Kyle Bell

The latest uproar across the country and on cable news is that President Obama will be delivering an address to schoolchildren encouraging them to make good grades, stay in school and do their homework. Seems innocent enough, right? Conservative talk shows and Republican politicians won’t have any of it. They claim that the president of the United States is trying to “indoctrinate” the nation’s youth.

“As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology,” Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer said in a a statement this week. “The idea that schoolchildren across our nation will be forced to watch the president justify his plans … is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.”

Minneosta Governor Tim Pawlenty, a potential Republican presidential candidate and one of John McCain’s final considerations for VP in 2008, had this to say: “At a minimum, it’s disruptive. No. 2, it’s uninvited. And No. 3, if people would like to hear his message they can, on a voluntary basis, go to YouTube or some other source and get it. I don’t think he needs to force it upon the nation’s schoolchildren.”

Of course none of what these Republican politicians are saying is true – as is also the case in the healthcare debate, global warming and so on. No one is forcing students to watch this. Parents have the freedom, if they so choose, to opt out on behalf of their kids. School districts across the country have their own policies, but this is probably the first time I have ever heard of a speech on making good grades as being a bad thing.

Republicans constantly tell us how its not money that schools need more of – we need better parenting, fewer time spent on video games and tv, more time studying. I agree with that, and I think most Americans do as well. President Obama has said that since he became president and throughout the campaign last year. Indeed, he wrote about these challenges extensively in Audacity of Hope. Unlike Republicans I think that we underfund our children’s educations, pay teachers less than they deserve and fail to teach curriculum in areas that will be essential to a 21st century economy.

Back on the topic of the president giving a speech to schoolchildren, though. As I recall, President Bush spoke to schoolchildren quite often. He was sitting in a classroom on 9/11 as the country was under attack. Where was the criticism for George W. Bush, his father and Ronald Reagan when they delivered speeches and “disrupted” the classroom? It seems that Republicans will oppose absolutely everything that President Obama does – even if it is as basic as challenging students to stay in school and reach for their dreams. Saying that the president plans to “indoctrinate” children is nonsense. The crazy train is chugging along and shows no signs of slowing down.