Stay Out of School So You're Not Told to Stay in School

So one of the big stories going on this week aside from healthcare insurance reform is the president's planned speech to school kids across the nation. The right is up in arms over it, claiming that it's the president infusing his communistic doctrine directly into our delicate flower children's ears! Shortly after our kids hear this speech, Jewish people and homosexuals will begin being herded into death camps and Der Furer will have risen! Get a grip people!

I was listening to a right talk show where a (seemingly rational) host said, "By telling my kids to stay in school and study hard, the president is doing my job as a parent and I'm offended by that. I fully intend to hold my kid out of school that day." Really? Way to fail at parenting. Take your kid out of school so instead of learning an entire day's lesson plan, he'll watch violence on TV or play Grand Theft Auto all day on his friend's XBOX bashing old ladies over the head for their money and car.

A teacher wrote in to Andrew's blog and said,

"Two years ago we had a student bring what looked like an improvised explosive device into school, toss it in a trash can and flee the building. Luckily it was not explosive, but the school went into a lockdown for two hours while the building was secured and the student apprehended. There was one staff e-mail and one automated phone call to the parents.

The teacher said that this same principal had already updated the school's website to indicate that the speech will not be mandatory, told teachers that parents must be notified if they are going to play it in the classroom, sent out two emails, and used the district's automated phone system to call parents to tell them that no teacher was going to show it live. Wow. You'd think we were broadcasting a message from Osama instead of Obama.

I had a friend ask me, "Would you be this upset about the opposition if it was Bush making this speech?" (In actuality, Bush Sr. DID do this, but that's besides the point.) If George W. wanted to get on TV and tell all the kids to study hard and stay in school, I'd be all for it! Who wouldn't? Ohhhhh.. Idiots who put their politics ahead of common sense. That's who. I happen to think it means more coming from a black president who fought racism and worked his way up from being poor to going to law school to becoming a law professor to becoming a Congressman to a Senator to the President of the United States than it means coming from a guy who got into Harvard because his dad was a politician and who's remembered by one of his Harvard professors as a "pathological lier" who would "deny saying something he just said 30 seconds ago" but I think the message is important and valid no matter who says it.

Yes, I heard that, before it was changed, the study guide that went along with the president's speech said something like, "Write a short paragraph about how you can help the president." Would it be less offensive if it said, "Write a short paragraph about how you can help the country."? Where have I heard that before... Oh yeah! "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." It's pure brainwashing I tell you.

The loud, extremes of both sides of politics need to calm the fuck down. I'm getting so tired of hearing from the five loudest assholes at the town hall meeting just because they bring ratings to the news channel.

If you're a parent who's holding your kid out of class because the president is going to tell him or her to stay in school and study hard, you should really stop, face a mirror, and take a long look at the parent you are. I hope your kid drops out when he's 15 and tells you that his pregnant girlfriend is moving in with you. You should be pretty proud of your boy at that point because he went directly against advice from the president that you so hate.