Granted, I refused to cancel a college French class -- for which a test had long been scheduled --just because President Reagan was visiting the campus. Most everyone managed to both take the test and see The Great Communicator.
I even managed to wave at the man as they whisked him away.
Not the same thing, though, as the stupidity being displayed by the 'concerned parents' referenced below. These people fear mass contagion through the medium of Televised Obama.
NPR interviewed a woman who expected the President's address to school kids to be a danger on the subliminal level. You know, like the messages at movie theatres that have everyone lined up in the lobby to buy popcorn.
That's only the case if you play the recorded message backwards...
The mind! It is boggled!
Some Parents Oppose Obama Speech to Students
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. and SAM DILLON
Published: September 3, 2009, New York Times
HOUSTON — President Obama’s plan to deliver a speech to public school students on Tuesday has set off a revolt among conservative parents, who have accused the president of trying to indoctrinate their children with socialist ideas and are asking school officials to excuse the children from listening.
The uproar over the speech, in which Mr. Obama intends to urge students to work hard and stay in school, has been particularly acute in Texas, where several major school districts, under pressure from parents, have laid plans to let children opt out of lending the president an ear.
Some parents said they were concerned because the speech had not been screened for political content. Nor, they said, had it been reviewed by the State Board of Education and local school boards, which, under state law, must approve the curriculum.
“The thing that concerned me most about it was it seemed like a direct channel from the president of the United States into the classroom, to my child,” said Brett Curtiss, an engineer from Pearland, Tex., who said he would keep his three children home.
“I don’t want our schools turned over to some socialist movement.”
The White House has said the speech will emphasize the importance of education and hard work in school, both to the individual and to the nation. The message is not partisan, nor compulsory, officials said.
