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President Obama visits your child’s classroom

President Obama visits your child’s classroom
As many children returned to school last Tuesday, President Barack Obama addressed them via the Web and CSPAN. As Dateline Sacramento reported last week, the President’s proposed speech – accompanied by Department of Education (DOE) curriculum guidelines – proved to be quite controversial. Parents and pro-family policy experts feared that, like so many aspects of this charismatic President’s policies, the speech would serve as a “bully pulpit” to circumvent parents and reach school children directly with partisan issues.  The DOE curriculum amplified these concerns by asking children to discern what they could do to help Obama and by promoting learning about the current President. 
School districts nationwide received calls from concerned parents, and most districts that chose to show the speech provided an alternative activity for those students whose parents objected to the Obama presentation. In Elk Grove, CA, the school district advised schools to send home opt-out forms last week. It appeared the administration had gotten the message as an advanced copy of the President’s remarks was released, and the DOE guidelines were softened. Instead of blatant support of the President, the amended curriculum guidelines called for students to write out personal goals and responsibilities. The “corrected” lessons still include reading and studying about Obama and posting his quotes (but not those of other Presidents) on classroom walls.
While the President’s remarks – for the most part – were a non-partisan promotion of education and personal responsibility, the danger remains in the classroom, as on the airwaves, of promoting a “cult of personality” around this personable President. Secondly, parents, who have access to the speech itself, are not able to be part of classroom discussions, where the personal politics of teachers are inappropriate. 
Parents, who for years have trustingly sent their children off to the neighborhood school, where they have learned far more than basic academics, are awakening to the dangers that lurk in many public schools. The homosexual agenda, which has redefined tolerance and promoted full-blown acceptance of homosexuality under the guise of safe schools, and the comprehensive sex education movement, which promotes condom usage over abstinence, have been unmasked. Parents are becoming aware of the “progressive” messages in public schools, and responding with actions that better protect their children. 
As your child returns to school this fall, resolve now to stay involved – know your child’s teacher, his/her friends (and their parents), examine curricula and lessons, and stay informed of district policies and state legislation. Pray for your child, his/her school, and district policy makers. It will make a world of difference in your child’s education and your community.
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