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President Obama Is Scheduled to Address the Nation’s Students

President Obama Is Scheduled to Address the Nation’s Students
In an unprecedented move, President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak to the nation’s children in their classrooms on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. For many students, this will be the first day of the new school year. According to the White House media advisory, the speech will focus “on the importance of [students] in taking responsibility for their success in school.” The scheduled speech will be broadcast live on the White House Web site and C-SPAN. In addition, the Obama Administration has provided teachers with classroom lesson plans and activities to be used to prepare and engage students regarding the President’s comments.
However, not everyone is pleased with the President’s plan. While many Americans are supportive of President Obama’s efforts to encourage students to strive for academic success, critics are very concerned about the suggested lessons plans (K-6 and 7-12) and correlating activities teachers are encouraged to utilize. Some of the activities include:
1.     Having students “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the President,”
2.     Requiring students to “build background knowledge of the President of the United States by reading about previous presidents and Barack Obama,” and
3.     Having teachers ask students leading questions regarding how President Obama inspired or challenged them.
Critics quickly point out the inherent dangers that arise when classroom time is used for potentially political motives. According to Neal McCluskey, an associate director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom, the program “essentially tries to force kids to say the President and the presidency is inspiring, and that’s very problematic.” McCluskey warns that, “there are some troubling hints in this [effort], both educationally and politically.” 
While there is general support among teachers regarding the President’s speech and lesson plans, parents have also expressed concern about the potential political nature of the suggested activities. Parents are rightly concerned about potentially making the classroom a political playground, rather than a center for academic learning. Academic classroom time has seen dramatic decreases in recent years. Parents and students must contend with lawmakers, school districts, teachers and special interest groups who continue to incorporate non-academic activities into classrooms, resulting in decreased student performance. .
According to research, the more time students spend in the learning process (or actively learning), the more their academic performance increases. In an article written earlier this year, California Family Council staff shared a 1998 policy brief by H.J. Walberg, which discussed the negative impact on student performance resulting from the erosion of instructional time. The use of classroom time for non-academic and potentially biased political programming is inappropriate. 
The Cato Institute’s McCluskey points out that the president may use his “bully pulpit” to encourage students to work and study hard, but the corresponding messages and classroom activities are questionable and very problematic.
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