Who Ever Yells The Loudest Gets Their Way

I have been more discouraged this week than ever. In my 19 years as an educator I have never come upon so much controversy as this one little speech is making. President Obama wants to tell our children to work hard, stay in school. He wants to stand in front of them and tell them how important school is and that they should make goals for themselves. FOR SHAME!

I, for one, am thrilled that students will be hearing a positive message from someone other than a sports star or celebrity. If you ask students today who their hero is, 9 out of 10 will say someone famous, or worse yet, not know what a hero is. This is a definite problem we have in today's society, which is why character education programs are running rampant in schools.

I'm sure this speech was not meant to cause such controversy. If President Obama and his staff could have predicted the fiasco it has turned into, I wonder if they would have planned it. Even so, this speech has caused controversy, and now it is up to schools to decide how to deal with it.

It is our job to teach children how to debate. It is our job to introduce various viewpoints and allow children to explore the pros and cons of any controversial issue. I'm sure President Obama is an intelligent person (even his opponents must admit this). He will not make this into a policy forum. He will not mention such things as his way to reform health care. But, let's examine if this worst case scenario would happen to come true........

Shouldn't children be exposed to the problems that are happening in our nation? Should they be able to think about the causes and effects of various issues? I, for one, want my child to think about both sides of an issue. Don't you?

In my school district I have been disappointed in the reaction. I have been called by parents who do not want their child to hear the speech. When asked about it, they do not even know what it is about. I have been asked if the government was having me keep a list of all children that do not participate - asked if I was going to forward such a list to the government. Around the country school districts are succumbing to those who are yelling the loudest, instead of thinking about what is best for children.

To me, I am having flash backs of the past: burning books, and censorship. This reminds me of one of my favorite films Footloose (yes, now you can date me) when the students couldn't have a dance. Ren McCormick didn't stand for that and we educators shouldn't stand for it either! It is our responsibility to respect the wishes of a family but for schools to not allow for any student? That is a crime! Maybe that list should be sent to Washington.