Obama will address public school children Sept 8

So this is all over the internet!

My thoughts:

While there is the argument there is nothing wrong with the President "trying to inspire kids to get a good education." The Presidents speech will be "... two sets of plans, one for preK-grade 6 and the other for grades 7-12, written with some unfortunate educational gobbledygook... and some sloppy language." I am not sure how "gobbledygook" and "sloppy language" is inspiring. I consider it a poor example.

There is the argument that if it were a Republican doing the same thing, we would be nicer and say it was a good thing to help the President... I highly doubt that. Most of the people I know who are against this are not against children helping the President, but against the President's IDEALS. Democrat, Republican or monkey, if they stood for what Obama stands for, I would keep my kid out of school on the 8th. (Thankfully we homeschool, so I do not have to worry about it.)

If the President TRULY cared about education, then he would support homeschooling as an option. It is funny that everything he is encouraging public school kids to do, my children (as most homeschooled children) already do (or will do as they get older).

And why is he addressing CHILDREN? Especially in public school?!? They have no control to "take responsibility for their learning." (although mine do as homeschoolers - they are self directed and motivated learners, and I am learning from them all the time). How can a public school child say "I want to learn about aerodynamics" and the teacher fit it into her government led lesson plans? I have my degree in education - I know - the student has little to no say. He can choose to do a paper on something, and learn on their own, outside of the public school. That is about it. School is NOT like how you and I remember it.

But again, why is Obama addressing the children, who have no control? Should he not be addressing the principals, the teachers, the parents. People who are INVOLVED in the lives of the children and can actually help IMPLEMENT plans to encourage education. Go even further - have him address the sports stars and movie actors - people who are role models in the lives of these children. So they will see someone they look up to and admire showing the importance of education. While the President does have a very high status, again, Republican or Democrat, he is a very intangible thing to children.

It will be interesting to see what the President means by helping the President. And again, why are the children to be held to what they say they will do? My daughter wants to be a geologist, vet, mother and astronaut. Even in 10th grade, I was not sure what I wanted to be when I grew up. I thought I would be a police officer or an actress. Teaching had not even been an option. Children do not know what they want NOR do I think they understand the importance of the words they will be writing. I cannot imagine trying to hold my daughter to be all she wants to be right now. Nor could I imagine how miserable my life would be if I had been forced to be a police officer (like I wrote a paper on in high school - researching the pay and the job description and saying THIS is what I want to do).

Now don't go reading what I'm not saying. I am not saying that children will be FORCED to do what they say, but what exactly IS meant by holding them accountable? That is left to be seen.

I already believe that the President should NOT have the power to do this. Republican, Democrat or monkey, for someone to be speaking to my children without my permission and without me there is unacceptable. But then again, that is why we homeschool instead of sending our children away to a public school.

It is funny that the argument coming from non-homeschoolers is that Obama is trying to indoctrinate the children. That is what the public school does - whether anyone wants to believe it or not. When you send your child to a vehemently anti-Christian place for so many hours a day/per week/per year. They are getting more indoctrination in them from that than from you or from church. And people wonder why children are leaving the church. A public school child is 75-85% more likely to leave the faith when they goto college than a homeschooled child who is only 15-20% likely to leave the faith. You cannot over power the lessons learned for hours upon hours in the public school with the 2 hours the average person goes to church and the 15 minutes average a day a parent spends with their child.

OK, I just needed a place to vent and get these thoughts out. Feel free to comment. Feel free to disagree. Just please, be civil about it. :)