So President Obama is giving a talk to students around the country next week. It is going to be aired in schools, and aimed at motivating students to respect and take responsibility for their own education. But for some reason, some people have a problem with that. In fact, some elected officials want to give people the right to censor the speech.
Rep. John Kline (Minn.), the ranking Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, and House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) urged the early release of the text in a letter to the White House on Wednesday, saying parents and teachers should have ample time to review the president's words before deciding if children should hear them. - The Washington PostNo. Simply no. If the President wants to talk to students, he gets to talk to students. Did anyone ask the parents of those kids in Florida if they wanted a story read to them by George Bush?
For that matter, do parents get a say when Congressmembers and state legislators visit classrooms every year, sometimes handing out campaign materials? No. And they shouldn't. Parents do not have an absolute right to raise their children in any way they please. They cannot, for example, raise them to go around throwing stones at women who don't cover their calves - that's assault. When you choose to send your kids to public schools, you know they're probably going to be exposed to things you don't like. Barack Obama is President of the United States, and the children of America overwhelmingly supported him last year. He has not just a right, but a responsibility to serve as an example for today's kids. He's doing that.
Trying to keep kids from seeing or hearing President Obama speak is not going to make him less of our President, and it's not going to help the kids either.
[Update] Gah.
Loudoun officials sent a note to principals Tuesday advising them to keep their first-day schedules intact. "We have got way too much to do that day," said School Board Chairman Robert F. DuPree Jr. "Loudoun County Public Schools is not going to be interrupting the school day." - The Washington PostI get the argument, the first day of school is important. However, it seems to me that it's probably the most interruptable day of the school year. The kids aren't going to know the day is off kilter, it's the first day.
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Leesburg
6 comments:
As a parent, I think I should have the right to raise my child the way I please. Bush read from a text. Obama will not.
And you do have that right, but it has limits. I think we both can agree it shouldn't be legal to raise our kids to throw stones at women who are showing their calves. Or, for that matter, raised in a house that teaches it's okay to have sex with kids.
Society places limits on parents all the time.
As for the text that President Bush read from, yes, he read from My Pet Goat. I guess I cannot argue that point. If you think My Pet Goat is more educational than a speech or discussion led by our President, I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to argue with you. Our bases are probably too divergent.
You said it, P13!
Only a loon could object to a speech from the President of the United States advocating for hard work and the importance of education.
These are the very things parents should be advocating as well. The "Loudoun Memo" also serves to intimidate teachers who believe the speech should be shown.
Jonathan,
Perhaps home schooling would make more sense for your children.
President Reagan addressed school children and tells them about the importance of cutting taxes. Number of conservatives who are outraged at this scary government brainwashing: zero. George H.W. Bush speaks to children and asks them to write him letters about how they can help him with his job. Number of conservatives outraged at this brazen act of mind control: zero.
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