With the President moments from speaking and news shows going wild talking about all of the school districts who won’t show the address – I found it particularly interesting that former First Lady Laura Bush and the chairman of the Florida GOP both support the message to students.
“Former first lady Laura Bush on Monday expressed support for President Barack Obama’s decision to speak to the nation’s school children, saying it is “really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States.”
In an interview with CNN, Mrs. Bush, a former school teacher, said, “There’s a place for the president of the United States to talk to school children and encourage school children” to stay in school. And she said parents and others also need to send that message.”
“It’s a good speech,” Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer said Monday. “It encourages kids to stay in school and the importance of education and I think that’s what a president should do when they’re gonna talk to students across the country.”
I’ve spent much of the weekend being furious both about this and about Van Jones not to mention the Public Option… I was actually shocked that my republican parents were just as mad as I was about this and thought it was obscene that “these people” were throwing a fit about the message to stay in school and work hard.
I don’t mind people disagreeing with the President, hell I don’t mind people disagreeing with me, there is a lot to disagree with, what I mind is people using young people as the token of their own narrow agenda and political ploy.
Young people have a hard enough time as it is. Yesterday I posted two pieces one about the AFLCIO survey on young workers who can’t find a job, the second a piece in the NYTimes that talks about how teens who want jobs can’t find them.
If narrow-minded parents want to stop their children from hearing a speech about working hard, pushing through, achieving goals, and dedicating themselves to education, then it will continue to perpetuate the same attitudes that education isn’t important.
I hope the same narrow minded parents are conveying that message to their children, rather than just pulling them out and letting them go to the arcade for a long lunch.
But then… the other side of me remembers growing up with kids whose parents were like this. And remembering that most of those kids (not all but many of them) were the ones who rebelled the hardest, they slept around more, they did drugs more, and their parents didn’t have a clue. So maybe these parents are ok, because their kids will eventually break away from their parents more and remember this moment. And the kids whose parents don’t care about giving them this message are hearing the message from the most powerful person in the world. They’re the kids who need it most.
They always say you’re either exactly like your parents or you’re exactly the opposite.
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