O Day

Today the President will speak to the children of the United States and tell them to work hard and stay in school. Some parents mightily object to this and I am so disgusted by them I can't believe it myself!
I was a teacher for 34 years and no President ever told the kids to stay in school and work hard because it was worth it. Only Nancy Reagan and her Just Say No campaign and she was only the First Lady. Plus it was dumb. Tell kids to say no and guess what? They probably will say yes just to spite you.
But I digress. The extreme right has sold a bill of good to a portion of the population that Obama is up to no good. That he is a Socialist and a brainwasher. They say he hates Whites and wants to have a government that interferes in every aspect of our lives.
Well, Obama's mother was white and he was raised by his white grandparents so I find it hard to believe that he hates all Whites. He is called a socialist because he thinks that as a society we should support one another. Oooh, that's scary. Doesn't he know that this is a ME ME ME society and that is all we care about?? Care about others? Are you nuts or even worse, radical??
It's pretty hard to brainwash someone in the 10 or so minutes the President will take to speak to students. I believe it takes some time...like months or years.
Now people are saying that they didn't object to the speech just the lesson plan that went with it. Well, guess what? Teachers could choose not to do the lesson plan! I guess it asked something like what can you do for President Obama and people think that means he is trying to force the allegiance of the children to him. I'm thinking it was trying to make simplify the concept of having allegiance to your country and taking responsibility as a citizen. If it was my classroom that is how the discussion would go. Actually, I taught Kindergarten so it probably would go something like this.
Me: How do you think you could help President Obama?
The Kids: Listen to our moms?.......... Listen to you?............ Pick up litter?............ Learn to read?......... Be an astronaut when I grow up?... How far is it to the moon?.. Can my dog come with? ... My dog is big... I have a cat... My mom said I could never get a dog but I have a fish. Can we get a fish for our room?Let's name him Fred. No, let's name him President Obama. Who's that?
You see, really young kids have their own little thinking process and it's easy to get off track. So, parents, stop worrying. The President means no harm and will do no harm and maybe, just maybe some kids on the street will be able to tell Jay Leno who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.