Follow Up on President's Speech

South Carolinians that objected to President Obama's inspirational speech seem to have underestimated the power of children to tune him out. One young blogger on the Internet reports that out of 200 students, only two listened. For her account, click here.

So much for the government and Obama's plans to indoctrinate young people in his political agenda. I'm not sure now why I want to weep more...because drinking parties are more important than a president who cared enough to take time from his schedule for future voting citizens, or for the two students who wanted to hear and could not. I've emailed my son, who teaches high school, how this went in Arkansas. I'm not terribly hopeful for a better response.

I think the folks who were so worried about our children being adversely affected by the president's speech underestimated the energy/noise level/attention span of most kids!

The front page of the Harald-Journal reports first Lady Bush supported Obama's plans to encourage children to stay in school. Locally, SC state Rep. Harold Mitchell led black leaders to issue a statement critical of the seven school districts who refused to air the broadcast. While one changed its mind, the rest recorded and reviewed the broadcast for teachers to incorporate the broadcast into their lesson plans.

Uh-huh. And SC leads the nation to educational success/standards, too. Right.

Anyway, the statement reads, in part:

We are embarrassed by the decision of the superintendents of the Spartanburg County Schools not to allow our children to participate in this historic event. Many parents are insulted, as are we. This speech is not only appropriate for our children to hear, but is exactly the type of message they need to hear.

In another quote, they state:

Why was this president second-guessed? Why was it assumed that political indoctrination was his goal? By blindly following certain biased mass media outlets, our superintendents have failed our children and have missed an opportunity to teach a valuable civics lesson. A lesson that everyone, even a school child, has responsibilities as a citizen of this country, and that good citizens obey the rules and work hard.

Apparently our local news, Fox News, is to blame for this disaster. Indeed, it seems that the school has reversed its position and is broadcasting the speech today. They are justifying their decision by saying SC started school three weeks ago and teachers needed time to adjust their curriculum. They also say they have recorded previous presidents for playing at a later time.