Maggie's Farm

I've been arguing with some of my conservative blogger friends the past two days that President Obama does have a sincere interest in improving education for our kids.  After Labor Day, President Obama plans to deliver a national address to our school students about the importance of working hard to get a good education.  We've good reasons to be defensive, as Obama has been so often over the top.  But, I argued that we may be too defensive this time.

In any event, comparisons of Obama to Hitler or to creating a Hitler Youth are blatantly excessive, and unacceptable.

The Washington Times reports that in response to concerns expressed, President Obama's "speech is 'about the value of education and the importance of staying in school as part of his effort to dramatically cut the dropout rate. It's not a policy speech,' " according to a spokesman.

Further, "The Obama administration late Wednesday withdrew a recommendation that school children who watch a video featuring President Obama next week write about how they might "help the president" as part of a classroom assignment."  Actually, the suggested syllabus was about how to help the President improve education.  But, all are glad to see that portion excised, to be sure.

Another good suggestion would be for the text of the President's address to be released to parents well before the speech, so parents can help their children understand the issues and how to respond to teacher question sessions.