There is an increased amount of hostility from conservative and right winged parents about President Obama's planned speech for next Tuesday. The President's speech is geared to stress the importance of learning and help student's take responsibility for their own education. However, according to republican, Jim Greer, this speech is nothing more than a chance for the President to "spread his socialist ideology." Greer goes onto say that "the idea that schoolchildren across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans ... is not only infuriating but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power."
-I'm sorry. I just don't see how encouraging students to measure the value of education, to take personal responsibility for their scholarly duties and their duties as Americans is a socialist ideology. Am I missing something?
Here are some links to inform you:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/obama.schools/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/us/04school.html
http://news.aol.com/article/obama-school-speech-controversy/655701
I am still scratching my head about this. But not too hard because it seems pretty clear that there are a lot of people in this country who don't feel like Obama is deserving of the kind of respect that's been given to other presidents.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that a speech encouraging education as an important American value is clubbed down while policies that deliver insidious and very damaging (in my opinion) ideas are embraced, not questioned, encouraged and supported. When policies, for example, allow children of wealthy parents to attend beautiful, safe, well funded, well staffed schools while the children of the poor attend run down, ill equipped, poorly staffed and inadequately maintained schools - a situation that not only reproduces and entrenches, but also WIDENS the class divide in this country - they send a very clear message: if you're poor, you're just not worth the time and trouble. You have to work 100 times harder to gain access to "the good life", and you are 100 times less likely to have the tools in place to get there. Good luck, and remember -- anyone can be President!
Thanks!
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