The Collected Thoughts of the Zappe Family

People have been going crazy about Obama speaking to school children. The problem was this was handled very poorly by everyone involved. I have to say as a mother, I understand the concerns that some conservative parents had. Those concerns were of course unfounded in the end. My grandma claims that he must have changed his real speech at the last minute. That's a little too 9/11 truther/ conspiracy theory for me. What the speech actual said was pretty much what everyone has been telling their kids for a very long time. You know stay in school because even though you don't see the value today, you will someday. Well I'm glad he can say the same thing as every other parent and teacher. All in all I was not that impressed. It really didn't sound any cooler coming from him. On top of that it was not the best written speech he's ever given. Maybe he should be borrowing Bill Clinton's speech writer (especially since he brought back a good chunk of Bill's cabinet). Getting back to the subject, you may be wondering how this all got so nuts. Here's a break down of where things went horribly awry.

So the president plans a speech for school children. Hooray for him. Then the White House creates follow up curriculum that schools can use. Why would they do this? People definitely took notice (especially since one of the questions was "What can you do for President Obama"). Wow first red flag for a parent right there. If you're ever worried about what the government is teaching your kids this is not the best sign. Schools across the country jump up and start making participation in watching and any follow up activities mandatory. Big red flag. If your child can't opt out if you're uncomfortable with their participation what is going on. The whole thing reminds me of the Planned Parenthood fifth grade sex ed program. Kids have to participate, parents are not allowed (seriously what could anyone tell your child that you shouldn't be allowed to hear and/ or know about). So they haven't said a word about what's in it, but schools across the country are saying your child has to watch and participate in any follow up activities. I have to admit these things raise serious concerns. I want to know why the Jehovah Witness kids get to go to library during the Halloween parades and everyone has to participate in Obama's speech. Things to be worried about. Nobody releases anything about the speech, they just kind of let the press create a three ring circus. Once again they go out of their way to make the conservatives look like a bunch of crazy freaks. Then just as they chaos threatens to drive us all mad, the White House takes back it's curriculum and releases a copy of the speech. Which is over all not that impressive nor is it wreaking of propaganda. He did mention God so I suppose all the Atheists will hate him now or something even though he forwards their agenda frequently.

All the hype over nothing. I don't think anyone would care if their kids heard that be cool stay in school speech. Honestly I think he could have made his take of that speech more interesting. Rumor had it he was going to throw in a reference to Harry Potter, but I suppose one of his advisors or daughters was probably kind enough to mention that in the last book Harry Potter dropped out of school. So he was at least saved there.

How to avoid such disasters in the future: Let's see, the White House needs to be forthcoming with what they're doing and do not under any circumstances make participation mandatory (schools should take note of this as well). It would also help for people to calm down and do some fact checking before raising protest.