Next Tuesday, September 8 President Obama will be speaking to students at an Arlington County, Virginia high school with hopes that the back-to-school speech will be viewed by students across the nation. Supporters of the speech and its educational value are able to visit the U.S. Department of Education website for classroom activities while opponents believe that watching the speech in classrooms is indoctrination.

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President's Speech at Va. High School Stirs Controversy

By Debbi Wilgoren and Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 3, 2009

President Obama's planned speech at an Arlington County high school next Tuesday, which the White House hopes will be watched live by students and teachers across the nation, is being criticized by some as an attempt to indoctrinate, rather than motivate, young people. 

Officials at Wakefield High School say they are thrilled and proud to host the nation's parent-in-chief for an appearance that White House spokesman Tommy Vietor described as "entirely about encouraging kids to work hard and stay in school." But a few of Obama's political opponents are denouncing the event, homing in on suggestions from the U.S. Department of Education for classroom activities that could be linked to the speech. 

The administration modified some of the language in those suggestions in response to the complaints. And after receiving inquiries, the Virginia Department of Education has issued guidelines that explain that individual teachers and principals will make the decisions about whether their students should watch the address. 

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Comments (7)

J. said:

	hmm. high schoolers. kids who will be at voting age when the next election comes around. oh how i cannot wait for United States, Socialist Republics.
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October 07, 2009
Votes: +1

Chris said:

	Yeah I know... I want to strangle the idiot that thought Socialism would be a good idea. What America is becoming is not only stupid, but it goes against ALL of the principles of the founding fathers and the political philosophers that influenced them. God help us. . .
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October 10, 2009
Votes: +2

Luke said:

	I believe that president Obamas speach is absolutely acceptable. Let us remember that presidents before have also sent out somewhat of a national "pep-talk" to students. This act was without a doubt a fine gesture from our president to try to get the students involved with there country.
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March 09, 2010
Votes: +0

Luke said:

	also, i dont believe that this was an act of socialism it was a pep talk for the nation!
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March 09, 2010
Votes: +0

Sierra Reil said:

	I do not believe that President Obama's speech should not be shown in schools. It may not be acceptable for parents to have their children see his speech. Showing this speech, or any speech of his, is wrong. If the students want to watch it, let them look it up online.
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March 18, 2010
Votes: +1

Chantilly said:

I really like what Chris and Sierra Reil said. I think it is all fine and dandy that he made his little speech, but it concerns me when the schools try to shove it down our throats. And, just so you know, it was supposed to be more about socialist ideals, but they made him make it more conservative after all the fuss that was made. I believe that it should be up to the parents or the students themselves on if they watch it.

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March 31, 2010
Votes: +0

Sierra Reil said:

Luke~ How was Obama's speech a pep talk for the nation? A pep talk shows what a leader will be doing within his term. And as far as I'm concerned, the only thing Obama has done in his term is make Americans rely on the government and has made it way to easy for illegals and people who do not wish to rely on themselves to accept money that taxpayers don't have, take advantage of government handouts, and screw the hard working man over. Obama has driven this great country into a shizhole known as Socialism. And as we can see over the course of history, Socialistic societies don't work. Many citizens flee to America to get away from Socialism. Let's show our emenies what American's are made of, not become what the brave men and women have fought against.

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June 23, 2010
Votes: -1