I'm somewhat ambivalent. He's the POTUS of our nation, and so generally I think it is acceptable for him to be able to speak to any group of Americans he governs.

I do have reservations for several reasons. One of them is that the teachers union is a rather liberal organization and is very supportive of him, by and large. It makes me think the follow-up discussions about whatever he says will be rather tilted. Given his stellar speaking skills and his ability to sell ideas, the fact that the other side won't be presented by him and likely not by many teachers... that's where I have concerns.

Back when I taught school, if you asked my students what the #1 problem in the world was, they would have told you it was the destruction of the rainforests. They saw Fern Gully and read their Weekly Readers. They were an impressionable lot. I don't know what's up with the rain forests today, but they must not be in dire crises because we rarely hear them referenced. In fact, I think I read something semi-recently about all the concerns of the 80's being unfounded because the trees have quickly reclaimed areas that were cut down.

Anyway... kids are impressionable, and I do hope he doesn't try to sway them politically... but I don't hold out a lot of hope that he'll be entirely apolitical.