They say bad things always happen in 3's, so I guess the turn of events over the past week shouldn't be so shocking! First, we had the protest of President Obama's Back to School speech to America's students. That brouhaha was followed by Joe Wilson calling the President a liar during the President's nationally televised address about healthcare reform. And for the coup de grace, Serena Williams had an extinction-level meltdown at the US Open that cost her match-point, $10,000 in fines (which could go higher), and a level of scrutiny that she doesn't need in her life. Oh, and I think Kanye West deserves to be on the list (even though he makes it 4 bad things, but it's my blog and I can do what I want!) for interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards and asserting that Beyonce's video was better.

Admittedly, I already tackled the Obama Back to School speech, so I will say nothing more about that at this juncture. Except that I was right. The speech was benign, insightful and timely. Any parent, teacher or politician who objected to the speech should be ashamed of themselves. Any school system administrator that caved to the pressure of phone calls from any of the aforementioned people and opted not to show the video doesn't deserve the trust parents put in them to put the needs of students first. Yes, I am saying they should lose their jobs. So worried were these school officials about the empty threats made by narrow-minded parents, teachers and politicians that they chose not to show the twenty minute pep talk and issued lame excuses like:

I find it very interesting that people are so up in arms about Obama's plan to speak to school children. I've wasted a lot of time reading through the blogs and comments about it, and I am still left confused. What the hell are people so afraid of?
In my readings (of blogs and responses to blogs) I have narrowed down all the posturing and bellyaching about the speech into three main reasons why some don't want their children exposed to President Obama's message. (Yes, exposed. Like we're talking about H1N1 or Jim Jones teachings or something!)

It's not the message ... I just don't think class time should be used for it.
WHAT-EVER! Let's examine two scenarios, shall we?
1. For many children in the nation, Tuesday, September 8th is the first day of school. I don't know how many of you remember the first day of school, but as a parent and former teacher, I can say that there is nothing going on that day. If your child is in elementary school, the majority of the day is spent explaining what supplies will be needed (even though you got the list in a mailer over the summer), discussing how great the school year is going to be, issuing books (if there are enough of them), doing cutesy bullshit getting-to-know-you activities, filling out information cards, figuring out bus schedules, praying that lunch is on time, hoping that recess is near, and exhaling when the final bells rings.
If your child is in middle school or high school, multiply all of those activities by the number of classes your child has (between 4 and 6), add in transition time--including those who will get lost walking across the hall, the issuing of lockers, going over syllabi, and the hassle of having explaining to kids that "even though we know your schedule is wrong, the counseling office is swamped with new registrants, and you'll need to tough this out for a few days until they can get to you. Okay, hon?"
My guess is, a twenty minute break from all that fun isn't going to kill anyone! It's not going to cause little Johnny not to graduate or fail his End Of Course Test. Parents, you're gonna have to dig deeper for a way to pretend that you're not a racist, right wing, nut job who is still so bitter that your candidate didn't win that you will start and perpetuate fear that this black man is going look your kids in the eyes and say STAY IN SCHOOL!
2. For the rest of the nation, school started 1-3 weeks ago. This means that all the first week kinks have been worked out, your kids have begun to receive and fail to turn in homework assignments. Likely, they have a test coming up. All of the underachieving and non-achieving class clowns have been identified and are constantly terrorizing your child's classroom. Whatever assignment your child was given to work on over the long weekend wasn't completed because your family had big plans to go to "the lake," and "how dare that scumbag teacher of yours give you homework? Just because she doesn't have a life doesn't mean that she can ruin yours!" Your student's teacher will waste twenty minutes (at least) attending to those issues--the classroom terrorists and the snotty I-don't-have-my-homework-so-what-are-you-gonna-do-about-it--and she'll be needing a cigarette or stiff drink by the time she's done. President Obama's speech will likely keep her from doing bodily harm to herself or your kids. He'll provide a little bit of backup to things she's been telling them and possibly have a better rest of the day. See parents, you would know these things about your children's classrooms if you'd ever set foot in one, but you haven't. And you have the audacity to call up "inappropriate use of class time" as a reason why your kids shouldn't be made to listen to the president. Cut the shit, would you? You don't want them to hear the President--of the country you say you love--tell them to work hard in school and take responsibility for their learning because he might not look like you or believe everything you claim you believe. And because you're too lazy to speak with your kids about the speech when they get home or before they go to school (or better yet, attend class with your kids and be there to answer questions and see how it's handled), you'll stand on your soapboxes spreading fear and paranoia that he is going to ... what? Make your kids believe that education is good? Show your kids that they cannot be absent from a conversation about the direction education is heading because they are the ones in school? The nerve!

It's not the address I'm concerned about ... it's the discussion materials.
Are you serious? I mean, really? Let me just say that I had a chance to look at the discussion materials. Again, as a parent (and former teacher) it's my duty to preview materials that will be disseminated to my child. I went to the website and downloaded the both the Pre-K-6 and 7-12 versions of the discussion materials when I heard that there was questionable content. I had read on CNN that what caused all the controversy in the beginning was a question that asked students to ponder "what they could do to help the President." Hmmm... What ever could they mean by that? Are they asking kids from 5-17 to run away from home and join the President in a March on Education? Protest and boycott their school systems until school gets better? Oh, I know. Run home and tell your parents that Obama is good and they are bad. COME ON! If the speech is about education doesn't it make sense to any cogent being that the task was for students to exhibit some metacognition about their educations? It did to me, but to the nut-jobs and closet racists, not so much. Obviously.
The White House took out the line in an attempt to placate the angry masses. It only stands to reason these Beck-loving zombies, who feel that if they yell loud enough eventually everyone will agree with them (and if that doesn't work, start a fight), would still disapprove. In their eyes, that was a glimpse into what the President was really after. More support. But wait ... these kids are mostly not of voting age. And let's not forget that, sadly, many of these kids are going to stare blankly at the screen while the President speaks anyway, and they will have no recollection of anything he said five minutes after the speech is over. Now, if he turned his speech over to Eminem or the Black Eyed Peas (can't you just picture Fergie gyrating to a stay in school message!) your kids would hang on every word. And, actually, that would be something for you to get up in arms about. But you wouldn't.
The new and improved discussion materials actually encourages students to think about what they would say to the nation about schools, game plan and goal set for their own educations, and share those goals with their classmates. Gasp! It's so subversive I can't stand it!

The Federal Government does not belong in the classroom/ I don't want my kids' teachers talking to my kids about politics... (my personal fave!)
Heaven forbid the Federal Government invade the classrooms they built! Newsflash, right and tighters, the last President you liked created this little program called No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and funded it (LOL!). If your district operates using NCLB money, and it does, then that classroom is the Federal Government's bitch. Really. If the President wants to address your child, he can mandate it under threat of taking away funding. That's why you still have End Of Course Tests and Graduation Tests and all the other federally mandated tests that you know in your heart measures not one ounce of your child's potential to learn. The Federal Government's oversight is pretty much in your face when it comes to education, and you've allowed it to happen all this time ... until now. Because, again the Federal Government has a new face, and--if you're being honest--you just don't like it! It doesn't have anything to do with his agenda. You know he doesn't have one. He's guilty of trying to please all of the people all of the time, which means trying to appease idiots who would rather keep their kids home from school for an entire day (because won't be talking about this every day for at least the next month) than allow them to have twenty minutes of their lives be seized by the leader of the free world who only wants to tell them to stay in school and learn something.
And the comment about the teachers espousing their politics to your children...that is laughable. Do you honestly think that teachers have time to talk politics to your kids? With all the pressure they're under to make sure that your kids can graduate with minimal effort and output, you believe that they have the time or inclination to to recruit your kids to the Young Dems or Young Repubs? Is it really talking politics to say to a kid that "our President is speaking to you about your education and you should listen?" Really?

I have to say that this issue highlights one of the reasons that I pulled my kids out of public school. Not because I don't want them exposed to the President but because I don't want them exposed to the kids who will come to school spewing the same ridiculous assertions as their dumb-ass parents. Kids who learn by example to cling to antiquated ideals and use fear as a means of intimidation to win people over to their way of thinking instead of making a valid argument. Kids whose parents never learned that people can disagree and still be unified in purpose. Kids whose parents will follow a pastor of a church (a man of God) who outwardly and publicly prays for the untimely demise of his President and calls it patriotism. Kids who will grow to be ruled not by their Id, but by their Ig(norance). To the individuals who feel so strongly that the President should not address students on the state of education: please, keep your kids at home ... forever. Don't let them come back into public schools and infect everybody else with your ignorance.