Obama's School Address

By now we have all heard about President Obama's upcoming address to the nation's students. Many conservatives are in an uproar about this, calling it "indoctrination" and various other insinuations of Marxism and all-things-left. Let's pause for a moment and think about this. First of all, those who are keeping their children home from school on Tuesday and creating such an uproar over this address are making some assumptions. They assume that President Obama is going to deliver a "government-is-great/don't-think-for-yourselves/worship me" message. These assumptions aren't entirely baseless given President Obama's track record, but they are assumptions, nontheless.

The fact is that we do not know what, exactly, will be the content of his speech. We can garner some of it based on the classroom activities listed on the Dept. of Education website. There is one set for grades pre-K through 6 and one for grades 7-12. One of the discussion questions for the 7-12 group mentions that "we heard President Obama mention the importance of personal responsibility." What is wrong with Obama talking about personal responsibility? If we had a conservative in the White House giving an address to students would people be as outraged? Would they hold a conservative president to the same set of standards? What if his speech went something like this:

"Students of America, I am calling on you to work hard in school and learn everything you can. Think for yourselves and do not rely on the government for your well being. You alone are responsible for yourself and your own well being. You are responsible for taking charge of your own life, making responsible decisions and providing for yourself and your family. The government will not do any of these things for you. Stay in school. Do not engage in risky behavior such as partaking in drugs and alcohol. Study hard. Earn your way into college and become the most productive, most responsible, most self-sufficient American citizen that you can be."

No, it's probably not what he's going to say, but we do know that he is going to mention personal responsibility. However, what if he did say it? Would people be as outraged as they are now? Would they give him credit for making a speech that is in line with what they believe? Or would they denounce it simply because it came from the mouth of Barack Obama?

The truth is that there really isn't anything wrong with the president addressing the nation's students. In the end there may be plenty of fault with the content of his message, but there is no reason to boycott the speech and/or be outraged over the concept of the address. Many of these students respect the president for no other reason than the position he holds. They're young, and they don't know politics. They only know that you're supposed to respect the president. Many of them are minorities who will be watching the nation's first black president address them directly. If the president tells these kids to stay in school and practice personal responsibility, what's so bad about that?

We don't need to boycott Obama's address next week. What we need to do is be vigilant. Watch the address. We'll be able to watch it live here. Watch what the president says to the kids, and ask yourself if you would agree with the message if it were someone else giving the speech. We are right to be skeptical of the address. President Obama could very well come out next Tuesday and ask students to kneel at the altar of the government. If he does, let the outrage begin! However, until then let's calm down a bit, listen to what he has to say and continue our vigilance.