President Obama is going to give a speech Tuesday that is intended to be shown to students in school. The White House contends that the speech is meant to be inspirational in nature and it's main point / purpose is to encourage students to work hard and to stay in school.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090907/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_school_speech
However, many people feel that this is not appropriate and is nothing more than an attempt to sway chldren's political views at a time when they are very impressionable.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/04/obama.schools/index.html
The actual text of the speech can be found here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/
Your question : Where do you stand on all of this? Is the president within his rights to make such an effort? Are the parents / administrators right in making a big deal out of this, or are they simply being guided by political paranoia? (due by 9/11)
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Obama has every right to make a speech directed at Americas youth. Wether or not the students are allowed to view this speech or not should be up to the students and their parents and/or legal guardians. the whole concept of the speech was in my opinion a waste of time. just because the president tells me to stay in school and to use my talents for the good of america doesn't mean i'm going to do what he says. the whole idea was a waste of effort and the only reason people are getting worked up is because Americans like drama.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the presidant Obama has the right to tell this speech to the children to america in effort of making the education system better. From what I have read from text of the speech, the people parents and administrators did go over bord with the whole thing. They went over board because they thought that is was just a way to sway childrens politcal view. From what I have read though The speech was mostly just about doing your class work and trying hard and not giving up. I belive that Obama has the right to try and fix are education systems problems but at the same time i dont think that this speech is going to effect the out look on school that the students have already.
ReplyDeleteI think President Obama had every right to present this speech. He was just showing how much he cares about the youth of the United States, especially when we have so many bad role models these days. However, I also believe that the students had the right to refuse to attend the speech. Being a teenager, I know that I don't like it when adults tell me what to do, so why would they? But in the end, the speech was just intended to help our educational system.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the president does not have the rights to give this speech. He is the president. He shouldn't be getting involved in things that have absolutely nothing to do with him or the current economic crisis that he should be focusing on. Also, he is a democrat. This means he should give into the people's point of view. I think he might have some good ideas to share with us, but if the people don’t want it, then he, as a democrat, should give into the people's point of view instead.
ReplyDeleteI believe that President Obama has a right to make these speeches. Although people may not agree with him, I believe that what he is saying about staying in school is a good thing. It's something that I'm sure everyone would agree with. On the other hand, topics on the political side should not be viewed in school. The media and school administrators are right to make a big deal out of it. If it's something they don't believe should happen, they'll make their voice heard.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there was no reason for him to make a speech. But I'm not saying that Im agianst Obama and what he is trying to do but I believe that no student or child would really listen to this. For me I know someone who would make more of an influence on me rather then him. For instance I know I would most likely listen to my parents or a teacher more then Obama because I have known them longer and Im more comfortable with them. So I believe that there was no reason for this it was just a waste of time. And for the Teachers and Administrators they do have a right to say something. They should be able to have an opinion on things just as everyone else does.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that President Obama has the right to make the speech. People were making this into a huge ordeal. In the end, the students are the people who are making the decision whether they will listen to what the President has to say. I watched the speech on YouTube and I found nothing wrong with it. It is something that most students have heard before. All President Obama did was stress the importance of staying in school, working hard, and doing our best. Again, we have heard this from other people before. Just because it is coming from the President, whose views we may or may not agree with, shouldn't make us not want to listen at all. People letting their political beliefs stand in the way of listening to a simple speech about the importance of education is insignificant and not worth arguing about.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Obama has not only the right to do this but also, the duty to try and convince students to stay in school. At one point in his speech he says if you give up school you give up on your country. I feel that this is an effective way to add a little pressure on students. I know personally that we teenagers are very lazy and we procrastinate a lot. I don’t understand why parents are making a big deal about this because he is basically promoting something that the parents themselves should already be promoting.
ReplyDeletethe parents and administrators are making way too big of a deal of this. The president shouldnt just be giving just this one speech, but should always strive to keep kids from dropping out. It would be dumb if our president wouldnt try to keep the future of America in school.
ReplyDeleteI think Obama's speech was appropriate. Previous presidents have given speeches like that so President Obama also has the right to do so. He is the president for crying out loud, he can do whatever he wants. The speech had nothing to do with trying to change the students political views and it was blown out of proportion with parents and administrators. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal. It was supposed to inspire kids to stay and school and to tell us we are the future and what we do now will affect what happens later on. I thought he put his point across well and everyone needs to get over it, it's done.
ReplyDeleteI think Obama's speech was alright. His speech wasn't inspirational. The speech was more of an address to students. He told them they needed to do what they were told and try their best at school. I believe Obama did a pretty good job capturing the students attention leading to an effective speech.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Obama has the right to give the speech telling children to intend school but I belive that the children won't listen to him. I know he's just trying to do the right thing and try to help children with their education but if the children who aren't intending or doing well in school aren't listening to their parents who are encoraging them then they're really not going to listen to the President. But for the kids parents who aren't encoraging and telling their children to go to school then maybe his speech was a good idea. I also agree that if a childs parent doesn't want their child to listen to the speech then they shouldn't have to. Either way i dont think its that big of a deal.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that Mr. President Obama has the right to get involved with our eduation. It may not be in his job title but he has to deal with the consequences of the children who do not make it through school. The more kids drop out the more jobs we have to come up with that are for kids with out a GED. Also think about the colleges. The more kids drop out the lower the enrollment size, meaning the less money they are going to have to make up by charging more in their tuition. Now to the parents. They are making way too big of a deal over this. If the teachers show the speech, honestly how many kids do you really think are going to listen. Maybe half of the class, sure they all may pay attention but i can guarentee that most will not remember what he said 5 minutes later, or are day dreaming. I am not going to lie, we teenagers, have a short attention span. We may not have a disease but we can act like it. We may stay focused with something for a good amount of time but after a while we tend to get bored with it. Hence look at the relationships in high school. The average relationship lasts maybe a month or too, its becuase we get bored and we want something new and exciting.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that his speech could go either way with me. I mean our president does have the right to be concerned about the education that his nation possess, considering the fact that he is leading it. But that doesn't mean students are going to listen to him. He has good intentions, but honestly i strongly doubt that students of our nation is really going to listen to him. Teens barely listen to their parents, what makes him think that they'll listen to him? Over all Obama has very good intentions, but he should have someone relay the message.
ReplyDeleteI think it could be very beneficial for students to listen to the words of the president. President O'Bama is one of the biggest role models that children in America have, and I believe their are children that will listen to his speech and learn the importance of education in the world today. When students hear him talk about the importance of education, there will be some that will understand what goes into getting the best education is. I think that President O'Bama can be a very influential president for our country and it is good that he makes time to show children that school is important for their future
ReplyDeleteHonestly, i feel that as our president, and holding such a position in the country, he should make all attempts to encourage and inform our nation's students about school and college. If our country needs encouragement now is the time. I believe that he is doing the right thing by supporting the kids. However, i do feel like the timing is what set off the administrators and others. I will admit he seemed to support students before, but now he suddenly addresses them? But for the most part it is probably to keep them working hard and keep them optimistic. I believe that the uproar of this whole matter is a bit ludicris, but it feel like with the economy now, everything political is.
ReplyDeleteI believe the president has every right to talk to the nations teenagers. It is the challenge weather or not they want to listen to it or the parents want them to listen to it. President Obama has every right to talk to the nations youth.
ReplyDeleteI am a little two sided on this. Not being a huge fan of President Obama, I do believe that this was the right thing to do. Our country is struggling and we as teens and children are the future so we have to decide what we want our generation to be. Being the leader of our country, President Obama was just trying to step in and do something like he should be, to make students a little inspired to get a great education and make the most of it.
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