The New York Times reports that Obama's speech at Wakefield High School "became a lightning rod for conservative parents who accused the White House of trying to indoctrinate their children with a political message." I respond to these parents by respectfully saying you are wrong. The White House attempts to defend its leaders message.
“We’ve reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can’t tell kids to study hard and stay in school,” said Robert Gibbs the White House press secretary, in a Times article. Asked about those who call the speech political indoctrination, he said, “Boy, if staying in school is a political message, somebody should tell the N.B.A.”
I must agree with Gibbs on this one. It seems as though our lovely right wing constituents took Obama's school speech as an opportunity to find yet another reason to complain about the president. I think it is an unwarranted concern of the American parent. It should be considered an honor to hear the President of the United States speak at your high school. Obama not only published his speech early so that it could meet the approval of school administrators, but the speech had no political agenda attached to it. I believe these disgruntled parents saw this speech as an opportunity to protest Obama's policies in other sectors of politics. Leave the high school speech alone; it was a great speech encouraging people to stay in school and work hard. Maybe these parents should have taken Obama's advice; they should have stayed in school.
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I feel bad for Obama. People are just looking for any opportunity to attack him...talk about the worst job in the world. And Gibbs arguably the second worst job in the world having to filter all the stupid.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I wondered whether his speech was in some way connected to the announcement for the new federal program Race to the Top. But like you said, the speech wasn't remotely political...at least, not explicitly. In what I thought was a nice departure from No Child Left Behind, he took the focus away from teachers meeting AYP and conceded that we have some of the best teachers in the world. While having qualified teachers should be prioritized, it also comes down to the kids focusing and giving it their all. And also, the parents--a teacher can be amazing, but if the kid grows up in a bad home environment where education isn't valued, the chance of success is greatly diminished. I'm glad Obama reminded people about this.
ReplyDelete--Taylor
yeah, i agree, the speech itself was actually quite interesting and motivating. (I wish I had the president speak at my high school). In fact, it really seemed to emphasize individual responsibility, which is a frame taken from the page of conservative politics. At the same time, I'm a little bit wary of Obama espousing frames that deviate from his original discussion about an unequal landscape of opportunity. Individual and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive. But how can we talk about social responsbility in a way without being called a socialist?
ReplyDelete-dan (theurbanbriefcase.wordpress.com)