“Mmm, mmm, mmm! Barack Hussein Obama!”

Those aren’t the words to a commercial for delicious new president-themed cereal Obama-Os, but rather lyrics to a song performed by a class of about 20 second-grade students at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, N.J.

Video of the performance has been circling the Interwebs in recent weeks.

It shows the kids singing “He said we must be fair today/Equal work means equal pay,” referring to the fair-pay bill the president signed in January, and “He said red, yellow, black or white/All are equal in his sight,” possibly referring to the fact that Obama is Jesus.

According to the school’s superintendant, the performance took place as part of the school’s celebration of Black History Month in February.

However, some parents of students at the school were still upset by the video’s content.

“I felt this was reminiscent of 1930s Germany, and the indoctrination of children to worship their leader,” one parent said in an interview with Fox News.

The recent controversy over the video comes on the heels of Obama’s Sept. 8 address to the nation’s schoolchildren that also drew harsh criticism from conservatives.

While the president’s speech for the most part avoided discussion of politics, in advance of the address, the Department of Education sent to schools “classroom activities” to coincide with Obama’s message, including lesson plans that encouraged kids to “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president,” and “build background knowledge about the president of the United States by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama.”

Faced with mounting evidence to support them, many conservatives are arguing that the president is using his influence to push a partisan political agenda upon impressionable minds.

Do the song and Obama’s speech to students amount to indoctrination? Maybe. But no more than the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance or songs about former presidents do.

Noah Webster, author of the dictionary, was an early pioneer of public education who said the purpose of public schooling is to “discipline our youth in early life to sound maxims of moral, political and religious duties.”

The Archbishop of York said long ago “the true purpose of education is to produce citizens.”

While it is, agreeably, a little early in Obama’s term to be singing songs praising him, support for our country and the president who runs it are important values to instill in future productive citizens.

It’s the job of leaders in education to design lesson plans that encourage students to grow and learn while socializing them in preparation for involvement in society. It is the job of parents to then help them decide their political leanings.

Perhaps the song performed in the video and the president’s lesson plans do provide one-sided views of the current administration to young minds.

But it would be equally egregious to subject children to the bitter partisan politics that seem to characterize the current political climate.

Kids have the rest of their lives to cynically argue about the president and his policies. For now, let’s just let them be kids.

Zach has the Obama song stuck in his head. Help him get it out at
zachary.fowle@asu.edu.