Today was meant to be a day where school kids were to tune into a speech given strictly for their benefit. President Obama had planned to give a speech to kindergarten through twelfth graders regarding their responsibility for their own education. But a week ago, a fiery debate started. Parents were concerned with the administrations plan to supply a supplementary lesson plan with the speech asking the students to write an essay focusing on what they would personally do to help the President. Parents all across the country believed this was a plan to indoctrinate the students of America. To rectify the situation, the administration withdrew their lesson plan, suggested that students write an essay about their personal education goals, and agreed to release the text of the speech on Labor Day for public review. With all these attempts to pacify the public, school districts still banned showing the speech to students until the speech was reviewed. Some districts even went as far as to increase security settings on teachers' in-class internet so they could not broadcast it via online video or audio.
There are quite a few fundamental issues with this. First, while I do agree that releasing a lesson plan asking the students to write about how they're going to "help the President" does sound a little...agenda-driven, with the release of the text, teachers, parents and school officials clearly would have realized that by "help the President" the administration meant to take control of their education, thus serving their nation - a point President Obama made repeatedly throughout his speech. It's all in the wording. The administration essentially didn't ask anything different the second time around, but somehow it made a difference.
Second, this is incredibly insulting to the OFFICE of the President of the United States. I do not believe the President should be able to say whatever he damn-well pleases to the impressionable youth of America or even to the citizens of the U.S. in general. We live in a country constantly wary of authority and power abuse. However, when the President of the United States wants to encourage your child to do better in school and take control of their future regardless of their circumstances, I have a really hard time understanding that.
On that note, let's talk about censoring the President. Where were all these angry people when President G. W. Bush gave any speech? For eight long years, my poor impressional brain was subjected to his incoherent ramblings about every topic on the planet. His speeches most definitely should have been screened and edited before aired... all for the sake of the public good. In President Obama's case, at the very least, your "impressional" second grader would be exposed to an excellent public speaker addressing issues directly relevant to their life at this moment. Your second grader would be instantly engaged in their country.
Third, the growing bi-partisan canyon in the is country is destroying the institutions we have prided ourselves on for 250 years. Such a blatant sign of disrespect to the President sends the wrong message to kids, teenagers and young adults all across America. I sure hope that my future, hypothetical children will still have dreams of becoming President even after all the respect has withered away and their power resembles that of the Queen of England - a symbolic figurehead.
The speech itself was one of the most inspiring speeches I've ever heard. Obviously its basis on a topic I am very passionate about lends to its positive attributes, but also President Obama successfully related to students on a personal level. His overall message that by taking responsibility for your education, you are also taking responsibility for your civic duty is incredibly empowering for students. It's something tangible that they can do now. They can do better on their test next week. They can study a half an hour longer each night this week. They can map out their educational goals tonight. By these little steps, they are serving their nation while their nation is serving them. It's a call to duty reminiscent of President Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." President Obama is guiding students down the path of what they can do for their country. This is definitely a message every child is entitled to hear. Democrat or Republican.
An excerpt from the speech...
For full text of President Obama's speech... Click Here.
For the news story... Click here.
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