Obama should not use children as his personal pawns and he should abide by the rule of law.
According to Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel as well as dean of Liberty University School of Law, the address may be illegal. The Department of Education is governed by statute: 20 U.S.C. § 3403 states,
"No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system."
Staver's concerns were echoed by the Texas Justice Foundation who warned that the "classroom activities" suggested by Obama's speech were illegal.
According to a statement by the Foundation:
"The questions, comments, evaluations and analysis that occurs before, during, and after the president's speech will clearly 'reveal information concerning political affiliations' and probably, 'critical appraisals of other individuals with whom the child(ren) has/have close family relationships' (such as parents)."
"This is perhaps one of the greatest invasions of personal privacy and injecting political affiliation into the public school system in the history of the United States," the Foundation statement added.
The group cited the Pupil Rights Amendment:
"It also violates 34 Code of Federal Regulations Section 98.4[c] [1] and [2] that defines psychological testing as:
(1) Psychiatric or psychological examination or test means a method of obtaining information, including a group activity, that is not directly related to academic instruction and that is designed to elicit information about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs or feelings;
(2) Psychiatric or psychological treatment means an activity involving the planned, systematic use of methods or techniques that are not directly related to academic instruction and that is designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an individual or group.
Foundation officials said the group activities suggested by the Department of Education "are not directly related to academic instruction and that are designed to elicit information about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings."
Obama's political agenda violates the constitutional right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children, federal law, and is perhaps the greatest intrusion of a president into the education process in the history of the United States. "In the opinion of the Texas Justice Foundation lawyers, it is both morally and legally wrong."
"Federal law expressly forbids the Secretary of Education or any officer from exercising 'any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system,'" the Foundation analysis stated.
The law states:
20 U.S.C. § 3403. (Pub.L. 96-88, Title I, § 103, Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 670) United States Code Title 20. Education Chapter 48. Department of Education Subchapter I. General Provisions § 3403. Relationship with States (a) Rights of local governments and educational institutions
It is the intention of the Congress in the establishment of the Department to protect the rights of State and local governments and public and private educational institutions in the areas of educational policies and administration of programs and to strengthen and improve the control of such governments and institutions over their own educational programs and policies. The establishment of the Department of Education shall not increase the authority of the Federal Government over education or diminish the responsibility for education which is reserved to the States and the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the States. (b) Curriculum, administration, and personnel; library resources
No provision of a program administered by the Secretary or by any other officer of the Department shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or any such officer to exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, over any accrediting agency or association, or over the selection or content of library resources, textbooks, or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system, except to the extent authorized by law.
The lesson plans are seriously flawed, although the Department has back peddeled and revised items.
However, students as young as kindergarten will, nonetheless, be asked: "Why is it important that we listen to the president?" and then, initially, were to be asked to write about "what they can do to help the president." Their writings would later be used to make students accountable to their goals.
As WND reported, worksheets provided by the U.S. Department of Education encouraged teachers to ask pre-K through 6th-grade students the following questions:
* What is the president trying to tell me to do?
* What is the president asking me to do?
* What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?
Students may be asked to write down "key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful, make posters of their goals, create a "supportive community" by sharing those goals with one another.
Junior-high and high-school students may be asked to brainstorm answers to the following questions before the speech:
* Why does President Obama want to speak with us today?
* How will he inspire us?
* How will he challenge us?
* What might he say?
The children are encouraged to talk about how Obama has inspired them or challenged them to do something.
The cult of personality promoted by Obama in the class has elicited a backlash. In addition to boycotts, or parents opting their children out of the propaganda, some students will wear black arm bands which was the same type of student protest of the Vietnam War that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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