Not the first at all. Remember George W. Bush was reading My Pet Goat to school children on 9/11. I really don't think a president's brief appearance at a school is sufficient to qualify as brainwashing.
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The real story here is that most of the Fox News anchors went to school for journalism and were presumably taught the tenets of ethical reporting. If you asked any of them I'm sure they would say a vocal and free press is mandatory for a productive democracy, which it is. I wonder how they sleep at night?
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He's not the first to speak to school children. But he is the first to address school children directly during school time. Thats why people are getting all upset I believe. I was talking to a Texas University retired teacher yesterday. And she kept expressing how upset she was about it because the only other countries that have ever done something like this were communist countries.

Who know really whats going on. I guess we will all have to sit back and see what come of it later.

Some interesting reads if your interested.
http://technorati.com/posts/CVB7nJ1DoWC34g8ZjbDiv%2Bbtt4eXsFmSvNSnHnHoyfU%3D
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I don't see what the fuss is about. Obviously presidents visit schools fairly often as previous answers have mentioned. Also I remember watching at least a couple of inauguration speeches in school. Astronauts, Police, and Firemen (all "from the government") come in and talk to children all the time, why is it suddenly frightening that the president wants to talk to kids. If I were still in school I'd love to have had the president talk specifically to us (whichever president).

I live in a state capital and school kids regularly visit the capital building and meet the governor and legislators. I bet no parent has ever stopped a child going on this trip because they thought their child was going to be "indoctrinated" its absurd.

For those that are concerned about this let's see what he says first. If you don't want your child to hear it of course that's your right, I would hope every school will let parents opt out of this as they should let a parent opt out of most anything.
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"Creepy" and "Indoctrination" are evidence of bias. Certainly Obama is not the first president to speak to children, and as the president, he should be graciously welcomed to speak in any classroom (if any measure of reason is to be applied at all). It seems that people's views of the presidency have changed over time and that less respect is being given to the office by the citizens. This is not something that I can back up, but just something that I believe the United States has been trending towards since the election of George W. Bush.

On the other hand, it can certainly be viewed as a slippery slope when someone as influential as the president speaks to minds as impressionable as grade school children. The president should take great pains to avoid touching on controversial subjects, if he wishes to avoid reports of "brainwashing."
Source(s):
me

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I don't think he's the first.

I don't think it's creepy.

Whether it's indoctrination depends on what is said. If Obama is just telling kids to stay in school like they say he is planning, that seems like a pretty good message.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/02/obama_plans_televised_speech_t.html#more

It does seem troubling that there appears to be quite a few conservatives (not just FOX NEWS) who don't trust Obama to stick to the script. National Review, Christian Science Monitor, Jim Greer GOP chair of Florida, etc.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDE3Y2VmMGRjNWIwMjE0NTQ2M2ZlNTZlMDFiOGNkMTY=

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/02/conservatives-wave-red-flags-over-obama-school-speech/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/02/jim-greer-florida-gop-cha_n_275287.html

It is equally troubling that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats seem to be adult enough to speak to or about each other with any measure of decorum.

Obviously, Republicans have reason to believe that when it comes to education (or just about any other issue) Obama has more of a "big government" solution in mind than they would like, but instead of advocating taking advantage of a nonpartisan teaching moment concerning various political philosophies, the Republicans call Obama "creepy" and "socialist", and the Democrats respond by calling the Republicans "insane", while the Libertarians (that's me) stand by and say very little, because I guess that sort of goes along with our philosophy of what we think government ought to do (very little).

Couldn't a few moments be taken to point out that while Obama and those who support him believe that a big federal government should lead the way to better education, Republicans would like a solution to improving education that includes more funding and decision making at the State and local level?

These politicians seem to be unable to enter a discourse above a sixth grade level. They remind me of a Bible passage found in Genesis 37:4: Speaking of Joseph's brother's, the scripture says..."they hated him and could not speak peaceably to unto him...". Imagine that. The first time I read that I wondered out loud about how awful it would be to be so filled with hate that I could never speak peaceably to my own family, not even one word! How sad that the people of our own country seem to be so filled with hate that they cannot speak peaceably unto each other.
Source(s):
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/09/02/obama_plans_televised_speech...

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NDE3Y2VmMGRjNWIwMjE0NTQ2M2ZlNTZlMD...

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/02/conservatives-wave-red-fl...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/02/jim-greer-florida-gop-cha_n_275287...

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