to find a real agenda about the speech, and I do not appreciate that I have not been informed on whether or not the school will be showing the speech.
I do agree with above that this has a ring of socialism to it.
And I would not compare Obama to the Pope.
If Obama needs to address my children, it will be with me present and with full knowledge of his agenda.
We cannot simply trust an individual with our children because he is the president. He needs to earn our trust, and he is not earning mine by putting us on the road to socialism.
On the road to socialism? By giving a speech challenging kids to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning? Luckily, there are a few level heads over at FRC. But here’s my question: What exactly do these socialist-fearing commenters think Obama is going to say in his speech? At best, he may inspire some students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. (I really can’t say that sentence enough. It could have been ripped straight out of the Republican handbook.) At worst, kids will be bored. Either way, I’m not seeing a new world order emerging.
When all’s said and done, I like John Cole’s idea… “If all the wingnuts are pulling their kids out of school because the President is going to speak for fifteen minutes, can we teach evolution the rest of the day?”
h/t Cassandra for the funny!