Standing at the schoolhouse door

It's a sad state of affairs when parents of public school students don't want their children to be exposed to a speech by the president of the United States. That's right, many parents (especially in Texas, apparently) are objecting to plans to have their children hear a speech President Obama plans to direct to school children. The White House says his message will be to study hard, be good students, etc.

Goaded on by conservative talk-show hosts and bloggers, some parents say they'll pull their children from school rather than allow them to hear the president encourage them to be studious and responsible. I especially liked the quote from one Texas parent who told the New York Times, "I don't want our schools turned over to some socialist movement." As his children might say, "Well, duh! This is a public school, financed by tax dollars, open to all residents and run by the state in the finest socialistic tradition."

I can't figure what there is to get riled up about, but apparently it has tripped a switch for a lot of people. The News & Observer story about this collected 117 comments as of mid-morning. Now maybe some Republicans might have a legitimate complaint if Obama were to urge children to go home and demand that their parents support the Democrats' health care reform bill, but there's no indication of that being in the works, and the speech hasn't been made yet. Taking the administration at its word (and I hope we can do that, despite all the partisanship), what is objectionable about studying hard and being responsible?

It's not just the right-wing conspiracy theorists who are objecting. The pretty mainstream state GOP chairman from North Carolina, Tom Fetzer, has raised objections. At least Fetzer is objecting to allowing politics into the classroom and not parroting the weirder complaints coming out of Texas. Heaven forbid that politics ever be allowed in the classroom! I recall two incidents from my children's public school educations. In the early 1980s, my elder daughter's teacher told her class that Ronald Reagan was an evil man bent on destroying poor Americans, and she urged them to work against him in every way they could. When my younger daughter was in a state honors chorus, my wife and I attended the chorus' performance, which was preceded by a teacher's speech urging all the parents to go back to their homes and lobby legislators for more money for the arts.

Politics in the classroom? Heaven forbid!