Should I Just Find a New Country?

Dear Americans that do not want Obama talking to their children,

I recently discovered that you are in an uproar over the very idea of President Obama (note, I said president...not Hitler) speaking to your school-aged children. This, in my opinion, is completely ridiculous thing to be up in arms about.

First of all, I want to clarify that President Obama has a very important message for your child, and he is not trying to hide it. He wants to tell them that education is important. That they need to study hard and not complain about learning. To me, these are things children should hear on a daily basis from you. But we all know children sometimes block out such things. So maybe hearing it from someone else will do some good. Especially the President. Remember the days where every kid wanted to grow up to be the President of the United States? It was a high ambition. Perhaps you should be telling them again that it is something to strive for instead of shutting out the very idea of such a man talking to them.

Second of all, have a little faith in the teachers and principals who take care of your children (and their education) on a daily basis. They are not trying to brainwash your kid. If they decide a presidential address is worth spending class time on, then watch them.

You would not have an issue with a child watching a recording of JFK speak about (choose topic at random) in a history class because that's educational. You would trust the teacher to not pick a speech about something inappropriate but instead about something actually important to a well-rounded education. So why do you not trust them to show a speech, meant directly for your children, about the very education that they are there to receive?

Now, I have heard that some people are only upset because they merely want "the option." You want to be able to choose whether or not your child sees this Presidential speech. You don't want to be told "your child must watch this."

In one sense, I appreciate this idea. I don't want the government telling me what to do either. However, I think this is blowing things out of proportion. The government isn't mandating that every child in the country watch this speech or else they'll be hanged. It's simply happening.

Schools, however, are saying children will watch the speech in class. How is this different from a teacher saying a kid must read Romeo and Juliet or must complete x number of science experiments? That's what schools do. They teach and they give students things to do to further their education. Listening to a president speak fits in there, I think.

Of course there are some things that must be regulated. A 13-year-old cannot be forced to watch a rated-R movie for school. They aren't old enough. But this is not a rated-R film. It's a simple message about being the best person you can be.

I don't want to generalize, but I feel many of you are conservatives who for some reason have decided that since Obama is on the opposite side of the political spectrum, everything he has to say is dangerous.

Well, I was on the complete opposite spectrum as Bush, yet, if he wanted to come sit down with my child (even in person) and tell them that education was important, I would welcome it with open arms.

No, I don't want Bush sitting down with my child and talking about gay marriage, but that's not what he asked me to do. He just wants to talk about education. Obama isn't asking to talk to your child about controversial topics. He won't bring up healthcare or the war. He just wants to say "stay in school."

Perhaps if we were brave enough to let our children listen to our President's words directly from his mouth (rather than clips on a biased news program) they'd have a much better understanding of what he believes.