As most of you already know, President Obama plans to address students in schools across America next Tuesday, September 8. Naturally, there is plenty of controversy surrounding this move, but personally, I like the idea.
As a youth speaker, I meet with tens of thousands of teenagers each year and I can tell you what most students are thinking about politics, government, and their role in society.
It doesn’t apply to them. Why should they care? Their vote doesn’t matter. The list goes on and on.
When was the last time a President specifically addressed students? As far as I know…never. Despite what your political views of Obama may be, I think we’d all agree that part of sending students is to school is for education but part of it is preparing them to become contributing citizens to society.
He’s not going on TV asking for teenagers to vote for him in another three years for re-election. He’s not trying to sway them to a particular political persuasion. He’s trying to help students connect with the bigger picture of being involved in this country.
Truth be told, I think the parents are more upset by this than students are. This generation of students is passionate and they’re looking for something to rally behind. A student’s involvement in their country, in their community, and in their school is one of the best things that could come from this.
I would challenge students and parents to do the same thing. Have an open mind. Allow this moment to encourage thought, debate, discussion, and healthy conversation. None of these things will happen if either parents or students approach it with their mind made up.
Oh and in case you think I’m some Obama-maniac…I actually voted for the other guy. But I still think having the President speak to our students is a good thing.
What do you think about President Obama speaking to schools/students?
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2 Comments
In all honesty, I didn’t even know about this until my daughter came home with a letter from the school outlining the reasons they were allowing the children to view the speech. I would be of the same mindset as you, if this were more of a public speech geared toward the students, but it will only be aired on C-span and online. Some parents do not have cable or internet so some parents will not be able to view the speech until some time after the fact. It just seems like he is bypassing the parents and adults and going straight to the young and impressionable. You are right. This is a good thing if his speech is solely going to be to encourage the kids to stay in school and try hard to achieve their goals. However, things have surfaced that he had planned on giving the kids “assignments” to write themselves letters and to spend time thinking about how they can better help President Obama. After realizing how completely ODD this sounds, they changed it to having kids write letters to themselves on how they can achieve their goals. Personally, I will not keep my daughter from seeing it, even though Ozark schools will only be showing it to 3rd grade and up. I just want to be able to see it too… and I really wish he would have made this speech in the evening, so that parents could sit in the living room with their kids and discuss things. It is all really strange how it is happening. I will concede that some people are over-reacting. However, I think some concern is understandable. I look forward to hearing the message myself, because I do have C-span. I will be watching.
“When was the last time a President specifically addressed students? As far as I know…never.”
George H.W. Bush gave an address to schools nationwide in 1991, and Ronald Reagan did a question-and-answer session with high schools students in the White House in 1986, which was broadcast nationally. As far as I can tell from the excerpts, both centered around the same issue as Obama’s speech: stay in school. (Although Bush and Reagan both seem to have also focused on “don’t do drugs,” as well.)
If anyone is interested, here are the two transscripts:
George H.W. Bush: http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/public_papers.php?id=3450&year=1991&month=10
Ronald Reagan: http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/51386d.htm
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[...] Obama speaking to students has drawn controversy. As I stated in an earlier blog post, I think the President addressing students is a good thing. However, there are plenty out there that would disagree with that assessment. [...]