OK–I just have to get 2 things out.

1–I don’t think that Obama overestimates his influence over school kids; I have no reason to believe that he thinks he has any. This is simply a noble effort. Better than nothing. That sort of thing.

2–Both politics and religion are discussed at schools but any endorsement is inappropriate. A few teachers do cross that line, but they are a minority.

Unions, especially for teachers, are not political. Nearly all teachers belong to a union, no matter their personal beliefs. Unions in our field are our only salvation in an “unfree” market. I realize that teacher unions do make political contributions, but the members are not polled about those endorsements–I would be happy to go without and then maybe my union fees would go down. While I would expect my colleagues to have a fairly equal political divide, we all belong to the union. Unions work for us. Conservatives like to make unions seem political, but those that do generally work in fields that are a free market and pay much better than typical union jobs.

It’s not. He could probably give the exact same speeches (with appropriate attribution, of course) and still get people hot and bothered about it.

Living in a part of the country with a large African American minority (or maybe even a majority), I see that Obama has a huge impact on kids. For the first black president to be telling black kids to stay in school–that’s huge. And I believe it will have an impact, especially since Obama is the primary positive role-model for many of these kids.

bbell and queuno–I don’t want to derail this conversation into one on unions. You are right (as I admitted in comment #2) that teacher unions are political players in that they endorse and contribute to politicians.

What I meant and perhaps said inartfully is that BELONGING to a teacher union is apolitical–members of all political parties are union members (and members of the same unions). Our unions negotiate our contracts. That is a great service to us. Personally, and I am sure many teachers would agree, I would be very happy for my union NOT to endorse or contribute, but I have to support the negotiation work they do for me (it is invaluable).

I thought the same thing, Naomi! I felt uncomfortable with the idea of him speaking to kids in school, then I realized I’d probably feel much less uncomfortable if it were Reagan. On the other hand, no way would I have wanted George Bush to talk to kids when he was pushing the war in Iraq.

I still think he shouldn’t have done it, but I thought it was marvelous of Laura Bush to have the courage to say what she believed.

I don’t have any hard evidence, but I bet here in Utah, being as Republican as it is, a lot of people kept their kids out of school and most of the rest opted out of having their kids watch it.

I’m with Eddie, I doubt in the long run, it made any impact at all, except for the kids whose class the president visited.

My kids got just got home and when asked about the speech they had little to say about it. I am sure it was over their heads except maybe my 4th grader.

Amen, Naomi. I think Laura Bush’s comments were very refreshing.

Annegb, I know some of the people in our ward didn’t let their kids go to school. They decided to watch it at home together. I read the speech and it wasn’t to bad, of course, I started to tune out around the last half of it much like my 9 year old would, but it still didn’t seem like the “All Hail, Obama” thing that people here were making it out to be. Even before I read his speech someone told me he was trying to brain wash the kids. I just kind of rolled my eyes and thought, did you even do any research on it? Or are you just freaking out because it’s the end of the world, we have a black president and Armageddon will soon be upon us? I didn’t listen to much of the hype. Stay in school seems like a good message to me!

Last night, I asked my children about the speech. The 7th-grader was most vocal about it.

“I don’t like Obama.”
“I didn’t know that. Was that before today or starting today?”
“Starting today.”
“Well, what did he say?”
“Work hard, blah, blah, blah, do your homework.”
“Really? People say that Obama is good at making speeches.”
“I guess he saves the good ones for adults.”
“When your grandpa was in first-grade, his class went to hear Roosevelt speak. That was a campaign speech before Roosevelt became president.”
“Now that would have been cool. Roosevelt was a cool, exciting guy. Got teddy bears named after him.”
“It was 1932. Your grandpa went to see Franklin Roosevelt.”
“Oh. That’s too bad.”

This is the first time I have commented on this blog as I am usually a reader only (I really enjoy the dialog). I live in Utah, and this subject has really caused me to stop and think. My child’s school will not show his speech until Friday and is requiring a signed permission slip to view it. In the past, they have had all kinds of presentations and speakers that have not required any type of permission and many times I did not know about them until after. I know that the most of the speech will not be absorbed by elementary school children, but what are we saying when we will not let our country’s President address them? His speech was intended to encourage our children to stay in school and do their best. I am not necessarily pro-President Obama, but he is our President and as such deserves our respect. If the President, who is our highest duly elected official, can’t talk to our children, who should?

TS,

Welcome! We hope that you become a regular commenter.

I agree that it seems silly that all sorts of people get to address schoolchildren without any uproar, but if the President of the USA does so people get upset. Frankly I wouldn’t care if this were a regular thing at the start of each school year, assuming they keep it short. It certainly seems more innocuous than the Pledge of Allegiance, which school kids say each day.

DKL–I love your continued references to “tiny little children.” Does MA not have milk?

bbell–I don’t know about TX, but in every district I have worked for (in 3 states), the Union automatically deducts fees from your salary whether or not you join (although not the entire fee, it has been at least 3/4ths); when joining gives you free flu shots, legal representation should you need it, and a clear conscience since all teachers benefit from the work that the unions do, so we might as well join. Nearly everyone does.

Naomi–don’t worry about pleasing me–I don’t want to add to your burden.

We like to stand out.

(Posting a comment only so that I can see all of the comments. Otherwise, only the first is shown.)