There’s been a lot of talk among the online community about the President’s speech to students next week. Some have called for parents to pull their kids out of school that day in protest, and some think the speech is nothing to get worked up about.
This whole thing seems to have put school districts in an awkward position. Do they broadcast it? Do they limit viewing? How do they handle it?
Well, it seems like the Hilliard School District is managing it in the best way possible.
Good afternoon,
As many of you may already know, President Barack Obama is broadcasting an address to students online next Tuesday, September 8, at noon. The district has attempted to take a neutral position regarding the broadcasting of the address in school by offering students the option of viewing or not.
However, since yesterday we have received significant feedback from our school community regarding the broadcast in our schools. We also have just learned that the address will be available on C-Span for recording, as well as posted on the White House Web site (www.whitehouse.gov) for viewing at any time.
Parents will now be able to access and share the broadcast with their children at their own discretion. The district will not broadcast the President’s address in the schools on Tuesday. We hope this decision will address the concerns of all our parents and prevent the disruption of our students’ school day.
Props to the folks over in Hilliard.
UPDATE: It seems a couple folks got a little excited about this post in the comments.
One of my fave quotes from “MJL”:
“It is a “Stay in School” public service announcement from the person children should look to as the ultimate authority in their country.”
See. That’s the problem right there. The perception that it is the President that should be the “ultimate authority” to a child.
Ri-damn-diculous.
As someone much smarter than me said, “[The President] is not a wise, fatherly influence to guide the youth. He is a public servant with Constitutionally limited duties and he should mind his own business.”
The parent should be the ultimate authority. Period. And the Hilliard School District leaving it up to the parent to decide what their child views is the right way to handle this.
Later in the comment I was told to take off my “tin-foil hat” and “quit drinking the kool-aid”.
First off, I love kool-aid. Especially cherry. So the answer is no on that one.
Second, read my damn post. Not once do I claim the President is trying to indoctrinate anyone. All that despite this bit of information:
As one of the preparatory materials for teachers provided by the Department of Education, students had been asked to, “Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.”
Today, after Republicans accused the White House of trying to indoctrinate school children with liberal propaganda the White House and the Department of Education changed the section to now read, “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short‐term and long‐term education goals.”
“We changed it to clarify the language so the intent is clear,” said White House Spokesman Tommy Vietor…
As Allahpundit so artfully pointed out, “In defense of The One’s critics , this isn’t the first time Team Barry has ‘inartfully’ phrased something in a way that suggests an agenda vastly more ambitious than they claim to have.”
Another critic of the speech said this:
“The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the President, it should be helping us to produce smarter students.”
Oh wait. That wasn’t a critique of this speech. It was Dick Gephardt criticizing Bush. In 1991.
(and yes, if I wasn’t in 9th grade at the time I likely would have opposed that video, too)
At the end of the day, what is so wrong about simply leaving it up the parents to watch it or not? If the President wants to produce a video for children to view, great. But don’t push it down anyone’s throat.
I’m constantly amazed at the venom that comes from the liberal left, despite all the power they wield.
Next thing ya know they’ll be cannibalizing us.
