Obama Drama

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Today President Obama spoke to America's children. The theme of the speech was "My Education, My Future." I read the text of speech here before the live broadcast. I didn't have a problem with the overall message.

As I watched the speech today, I didn't hear anything new. It was the same speech my dad drilled into me on a daily basis. Work hard, education is important, you can't go far in life without an education, try your best, ask for help, be confident, believe in yourself.

My dad came from a large family. He dropped out of school in the 8th grade and started working to support his family. He always regretted not receiving his High School diploma.

The anger and outrage at President Obama and The White House is misdirected in my opinion. It's not just about the speech. Conservative's are pissed at the Administration's determination to overhaul our health care system. If it's not the health care debate, it's something else. There will always be something else.

It's the price you pay for being a Liberal in a Conservative Country. It's the price you pay for being the first African-American President in a country where racism is very much alive! We live in a country where we have freedom of speech. We can agree to disagree. You can be mad as hell that we have a Black man as President, and/or disagree with his policies, opinions and views. I'm thankful we have these rights.

My concern with parents that pulled their children out of class during the speech is that it's disrespectful to the leader of our country. Teach your children to be open minded, research both sides of the story and come to their own conclusion.

Our county school system did not air the speech. I wasn't shocked. I was prepared to play the video and watch with my kids tonight and discuss. My son, who is in 6th grade said he already saw it. One of his teacher's played it in the classroom. I'm disturbed by what he said:

- Some of the kids put their heads down at their desks
- Some of the kids spent that hour reading or drawing
- Some of the kids said it was boring

I asked my son what he learned. After some prodding, I discovered he did pay attention. The overall message was received. Do your best in school. Education is important. Make good choices and when you don't understand, ask questions. Guess what right wing conservatives? My son wasn't brainwashed and he did not become a Socialist.

chantelligence.com

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3 Responses to “Obama Drama”
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I agree with you 100%. There was nothing bad about the speech whatsoever. His message was plain and simple: work hard, stay in school. I'm a Brit living in Canada and I must admit it makes me sad to see people in the States pulling their kids out of school so that they wouldn't see the presidential address. Insane. Thank goodness for freedom of speech, as you say. Great blog.

I am completely amazed that people freaked out over the President of the US wanting to tell people to be cool, stay in school. HELLO? Yeah, I agree with you 100%!

Excellent post! I knew the Z-man would "get it." because he is bright like that. What I don't get is why so many adults are outraged. They had nothing to say when former Pres. Bush went to a school of kids to TRY to read them a book. You are right, there will always be something and an implicit level of constant scrutiny.

If the schools did not air the segment and some parents pulled their kids out of school, I wonder if Pres. Obama will be added to text books to show the history of government, presidents, leaders, civil rights, politics etc. Or, will they only put in one sentence to reference his years as President/First African-American President and move on with chapters and chapters on every other good non African-American. Do you think at that point parents would request improved textbooks or pull their kids out of school period because Obama was added?

When will we learn? I say we tell our kids to dig deeper than the surface and learn to do their own research when it comes to education. Take that to the bank!

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