Responding to angry protests from conservatives and parents alike, the White House has now withdrawn a request for students to ‘help’ Barack Obama.
The controversial request was made in White House “course recommendations” sent to schools all over the country in preparation for Obama’s national address to schoolchildren all over the country on Sept. 8. The address will be televised on closed circuit television from the White House, and all schools will be provided the closed feed.
The accompanying literature “suggested” that after listening to Obama’s speech, the children, as young as pre-K thru 6th grades, would write an essay to themselves describing ways they could help Obama.
The White House admitted to the Washington Times newspaper that presidential aides helped the U.S. Education Department write the suggested assignments for the students, which sparked criticism by many who claim Obama is trying to “indoctrinate” the school system.
Christina Erland Culver, former deputy assistant secretary for education, said presidents traditionally address schoolchildren on the first day of school. The problem was with the written recommendations that the Obama administration sent to the schools.
“That’s where they kind of got into a slippery spot. Federal statute denies any authority to the Department of Education to provide any kind of curriculum or anything that can be passed down to the state, and that’s part of the statute forming the Department of Education. So they kinda got themselves into this mess because they didn’t really understand some of the key legal roles or the dos and don’ts at the federal Department of Ed,” she said. Read more…
