President Obama addresses Education and Social Networking

President Obama has weighed in on social networking!  

According to Reuters, Obama was quoted as saying "I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life... And when you're young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I've been hearing a lot about young people who -- you know, they're posting stuff on Facebook, and then
suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search." (Full article here)

Interestingly, the President did not condemn Facebook or other social networking sites.  He did not proclaim that children must be shielded.  He simply stated a fact that many adults seem to have trouble understanding: that social networking saves information online, and you need to be responsible about what you put there.

This is, perhaps, less exciting news than the rest of Obama's speech to today's youth, which has been called "socialist," "inspirational," "paid political advertising," and "encouraging."  So, which is it?  Did the president deliver a speech promoting his socialist ideology to today's students?  Did he encourage them as only a president can to push their learning to the next level?

According to the students, he sounded a lot like their parents - republicans and democrats alike.  The New York Times reports that some students slept, others did their homework, and (my personal favorite), one said Obama sounded "just like my dad."  ...her dad does not support the Obama administration.

So, what we have hear is controversy.  On the one hand, we have concerned parents who want their children to be educated but not subjected to a 1984 style government-sponsored speech.  On the other hand, we have concerned parents who want their children to hear the voice of a respected world leader echoing their own hopes and dreams for the future of education.  I suspect that, as usual, we need to listen to the students.  The student whose father, a Republican businessman, told her the same things as President Obama, was quoted as saying "They both want to motivate us because honestly we are the future."  I think she's right.

To read more about the controversy leading up to President Obama's speech, click here.
To read more about Obama's speech to US students, click here.