Obama's education speech - changes

I wanted to make sure you were all aware of few changes regarding Obama's speech on Tuesday in case any of you are planning to watch this.

1) Many private schools are also planning to air the speech. If you have friends whose children attend private school, you may want to make sure they're aware of this so they can ask if their school will show it.

2) According to several of the local schools, students will not be "forced" to listen to the speech, but they WILL have to stay in the classrooms. If you have children in public school (or you're discussing it with your friends) and their school plans to air the speech, you (or your friends) need to ask if the student will be allowed to bring an iPod or other device if you truly don't want them to listen to the speech, but also don't want them to miss school.

3) The speech HAS BEEN MOVED UP AN HOUR, which many parents are not aware of. It is now scheduled for noon (12:00) on Tuesday rather than 1:00 ET.

4) This part is actually good news! Due to all the backlash, the White House plans to release the written version of the speech on Monday. That can be found at www.whitehouse.gov . I'll post it to my website as soon as the link is released. However, people need to realize that it IS a live speech on Tuesday so that doesn't mean he might not vary from the original text.

5) Anyone can watch the speech LIVE on Tuesday at http://www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/ . We plan to watch it and discuss it as part of our homeschool curriculum, but thankfully, our children will actually be able to discuss it from the perspective of disagreeing with the president's comments as well as agreeing with anything that might be positive. Based on the lesson plans, I fear that children who disagree with anything in other school settings will be reprimanded or punished.

The original lesson plans actually encouraged students to read books about OBAMA and discuss OBAMA's policies and plans, etc. It was all about HIM, not urging kids to stay in school. The lesson plans have been toned down a bit, but they still very much make it appear that the students participating are to be servants to the president when in actuality, we are to serve the LORD. The President of the United States is elected to represent the PEOPLE, not the other way around. The lesson plans and the whole speech are now being presented as a way to encourage kids to stay in school, but that was not the way the original lesson plans appeared.

IF that is all Obama does in this speech - encourage kids to read, stay in school, be active in their communities, then that's TERRIFIC!! I don't like the guy, but how wonderful that he would take the time to do that and hopefully kids would listen! BUT, if he even remotely implies that students should talk with their parents about HIM or help push HIS health care plan, etc., then that is completely inappropriate and an abuse of the power given to him as the president who is supposed to listen to the wishes of the people, not the other way around.

Sonya Haskins
www.thehomeschooladvocate.com