Education Law

Presidential address or cult recruitment strategy? Just wondering?

BoardBuzz wonders what’s all the hubbub about, bub? President Obama plans to make a back-to-school address directed toward students on Tuesday, with his key message encouraging them to stay in school, to be serious learners and to set goals for themselves. His address will be shown live at Noon Eastern on C-Span and on the White House Web site so that classrooms across the country will be able to tune in. Innocent enough. Well, mayhaps not?

According to an Associated Press story in today’s Washington Post, ?President Obama’s planned address to students has touched off yet another confrontation with Republican critics, who have battered the White House over health care and now accuse the president of foisting a political agenda on children?”As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education - it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality,” said Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Steve Russell. “This is something you’d expect to see in North Korea or in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.”

Schools have no obligation whatsoever to show the speech. But district administrators have been bombarded with calls from parents who are concerned about using school time to listen to the address, and schools across the country have been inundated with phone calls from parents and are struggling to address the controversy that broke out after Education Secretary Arne Duncan sent a letter to principals urging schools to tune in. The White House will release the speech on Monday so that families can read it. But according to the AP, ?Districts in states including Texas, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Virginia and Wisconsin have decided not to show the speech to students.?

Objections to some of the discussion guide questions and assignments are at the heart of the controversy. The AP points out that ?Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students ?write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.?” But they also note that ?The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could ?write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals.??  Okay, let’s not ask children to help the President.  We get it.  But what’s wrong with them writing about their goals?

Hmm. BoardBuzz is wondering when ?stay in school and do your best? became the mantra of Kim Jong-il or Saddam Hussein? And what parent would dispute that staying in school and setting goals is important? Interestingly enough, former Presidents Reagan and Bush addressed students in 1988 and 1991, respectively, and the backlash from opposing sides made barely a ripple.

BoardBuzz also wonders when parents abdicated the right to have discussions with their children about what happened during their their day, their goals and dreams, the world, whatever?to classroom teachers only? What happened to talking at the dinner table, in the car, instead of watching the latest reality television show? Obviously we didn?t get the memo.

In the end, the final decision of who gets to watch President Obama?s address to students will be made by parents, and that?s really who should decide. This situation begs the question: What are we teaching our children about leadership?or listening?when our leaders insist that they only want to hear from people who think just like them? This controversy fills BoardBuzz?and others?with wonder.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).