Comments on: Why Having The President Speak To Students Is A Good Thing (And I Didn’t Even Vote For Him) http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/why-having-the-president-speak-to-students-is-a-good-thing-and-i-didnt-even-vote-for-him/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-having-the-president-speak-to-students-is-a-good-thing-and-i-didnt-even-vote-for-him Grant And His A.D.D. Thoughts... Thu, 29 Jul 2010 20:53:33 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Sometimes It’s Better To Keep Your Mouth Shut To Avoid Looking Stupid | Grant Baldwin's Blog http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/why-having-the-president-speak-to-students-is-a-good-thing-and-i-didnt-even-vote-for-him/comment-page-1/#comment-7335 Sometimes It’s Better To Keep Your Mouth Shut To Avoid Looking Stupid | Grant Baldwin's Blog Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:25:25 +0000 http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/?p=686#comment-7335 [...] 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.      [...] [...] 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.      [...]

]]> By: Stephanie PTY http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/why-having-the-president-speak-to-students-is-a-good-thing-and-i-didnt-even-vote-for-him/comment-page-1/#comment-7322 Stephanie PTY Tue, 08 Sep 2009 17:00:57 +0000 http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/?p=686#comment-7322 <i>"When was the last time a President specifically addressed students? As far as I know…never."</i> 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 “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

]]> By: Amy http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/why-having-the-president-speak-to-students-is-a-good-thing-and-i-didnt-even-vote-for-him/comment-page-1/#comment-7248 Amy Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:08:11 +0000 http://grantbaldwin.com/blog/?p=686#comment-7248 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. 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.

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