Words My President Told Me

I guess some parents are confusing Tuesday's scheduled speech by the President to schools around the country with the movie "Lies My Mother Told Me". Why else would they be against their children hearing the leader of our country from speaking to them about:

During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation's children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

Ooooooh, them's fighting words. Seriously, how can anyone be against that content? Which leads us to a few possibilities:

1) The President is lying

Yup, he has been waiting for this opportunity to misdirect us into thinking he will be speaking about something innocuous and universally supported such as the importance of education and will use the opportunity instead to put socialist thoughts into the minds of our children. Boy, wouldn't that make him popular?

2) Some people hate him so much they don't want their children to have anything to do with the President of the United States.

Now that is the American way, when your personally preferred political party is out of power, redirect your children's educational focus on civic awareness so they don't know there really is a President.

3) Some people are afraid their children will have a different opinion than they do.

Now we are getting to some deeper fears. It is one thing to be afraid of 'socialist ideals' (but don't let anyone touch Social Security or Medicare) but it is quite something else to face the prospect that your children may have different political opinions than you and even make you explain why you believe certain things.

4) Obama is such a good speaker that in one 15-20 minute talk, he will capture our children in a Svengali-like trance.

Seriously, how many parents out there think that they have ever been successful convincing their children to do anything after mentioning it one time. At lunch time. When there are a few dozen other kids nearby.

One of the first things I tell someone who asks for advice about speaking to a group of people is that the audience will likely forget most of the content of what you said, but they may remember how they felt when you were speaking with them for the rest of their lives. I think this is (consciously or unconsciously) at the heart of the majority of complaints. Our children may listen to an intelligent, thoughtful, caring person and walk away remembering that they felt good about themselves and their future and want to hear more from him. Even then, our children will make their own decisions, much as they will about studying, dating, drinking and career. Listening to the President of the United States talk to them about the importance of education can only help their ability to make decisions in these other areas.