— from a few years ago.

Controversy has followed a scheduled “back-to-school” speech U.S. President George W. Bush is set to deliver on Tuesday.

A small group of protesters gathered outside Wakefield High School in the Washington suburb of Arlington as the president’s motorcade was arriving for his midday speech.

One sign read, “Mr. President, stay away from our kids.”

The seemingly innocuous speech welcoming children back after the summer break has been overshadowed by the politics surrounding the “No Child Left Behind” debate that has gripped the country’s attention.

In the speech, scheduled to begin a little after noon ET, the president will speak directly to children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school, the White House says. An advance copy of the speech suggests he will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning.

When plans for the speech were first unveiled, it was accompanied by a set of directives to schools opting to broadcast the speech. The directives concerned ways to get students to write essays about how to help the president do his job.

Critics saw that as political interference, even as the administration dismissed it as a harmless way of helping schools in their civics curricula.

His opponents further suggested the address to schoolchildren was part of his strategy to overhaul the education system in the United States. That divisive debate has dominated the nation’s attention all summer.

“President Bush has turned to American’s children to spread his conservative lies, indoctrinating American’s youngest children before they have a chance to decide for themselves,” said the Florida Democrat chair, adding, “It’s inappropriate to use taxpayer dollars to broadcast White House politics into the nation’s school system.”

The White House attempted to put cold water on the controversy by releasing the speech without any such directives on Monday.

But based on the presence of protestors, that may not have been enough to quell outrage.

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No, this never happened. But I wonder if it had, if the people now opposed to having this speech in schools would instead have been accepting of its arrival. Similarly, would they have brushed off the protests as “typical liberal soft-hearted nonsense?” It seems to me, this issue has nothing to do with any policy or rational belief against indoctrination. After all, I do not remember hearing a “liberal” agenda telling children to think like them or they are somehow unpatriotic, weak Americans.

Rather, I have heard an emphasis on individuality, even on sedition, if one were to take after Thomas Jefferson. Would such encouragement be responsible, or “better?” I am in no position to say. But I can say that — empirically, based on evidence — one group is more noted for their ability and willingness to indoctrinate. And the other is not.

I suppose which is which changes based on your individual perspective.