Generally, I don't like to talk politics. I feel like I'm not a great debater and don't always have enough facts to make intelligent arguments. However, something has come up this week and for some reason, I can't get it out of my head, and in fact, it's now coming out of my fingers.
On Tuesday, President Obama delivered this speech to our nation's youth. There were a lot of people who were very opposed to the President doing this. And yet, I can't figure out why.
Being a leader of youth at church, I definitely see some of the problems that the President addressed. The biggest of which is that they don't want to take responsibility for anything. If they can't learn math, it's the teacher's fault. If they are tired during school, it's because school starts too early. These kids just might have a bad teacher and school might start too early, but there are things that can be done about their problems. They can get a tutor, talk to their parents, get more sleep. But they need to take the initiative to actually do these things. It's tough, but life's tough.
Some people might disagree with a political figure talking to their kids. But why? Remember, he's the President of the United States of America (and remember that President Bush also did this during his tenure). Even after taking an extreme right-leaning eye to the document (and yes, I used only my right-leaning eye to read it; my left-leaning eye stayed closed), I had a hard time finding a problem with anything he said. I don't care if people agree with his politics or not. The man is not spouting health care reform to middle-schoolers. He's telling them to work hard! How is this partisan?
Certainly I'm not saying that just because he's President that people should all agree with what he believes, if they didn't before he was elected. But when it comes to issues where it seems like we should all get along (Drugs are bad! Kids should be educated!), why are we not getting along?
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it was totally crazy to me and ben that people did not want their kids to go to school yesterday so they wouldn't hear the President. WHAT? it makes absolute no sense to me either. none whatsoever.
ReplyDeletejust ask ben's dad about this - he'll go off on the lack-of-common-sense and narrow-mindedness of people. and i agree.
I agree too! Our president's concern about these issues should be a good thing! Plus, if any politial agenda item is brought up in school, I think it is a great opportunity to talk about it with your children at home. Just like the ;ast election when a classmate told my niece (both 3th graders, I think) that she must want salvery to come back since my niece did not want Obama as a president...obviously there was some teaching going on in her home. (Even if she got her parent's message a little mixed up- I hope!)
ReplyDeleteWow- there are a ton of misspelled words in my comment. "salvery" should read "slavery"
ReplyDeleteI don't think parents had concerns over the speech, the speech was fine. It was the 'assignement' attached to the speech that most parents were complaining about. I have a friend in Chicago who emailed me a copy of the assignment sheet that her kids' elementary school would be using and the questions/essays were very left-leaning. And with impressionable elementary-aged kids she felt it was not something she wanted them to participate in. They were able to watch the speech on their own with the kids and have their own discussions, rather than letting the school guide that discussion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the speech did address many relevant aspects of school and I think Obama did a great job trying to relate to the kids. It was a good speech!
Right on. We ran a lot of stories about this, and at first I thought it was only an Arizona thing. I had hoped the narrow-minded was a local problem, but apparently not.
ReplyDeleteAnd your right-eye comment made me laugh.