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Parents Divided On Obama's Speech To Students

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Sep 7, 2009 7:52 am US/Eastern

Parents Divided On Obama's Speech To Students

Reporting
Weijia Jiang
WASHINGTON (WJZ/AP) ― The controversy around President Barack Obama's planned televised speech to students hits home in Maryland.

Critics say students shouldn't be forced to listen to what they believe will be propaganda from the president.

Weijia Jiang reports on how local schools say they're handling the president's speech.

Most school systems in our area say they'll show the program, but if parents don't want their children to watch, they won't have to.

Obama's speech will feed live on Tuesday to schools around the country, but some parents just don't like it.

"Trying to indoctrinate our kids into supporting him and the health care agenda," said a parent.

"I just don't think it's necessary to take time out from the school day to do that," said another.

In fact, several school systems around the country, including Harford County, won't show the president's speech at all. It's a move Education Secretary Arne Duncan dismisses as silly.

"The president's whole message is about personal responsibility and challenging students to take their eduction very, very seriously," said Duncan.

Baltimore City schools say they'll show the program, but they will respect a parent's wish not to have their child watch the speech.

They say so far, they haven't heard a single complaint.

"We regard this as a real learning opportunity for not only our students but the whole community. Every chance that we have to change things into a real learning opportunity, we welcome," said Dr. Mary Minter, chief academic officer.

Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County schools say they'll make the speech available for any teacher who wants to use it for classroom instruction.

Howard County schools said the same thing, adding a written statement that "there is no mandate requiring schools to show the broadcast, and if shown, students certainly would have the option not to view it."

Many parents aren't worried either way.

"I don't see any harm in the message. All he's saying is stay in school, study hard. I mean that's what we want them to do," said a parent.

"If he's talking about kids, let him address the kids," said Rafael Coppola.

The live feed is scheduled for noon on Tuesday. Some school systems say they will record the speech and allow teachers access to it later.

The last time a president addressed the nation's students was in 1991 with President George Bush Sr.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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