Thread: Obama speech draws praise from students, educators

Obama speech draws praise from students, educators

STACY BRANDT - sbrandt@nctimes.com
September 8, 2009

In a pep talk that steered clear of politics, President Barack Obama on Tuesday challenged students across the nation to work hard in school and stick with it, even if they face tough circumstances at home.

Thousands of students throughout North County watched the televised address, which had been targeted last week by critics who said the president could use it to try to persuade children to support his programs.

Most local districts allowed teachers to show the speech in class, but didn't require it. Parents were able to ask that their children not watch the address.

At Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas, nearly all of the school's 500 students watched the president speak on a large projection screen in the multipurpose room.

"I think It's important to hear what the sitting president has to say in terms of putting your best effort into your education," Principal Adriana Chavarin said.

As the president took the stage at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., students and teachers in Encinitas who were watching the live broadcast exploded into applause and cheers.

"Every single one of you has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer," Obama said at one point in the address. "And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is."

"Don't ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country," he said.

Many of the students at the Encinitas school took notes. Most seemed drawn into the speech, but some seemed bored and fidgety.

"I thought it was interesting," said Dane Mueller, a third-grader. The president's message inspired him to strive to work harder at school, he said.

Jennifer Pirazzini, who teaches third grade at the school, said she was impressed by the president's message.

"I thought the speech was very inspiring," she said. "I don't think it was very political."

Presidents often visit schools, and Obama was not the first one to offer a back-to-school address aimed at millions of students in every grade.

Yet this one was doused with controversy from the beginning, as several conservative organizations and many concerned parents warned Obama was trying to sell his political agenda.

That concern was caused in part by an accompanying administration lesson plan encouraging students to "help the president," which the White House later revised and Education Secretary Arne Duncan acknowledged Tuesday was wrongheaded.

Districts across North County reported small numbers of students whose parents didn't want them viewing the speech or participating in any lessons that followed.

A handful of students at Paul Ecke Central worked in the library on other lessons because their parents asked that they not watch the speech.

At Woodland Park Middle School in San Marcos, 20 of the 1,400 students had parents who asked that they not watch the speech. As was done in many local districts, Superintendent Kevin Holt sent a message to parents last week, letting them know they could request their children skip the address.

Diane Calkins, whose son attends San Pasqual High School in Escondido, said she didn't want him seeing the speech because she believes Obama "is tearing our country apart."

"He's out to push his own agenda," she said. "I think that he's attempting to go after our young kids, simply because they are going to be our next generation of voters."

In the Poway Unified School District, Superintendent Don Phillips sent a message to parents on Sept. 2 informing them they had the right to pull their children out of class if they did not want them to hear the president's address. District spokeswoman Sharon Raffer on Tuesday said the number of students who opted out of class had not yet been compiled.

The district's Web site did post the text of the speech for parents to reach it the night before, and by the end of the school day a video of the speech also was on the site.

In Escondido, Mission Middle School teacher Alex Kajitani, a California Teacher of the Year and a 2009 finalist for National Teacher of the Year, said a few parents asked for their children to be taken out of class during the speech.

"One student said he wanted to watch it, but his mother didn't want him to be 'brainwashed,'" Kajitani said.

Kajitani said he respected the parents' decision, but also said he wished all parents would have faith that their children's teachers would not show them anything inappropriate.

"I thought it was very good," Kajitani said about the speech. "I thought the president spoke well to the students, and I liked that the president told them to take responsibilities for themselves.

"I thought to myself while listening to the president's speech that he is saying things that we as teachers are trying to say every single day," he said.

President George H.W. Bush made a similar address to schools in 1991. Like Obama, Bush drew criticism, with Democrats accusing the Republican president of turning the event into a campaign commercial.

Call staff writer Stacy Brandt at 760-901-4009.

Staff writer Gary Warth and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/ ... d3e9f.html

Because he CHANGED HIS SPEECH!!! Geeze . . .
He took out the part about Service, Volunteerism and AmeriCorps.