Stop Paranoia over Obama's Education Speech

Well, tomorrow, The President of the United States plans to speak to the school children of America about their responsibility for their education. Despite all the rhetoric and fear that has been going around in the media, that is what the speech is about. If you do not believe me, read it for yourself. Now there has been a lot said in the media and by those who believe in this politics of paranoia that he is somehow going to indoctrinate there children into some socialist/Marxist/communist agenda. Well, if getting a good education and being responsible for yourself is socialist indoctrination, hallelujah.

I am a teacher and I see the effects of students who have no motivation and refuse to be responsible in the classroom every day. Most teachers spend valuable time dealing with those students instead of teaching those who actually came to learn. Yet a faction of American society has placed fear in the hearts of others because of this idea that the Obama will use mind control to indoctrinate children into his political agenda. They have done this without ever reading the words the President intends to deliver. Well, now is your chance to see for yourself what the President plans to say and stop the fear-mongering.

Most of this fear is from the far right and it carries with it a political agenda that is based in hate and racism. I have not seen such virulent hate since I was a boy in sixties watching the civil rights movement. There was the same paranoia in the sixties when some of the most religious people in the country fought vehemently to deny black people the right of citizenry.

I hope that every child who can watch takes Obama’s message to heart because we as a country need it. San Bernardino County, where I work, has a 25% dropout rate overall and it is closer to 50% among Hispanics and African-American males. Most people want to blame it on teachers, but the problems go deeper than that and most of them begin in the home. Kids come to school hungry, abused, and sometimes neglected. There are other distractions for their time including video games and the internet. Many seem to think that their education is not important and the President, by using his own life and that of others who have overcome difficult situations, is trying to point them in the right direction. Good for him.

I am teaching persuasive writing and speeches to my writing classes and I plan to use this in my classroom to show students the different techniques used to persuade people. I also plan to ask them, as I do every year, to be responsible for their education on a daily basis because it is the only way for them to overcome the poverty that surrounds them. I know because I was one of those kids who went to school hungry and struggled to stay focused on my education. Yet, I prevailed and they can too. Get over the paranoia America.