Local principals and teachers throughout the Washington area will have the choice of whether to show President Obama’s controversial back-to-school speech to the nation’s students Tuesday.
That includes Loudoun County, which reversed its original decision not to show the speech, which Obama will give from Wakefield High School in Arlington. Instead, students will be given the choice to view the president’s address.
The address, to be streamed live at noon on whitehouse.gov/live and aired on C-SPAN, has generated a firestorm of controversy, with some parents and pundits accusing the president of trying to indoctrinate children with political propaganda.
“It is unfortunate that we live in a time when a speech that I believe will serve a good purpose evokes such strong, accusatory responses from those who support and don’t support the showing of the president’s speech, but that extreme reaction may reflect more the political times in which we live than the importance of encouraging our students, by every means possible, to do their best in school,” Loudoun Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick wrote in a letter to parents dated Sunday.
Officials in Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince William counties, as well as the District of Columbia, have left discretion on how to approach the speech to principals and schools. In Montgomery County, for example, a teacher can use the speech in his or her lesson plan “if it’s been OKed by the principal,” spokesman Chris Cram said.
Prince George’s County schools said Internet and cable access to the speech would be given to social studies and government classes, and that principals and teachers would decide whether to show the speech.
Many school districts across the nation opted not to show the speech, although the hysteria was quelled somewhat after the White House released a transcript of the president’s prepared remarks Monday. Obama does not discuss political issues such as health care in them, as some had feared.
Former first lady Laura Bush, who helped promote educational issues while in the White House, defended the president’s speech Monday.
In the address, the president will stress the importance of hard work and will encourage students to take responsibility for their education.
“We can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents and the best schools in the world — and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities,” he says in the prepared remarks. “Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.”
Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush gave speeches to the nation’s children during their time in office. Both encouraged kids to say no to drugs.
