Prez Ed Speech - May Bore the Kids, but an Example for the Teachers
President Obama's speech today to American schoolchildren is right and appropriate. Civic leadership, after all, is an important part of the American presidency, especially in the television and Internet age.
But the most important lesson in the president's speech is not the uncontroversial message to schoolchildren to work hard and to complete their education. The most important lesson is the lesson to educators to be open and transparent in teaching. Indeed, in response to controversy over the president's remarks, the White House agreed to post the president's speech online for all to see in advance of delivery.
Would that colleges and universities did this with their lectures! Would that parents and students could see actual transcripts and digital recordings (on YouTube) of the lectures given by college and university professors! That way, parents and students could see, unedited and in context, the leftist propaganda that often gets spoon-fed to the unwitting victims of American higher education.
I can imagine the howls of outrage from cosseted college and university professors. “Absolutely not! We cannot publish online transcripts and YouTube recordings of our lectures, because that would inhibit academic freedom!” But publicity is the very opposite of censorship. It allows the community to see and evaluate the work of the academy. And in fact, some of the best college and university lectures already are digitally captured and sold to the public by companies like the Teaching Company. Good professors welcome public engagement and evaluation. Bad professors, by contrast, fear openness and transparency.
As is the case with most of our nation’s political and social ills, the answer to what ails American education is greater openness and transparency and much greater freedom of speech and freedom of choice. By posting his speech online for all to see, President Obama has set an excellent example for our teachers and professors to emulate.