Uproar Over the President's Address to School Kids
HOLMES: It may actually be the Obama administration that learns a tough lesson from the president's upcoming speech to school children.</s>BALDWIN: Talk about an uproar here. Really a huge uproar generated by this talk that's happening Tuesday. It's causing the White House to release a complete text of the speech early on Monday. But the question is, will parents still let their kids listen? Here's our own Tom Foreman.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Call it a fast lesson in public pushback. The president's plan to speak to school kids on Tuesday has some conservative parents saying he's trying to brainwash their kids into buying his politics.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that, it just really upsets me.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Politics is up to the family.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So will I send my child, I don't know. Right now I would say no, I'll keep them home.</s>FOREMAN: Across the country many school districts are encouraging students to watch. In New Orleans it will be required but that's an exception. In virtually every state at least some states schools have decided to either not show the speech, review it first or make viewing optional. Some cite schedule conflicts and technical difficulties but this was not what the White House expected. The president's speech will focus on keeping kids in school, a subject he's promoted before.</s>OBAMA: Unfortunately nearly 30 percent of U.S. high school students aren't making it to graduation.</s>FOREMAN: But the core complaint seems to be with supplementary teaching materials from the Department of Education. Originally they called for students to write, quote, "What they can do to help the president." (</s>On camera): The White House has since changed that, suggesting the children now write about their own educational goals. Furthermore, the text of the president's speech will now be put online Monday, so any teacher, parent or politician can preview what's going to be said. (</s>Voice-over): Plenty seemed fine with that, including the national president of the</s>PTA. CHARLES SAYLORS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL PTA: We have an opportunity here in the United States for parents, teachers and students to take part in a tremendous civics lesson.</s>FOREMAN: Still, just like the crowds at all of those town hall meetings, others are far from satisfied.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My rights as a parent are being circumvented so that this president can speak to my children.</s>FOREMAN: And they clearly resent the notion that they are unfairly questioning the president's motives.</s>GEORGE BUSH: Education matters, and what you do today and what you don't do can change your future.</s>FOREMAN: After all, they point out, when the first President Bush spoke to school kids on TV in 1991, top democrats called that just political advertising on the taxpayer's dime. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And if you would like to, you can watch the president's full address to the nation's school children on Tuesday. It starts at noon eastern, 9:00 A.M. pacific and, of course, you can watch it all right here on</s>CNN. T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, kind of curious now, even if you weren't even into it or thinking about it. All of this hubbub about a speech and the president speaking to the country's schoolchildren seems a little much.</s>BALDWIN: It makes you want to watch.</s>HOLMES: It makes you want to watch, there you go. Reynolds, we will be watching that next week.</s>HOLMES: A lot of crowds are going to be gathering as we said this holiday weekend. People might want to cover your mouth. You might want to watch the shaking of the hands and things like that because h1n1 is a real issue, it's a real problem and it is spreading. How worried should you actually be about it? When can we possibly see a vaccine? We're getting some answers from the CDC.