Dementia for 2

Next week President Obama will be addressing school children from Pre-K thru grade 12. While this is not a mandatory thing for students to watch, it is being strongly encouraged that they do so.

In the county in which I reside, the schools are allowing students to "opt out" of viewing the video. In some areas of the US, parents are being encouraged to keep their children home.

Al Gore spoke to students about "going green" because he felt they were more in tune than their parents. No one really raised a ruckus about this. Personally, I find it quite insulting to my intelligence but I digress.

If Bush had decided to address students in this manner, I somehow think the Democratic Party would have accused him of trying to push his agenda on America's youth.

My own personal feelings aside, the Department of Education has written lesson plans aimed at Pre-K 6th grade and 7th grade thru 12th grade to go along with this speech. Do they think teachers are that inept? They have already had to rephrase one of the questions because of its wording.

Supposedly, Mr. Obama will be emphasizing the importance of staying in school, behaving in class, doing their homework, etc. Now this sounds great. The prez talking about staying in school and all that jazz. But when you factor in all that the government has taken away from parents in the child rearing arena already, it should make you stop and think. I think civic responsibility is a good thing. So is community service and respect for our elected officials. However, when this is propagated by the government and presented as an orchestrated event such as this, I do have problems with it. These are things that should be taught by parents to their children. The government should not be placing its nose here. They are in our private business enough already.

There seems to be outrage all over the country over this. Teachers, parents, and Obama's minions all seem to be mad at each other. Personally, this is just one more reason for me to be glad that my kids are out of school.