No, I'm not talking haters. You know, the ones who last year accused the president of indoctrinating schoolchildren with some sort of socialist, revolutionary nonsense by challenging them to - gasp! - study hard and get good grades.
Blue-ribbon school
Interestingly enough, it's Obama's supporters who are grousing over his choice of Masterman, the top-performing public school in Philadelphia, which last week was named a 2010 National Blue Ribbon School.
They argue that struggling schools would have been best served by the president's presence and message, that telling Masterman students "absolutely nothing is beyond your reach so long as you're willing to dream big" is like preaching to the choir.
Masterman students "already are destined to succeed without the president's visit," the West Philadelphia High School Alumni Association wrote in a letter to The Inquirer this week. "Imagine if the president had not only acknowledged West's existence, but honored it? The impact would be immeasurable."
Can't deny that a presidential visit would be an enormous morale boost for a school like West, which consistently ranks near the bottom academically among public schools and just last year was removed from the state's list of "persistently dangerous" schools.
But it works the opposite way, too.
Obama's choice of Masterman was not a dismissal of West's existence. It was an affirmation for Masterman students that, yes, it is cool to go to school, do your homework, pay attention in class, stay out of trouble, and remember that nothing is beyond their reach.
And isn't that the message we want to reinforce in our children, whether they get a visit from the president or not?
Honoring achievement
Besides, why can't the narrative of urban education be one of achievement instead of struggle?
