(Nov. 5) -- Anyone who's ever been 11 years old understands the sense of dread that strikes when your parent tells a story about you in public. Think what it's like when your dad is the president.
During a speech on education Wednesday, President Obama went off-script for a few moments to reveal to the world that his older daughter Malia recently got a 73 on a science test.
He did it to make a point about how parents should set high standards and students should take responsibility for their education. Malia was "depressed" about her test score, her father said, because she knew the expectation within the Obama family is for "90 percent and up." He asked what she was going to do. The sixth-grader at Sidwell Friends School resolved to read chapters all the way through and adjust her approach to studying for tests, the president said.
On Tuesday, Malia came home with a 95 on her latest test.
Call it Malia's "knowledge is good" moment -- in honor of one of the first laughs in that cinematic homage to higher education, "Animal House." During the opening credits, a shot of a statue honoring Faber College's founder shows a plaque that reads:
It's funny because it's so simplistic, so self-evident -- but also so true. And once kids learn the value of "having knowledge," they crave more.
Parents must "set a high bar" for their children, the president said. But students must want to get over that bar. When Malia got a 73, her parents didn't tell her what to do and didn't do the work for her. The learning was up to her.
"What was happening was she had started wanting it more than us," the president explained. "Once you get to that point, our kids are on their way."
So Malia Obama's science test trauma is a lesson for everyone. However, some people are questioning whether the president, who normally demands privacy for his children, should have used his daughter as an example in a speech about education standards.
You can just imagine Malia's first word to the president when he returned to the White House on Wednesday.
"Da-a-a-d!"
The Right to Bear Cheese
There was a memorable father-daughter moment of a different kind at President Obama's speech in Madison, Wis.
Mansfield Neblett wanted to show his love for the Dairy State while he attended the event at his daughter's school. So he donned his cheesehead hat -- one of those big, yellow wedges favored by Green Bay Packers fans -- and headed off to Wright Middle School.
At first, the Secret Service wouldn't let him in the building, declaring the cheesehead a security risk. Neblett persisted and said he'd leave if he couldn't wear the hat. Agents finally relented, and Neblett not only got inside, but the president ended up autographing his cheesehead. He and his daughter Jennifer posed for pictures with it outside the school. But, apparently, the hat won't become a family heirloom.
Steve covers general news and writes The Point, a daily column about hot topics on the Web. He started at AOL in 2000 after working for Reuters and the Associated Press.
First Lady Michelle Obama -- still on a tour of federal agencies -- is visiting the Department of Energy on Thursday and also pitches in to help students prep for a Science Bowl contest.
On...
MADISON, Wis. -Liberian immigrant Mansfield Neblett just wanted to wear his cheesehead hat to President Barack Obama's speech at a Wisconsin middle school. The first roadblock were U.S. Secret Service...
MADISON, Wis. -President Barack Obama is making the need for parent involvement personal, citing his own daughter's classroom challenges. During a speech about his administration's education...
Maybe she did better because she knew her ole man was going to tell the world she was a dummy...
RATE THIS COMMENT: (11)
Truth
3:17PM Nov 5th 2009
I thought Obama wanted his kids off limits to the media. Every time he thinks he can make himself look like "father knows best" he trots them out to a media show and tell. What a nauseating narcissistic display.
Why doesn't he show us his test scores, or Michelles? How about those college records, medical records, etc. etc.?
Obama is transparent alright. It doesn't take much upstairs to see through his chronic deception. And yet, there are still people obtuse enough to belive him. Like P.T. Barnum said: There's a liberal born every minute.
Notice Obama visited a school in Madison, WI, a place so liberal that even Obama can be comfortable there. No one will be surprised to learn that Wisconsin is in debt up to it's eyeballs under the leadership of their idiot liberal Governor, Doyle, whose popularity is in the toilet. He's notorious in Wisconsin for his backroom dealings with Indian Casinos in return for campaign money. ALL of Obama's minions are corrupt.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (7)
cruisedoc
4:58PM Nov 5th 2009
Gee, why doesn't he have her records sealed, like his Harvard records? People think, or assume, that it's because he didn't do too well and was in based on affirmative action. I think it could go deeper than that. He claimed if his own book that he "saught out Marxist professors". Maybe he took some of Harvard's notorious courses, like, 'the economics of socialism' or 'Marxism and Culture'. Perhaps even more crap would hit the fan if we had a list of course and professors ... much more reveiling than grades, no matter how bad.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (10)
Stella
5:05PM Nov 5th 2009
Funny that he can spill the beans on his daughter's grades, but all of his college transcript information is purposely withheld from the public? What is he hiding? It's always been easy for him to humble others, never himself.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (13)
rann948
10:32AM Nov 5th 2009
Wow. Way to go dad! Humiliate your kid in front of the nation. Some things are just for the family. DUH!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (21)
watdafuk
10:39AM Nov 5th 2009
Not with these people Any chance for a photo op seems to get jumped at no matter how stupid.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (14)
hardrocknox
1:56PM Nov 5th 2009
That's funny , We don't know a thing owebama did in collage but , he is quick to let his daughters business out . This president is nothing but a Tool .
RATE THIS COMMENT: (11)
pattongoo
10:37AM Nov 5th 2009
You want knowledge? Ask your dad for his birth certificate.......
RATE THIS COMMENT: (22)
Gomabbros
2:43PM Nov 5th 2009
your stupid
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-18)
ccorrea512
3:18PM Nov 5th 2009
Give it up already!!!! Your watching too much TV..
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-10)
myrdincelt
5:05PM Nov 5th 2009
"Gomabbros: your stupid
ccorrea512: Give it up already!!!! Your watching too much TV."
How about you both learn the difference between "your" and "you're!" My stupid? Really? My watching too much TV? YOU'RE= YOU ARE. Gombabbros, you ARE stupid, ccorrea, You ARE watching too much TV. Your is the possessive form of "you" ie belonging to you.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (12)
sgunknown
5:16PM Nov 5th 2009
SESAME STREET IS BROUGHT TO YOU TODAY BY THE PHRASE ....WHO GIVES A RATS ASS
RATE THIS COMMENT: (17)
LOUIS A. RUSS
5:40PM Nov 5th 2009
You are an ignorant idiot who still does not realize that the bus left the station over 12 months ago and is not coming back. It will only keep moving forward , enlightening the majority of our intellegent citizens who are capable of conceptualizing the tremendouse benifits that the policies of the Obama administration is bringing to our nation and its people.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-8)
J.P. Craig
7:35PM Nov 5th 2009
Shut up you retarded idiot! You birthers are just plain ridiculous. I guess we'll always have fools like you running around, and that's sad.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-11)
kathyrn5k
10:37AM Nov 5th 2009
This will stay with her the rest of her life....It is not right to humilate a child. He should use better judgement...Once again he uses bad judgement!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (12)
Chip Crawford
10:46AM Nov 5th 2009
He didn't humiliate her. He did what any father would do, he pointed out how education is every person's own responsibility. Good for him and good for Malia!
Of course, had GWB said this about Jenna or Barbara, you would be gushing about what a loving, involved father he is.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (28)
kmp413
10:50AM Nov 5th 2009
Obama only has poor judgement, so he can't use anything else. I don't understand why certain people still back him. When they have lost their job or financial stability due to his stupid policies or crooked followers, then they will begin to realize that he is not the deity that they voted for.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-9)
Lisa
12:03PM Nov 5th 2009
Ya know Chip, you had a really good point then you F'd it up with your quip about GWB...........kinda makes your whole point...pointless.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (-11)
jamgg
12:50PM Nov 5th 2009
you are such an idiot! I applaud him for setting an example of good parenting. She develops a tougher skin, as her Dad helps other parents stop enabling their children into mediocrity. Great story.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (39)
Lem
2:27PM Nov 5th 2009
No way wil such a thing stay with Malia for the rest of her life as a bad thing, because it's one with an ending that is not only positive, but puts the emphasis in the child being an overcomer in her own right. That is a powerful thing that a child will take pride in. My daughter, 13, had a similar situation. She got put into a highly accelerated math class that was killing her the first two weeks. Her scores were low, she cried, and took forever to do the homework. It caused our whole family angst, and I wanted her to go to the regular advanced math class. But she refused. Her pride and inner desire to do better won out. On her own, she mapped out strategies for learning more easily, and within one week she turned it around completely. Not only did I tell all my facebook friends in Septemeber about how math was kicking her butt, but about her hard work and the turnaround. She didn't mind one bit, in fact, she contributed to the conversation, and proudly announced on fb her rebounding process. She got straight A's on her report card just yesterday, and her math average is 97%. She is PROUD, not scarred, and the experience will help her in the future. One thing that many on here may miss is that well-educated African-American parents raise their children teah their children that they must set their own expectations high, because oftentimes their teachers will not have that high bar for them.