As the controversy surrounding Obama’s planned speech to the nation’s school children continues to brew, most school districts have chosen an "opt out" approach that allows parents to veto their children's viewing of the speech.
Those same administrators that have decided to allow the speech to be shown to those who choose to view it have already determined that the speech will provide a valuable enhancement, directly or indirectly, to their curriculum. If they have not come to this conclusion, they shouldn’t be showing the speech in the first place because they would have no rationale for introducing it into an educational setting.
Once the decision is made that showing the speech provides a valuable curriculum enhancement, providing parents with an opt out becomes an inherently political decision that represents a bad lesson in civics education.
Certainly administrators do not circulate opt out forms for all other elements of their curriculum that could potentially be political in the hopes of wiping away controversy over what is being covered.
I am sure that the thousands of districts that are providing opt out forms for Obama’s speech did not previously provide opt out forms for visits and presentations by mayors, representatives, senators, and other politicians. It seems like those individuals, and other past Presidents who gave addresses to students, were given the benefit of the doubt that their presentations would not be political.
Unlike other politicians, President Obama is not being given the benefit of the doubt. Instead, right wing bloggers, pundits, and parents with the loudest anti-Obama voices are being pandered to by administrators who are now allowing them to directly influence and control day-to-day curriculum decisions in our schools that are related to this particular President.
Of course, if administrators assume that the opt-out option is administered fairly in regard to any future speech that could be potentially political, they should prepare to be inundated with such forms. After all, if parents allowed opt-out of having their children view Obama’s speech, they should be able opt out of the viewing of any recorded speech by a politician that a teacher may use in class for any curriculum-related reason. And, if a local Congressman, mayor, or regional representative comes to visit a class, parents should now be given the option having their children be a part of the visit.
Of course, administrators have no such fears because they know they will not be offering these forms in future similar circumstances.
And this is why it is the offering an opt-out for listening to a speech to school children by President Obama is a deeply political act. By offering an opt-out for this particular speech, school districts are tacitly suggesting that a speech by a particular sitting President will likely be political, may not be appropriate for all children, and that they are uncomfortable reaching a firm decision that the speech is an important part of their curriculum. Offering an opt-out in this instance an admission that that they are endorsing the conservative side of the contemporary culture war and an acknowledgment that they have a unique fear that President Barack Obama will take advantage of this opportunity to "brainwash" students in a way that other politicians will not.
Furthermore, participating in the politicization of the speech and then allowing families to opt out creates the worst possible civics lesson – it demonstrates that if you disagree with your government it is reasonable to opt-out of participation in the polis and ignore what people who disagree with you, including a sitting and democratically elected President, may have to say. By politicizing the speech and then creating a protection for students and families who do not want to be open to all ideas in the polis, opt out creates the worst civics lesson imaginable.
While teachers and administrators should encourage debate and the sharing of ideas regarding the most important issues of the day, they need to make responsible decisions related to what to include in their curriculums. They should be free to make their own decisions regarding the relevance of President Obama’s speech, but once they make the decision that it is relevant and important part of their curriculum, parents and students should not be given the opportunity to opt-out of participation because doing so is an inherently political act that represents a terrible lesson in civics education.