WaPo Columnist Mathews: Obama Speech to Schools Too Disruptive

Washington Post education columnist Jim Mathews decided to comment on the sudden controversy regarding President Obama's speech to the nation's schools. Mathews writes that he does not believe it is a good idea, not because of the standard reasons conservatives have stated, but because he believes it would inconvenience teachers too much.

If the president of the United States shows up at a school, as Obama will do at Wakefield, that is different. I also think class can be interrupted to view events certain to make the history books, like the landing on the moon or the inauguration of the first black president. But for most people, watching Obama on TV Tuesday can be done when students get home. Some channels will rerun it. Anyway, I think his speech would work better as an educational exercise in its written form, giving teachers a chance to have students edit it or reply to it. That will mean more writing time, essential if they are going to learn to handle words as well as Obama does.

First, let's be realistic. Are "most" parents going to sit their son or daughter down and have them watch the Obama speech? No, probably not. And if they do, are they going to get much out of it? Again, probably not. Yes, parents have a role to play in their son or daughter's education. But are they qualified to be teaching civics education? This is the kind of strategy we've been relying on the past few decades, as civics classes have been ripped out of curricula in favor of math and science. While young people today are more politically engaged, that didn't happen until 2003/2004. So this strategy hasn't exactly paid off.

So instead of gambling that parents would actually work with their student to get the most educational experience out of the President's speech, the teacher should absolutely have the responsibility of exercising his/her creativity and using the rare moment to educate outside the box. To get to most students today, you don't just place a written copy of the speech in front of them and tell them to respond on their own time to what the President said. In a world chock full of digital media, the written word should be accompanied by some kind of electronic vehicle to get to the heart of the educational material. Standard pedagogy that worked with Boomers isn't going to be effective with young people today. I'd ask Mathews why that teacher can't show the video of the speech in class (I don't think it necessarily has to be shown that day - on their own terms), accompany it with a written copy of the speech for those who do learn better textually, and use it to broach the subject of the presidency, that person's role in America, and perhaps discuss what this president was trying to tell them.

Finally, we come to the matter of role modeling. Our society harps on young students today not having the right role models to look up to anymore. Yet, when the President of the United States tries to offer a positive message to today's youth, it's not good enough.

This whole controversy is nonsense. Whether it's because he's the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, who is trying to do the job we hired him for, or because this is a great opportunity to teach children about our civic responsibilities using innovative pedagogies, I wholeheartedly support those schools who are embracing this rare opportunity.