Not in My School

So this is what it has come to.  Our society has become so divisive, so politically-contentious, that the President of the United States cannot even make a speech to schoolchildren without there being tons of political dissent and controversy.

Image by sneakerdog via Flickr

My, how times have changed.  Forty years ago, when I was in school, it would have been considered “must viewing” if the President had made a speech aimed at schoolchildren.  Not that we kids would have wanted to see it.  But we would have had no choice.  It was the President of the godda-n United States, and if he wanted to speak, we would have to listen.

Now the issue is being mishandled on both sides of the political aisle.  Lesson plans sent to schools from the White House originally asked that kids write letters to themselves asking what they could do to “help” the president.  It may truly have been an innocuous but misstated request or it may truly have been politically skewered, but the request left enough room for claims to arise that the President was tying to indoctrinate students.

Now, the lesson plans have been changed, and President Obama is going to ask the students how he can best help them as President and how they can help themselves by staying in school and learning their lessons.  At one time, such a request would have been considered incumbent upon each student, and was so even during the “outrageous” times of youth rebellion in the 1960s.

Now, it is looked at differently.  The President is a Democrat, so any speech he gives is opposed by Republicans.  Education in the United States, meanwhile, continues to languish behind other nations in the world, and we say we can’t afford to provide supplies to our students.

All else aside, one thing is clear:  the United States is no longer a cohesive nation seeking the greater good, and our internal divisions do not serve us well.