In Columbia, Mo., kids won’t be seeing the speech at all.Ĭass Sunstein latest target for the anti-'czar' bunch.“arents who don’t want their children to see it can opt out. Dallas officials “are leaving the decision to up to individual teachers,” the Houston Chronicle reports.In Colorado's Douglas County 'the decision to show the speech, and to whom, will be 'site-based,' meaning each principal can determine his or her own policy,' reports Westword.

Schools there have been fielding questions from parents who support the address and parents who oppose it many districts had not yet decided whether or not to show the broadcast to students.

In Minnesota, the speech is a prickly issue for educators, reports Minnesota Public Radio.

Some administrators say they are reluctant to interrupt daily lesson plans and won't show the address live, opting instead to provide an online link to the speech.'

In Fort-Worth, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram reports, school administrators are 'scrambling to decide whether to allow students to watch the live broadcast.

Still, recent news reports indicate that the conservative campaign against the speech seems to be having some effect: This is a speech designed to encourage kids to stay in school.” “The goal of the speech and the lesson plans is to challenge students to work hard in school, to not drop out and to meet short-term goals like behaving in class, doing their homework and goals that parents and teachers alike can agree are noble,” spokesman Tommy Vietor told yesterday. Yesterday, a White House spokesman said that there was nothing subversive about the upcoming Obama speech. (Hat tip to MSNBC's First Read and Michael Roberts of Westword.) Bush was criticized by Democrats for conducting a teleconference with students on the topic of math and science. Bush urged kids to donate a dollar to America's Fund for Afghan Children. Of course, Obama is hardly the first president to speak directly to school children. Will Obama be able to resist issuing a call to youth arms to marshal help in passing his legislative agenda? Here's commentator Michelle Malkin writing on her website: Schools have used students as little lobbyists on everything from illegal immigration to gay marriage to anti-war activism, and most recently, ensus collection. But many conservatives claim that Obama is attempting to 'indoctrinate' the nation. The address will be streamed live on the White House's website, and the Department of Education has distributed lesson plans to help stimulate debate in the classroom. According to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the speech will 'call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.' Because we want our children - and all children in this nation - to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.Update: White House says resistance to speech is just plain 'silly.'Īnd the Great School Speech Debate of 2009 roils onwards.Īs we noted yesterday, President Barack Obama is slated to give an address to the nation's school children on Sept. 'And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and to pass them on to the next generation.

'And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them. If Michelle Obama had made this speech before the GOP Convention, would Melania Trump have copied it Here is what the first lady said at the Democratic. CLEVELAND - Melania Trump's speech Monday seemed to go off without a hitch.īut shortly after the opening night of the Republican National Convention concluded, an observer on Twitter noted that a small portion of her remarks was remarkably similar to a passage from first lady Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention eight years earlier in Denver.

Obama copied speech