Here's my two cents--the president should not be sending a video into the schools addressing our children--regardless of his message--for several reasons:
#1 Children are not eligible to participate in government until they reach the age of 18. Because they are not voters, any messages addressed to them should go through their parents or legal guardians. This is particularly important because we have a bi-partisan system of government. If our president wants to encourage school kids, why not do it by airing a message in the evening when families can watch it together?
#2 I have heard that this message is not political and is simply a positive message about studying hard with some follow up questions like, "what does the president want me to do?" OK so let's assume this video is harmless--what about the next one? It sets a bad precedent and encourages parents to let down their guard as they may be inclined to say, "the last one was okay--I'm sure this one is." In my opinion, this is a scary and dangerous situation. (Assume that the person addressing your children at school without you present is telling them things you don't agree with. And you don't know about it because there was no parental permission required to see the video.)
#3 Of course, part of the reason I have a problem with this school video is that it's coming from a president who has a voting record that supports the killing of children. I find it ironic that he should now address a caring message to children. However, putting that aside, I would not support a video made by Bush encouraging hard work and prayer for our troops being shown in the schools. While it is appropriate for children to learn about how government works, it is not appropriate for government officials to shape their thoughts--even thoughts as innocuous as "you should study hard". That is a parent's job. Parents are the primary educators of their children. It is up to us to use our talents, work hard and offer it all to the Lord. Our children will follow our example which is all part of God's plan.
As a final note, Chris and I discussed this at length before we knew what the diocese would decide and planned to take Madeleine out of school for the day if her school showed the video*. As it turned out, we didn't have to do that. It doesn't make me feel better about the whole thing though because millions of other kids will see it. And their parents, unless they go the extra mile to watch it, won't know what they've heard.
Big government(super nanny)--1 Parents--0
And that's all I have to say about that.
*I further explained this decision in the comment section.
You missed a great discussion on my wall as I voted that Obama should not speak to kids without parental consent. A fellow Catholic 'sista' chimed in with what I now consider a VERY valid point. Being reactionary is not what we should be doing as parents. Instead, we can control the message by watching it and discussing it with our children. At A's school it was a non-issue because it happened during lunch and advisory periods. But rest assured any person who took their children out of school and did *not* talk about the speech sets themselves up for failure on the basis that the next days their peers and teachers *will* be talking about it. So...that said, better to watch and discuss with the kids later about any objections. It ends up making us more proactive and give the kids the opportunity to become critical thinkers.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I totally agree with all your other points. But too bad we don't live in a society that really encourages parents to be the primary educator. :(
Sorry, I meant to say that A didn't watch it because it was during lunch and advisory periods.
ReplyDeleteI also objected to the speech on the grounds of how it was handled and the lack of putting people's minds at ease by releasing the transcripts prior to a holiday weekend. Other presidents have given speeches to schools and have made their speeches public for parents to look over. This was not the case this time and I thought it demonstrated how BO is willing to go the lengths of causing such a ruckus, hearing the loud objections of the "far right" and then blaming them for their reaction.
Just to clarify--we were going to take Madeleine out of school because we believe that bypassing parents and speaking directly to children through the schools is an abuse of the president's power. We will not participate in that so your friend's suggestion to go in and watch it with the children is not a possibility for us. We will actually be watching the video with some of the girls. Had the president released a message in the context of the family living room, we would not have had a problem with it--unless the message was bad. In this case, the problem is the context, the secrecy etc. rather than the message.
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