President Obama Addresses America's Students

I have started taking this technology business to heart and I have found some really interesting things because of it. Following a link posted by one of the teachers I am following on Twitter, I eventually found the transcript of the speech President Obama will be giving to America's students tomorrow afternoon. I was curious as to why the speech was posted a day in advance and did a little extra Google searching. The White House released it a day early so that parents and schools could pre-screen it and decide whether or not to show it during the school day.Apparently this speech has caused some controversy, as you can see in this article. Just do a Google search for "Obama addresses students September 8" and you can find lengthy debates taking place on several blogs. Some people have taken issue with the "Classroom Engagement Resources" supplied by the White House, which you can find here.


I don't really have any problem with President Obama addressing the students- I don't remember ever hearing a president talk directly to me as a student and I think it is a nice gesture to reach out to America's young people. He sets high expectations, expecting the best effort from every student- I hope all teachers already planned on doing the same thing. However, I do wish that he had addressed his plans for the future of education in America. From his speech we know what he expects from the students, that they take responsibility for their education and that they put forth their best effort, but we really don't know what to expect from him or the government. It will be interesting to read about parent, teacher, and student reactions to the speech after it is given tomorrow afternoon.


The above links are short reads and if anyone has time to look at them, I would be really interested to hear what you think about both the speech and the ensuing debate about it.