Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- At the moment President Barack Obama strode to the podium in Arlington, Virginia, yesterday, fifth- graders watching from M. Agnes Jones Elementary School in Atlanta clapped their hands and cheered with glee.

The indoctrination was about to begin.

Actually, it started before the president’s speech. Some of the teachers had been priming their students with (get this!) lesson plans.

And while I saw no sign-up booths for the Socialist Workers Party and heard no singing of Solidarity Forever, it was unmistakably clear at this school that the teachers had completely bought into the president’s propaganda.

Evidence of the brainwashing showed up when teacher Veronica Seville directed her students to set goals according to categories that Obama would mention in his speech.

“What kind of goals for community service?” Seville asked her students.

Hands all over the room shot up from these future community organizers. Seville called on a girl.

“Help your elders,” she said.

Why do that, the teacher wanted to know?

“Because some people don’t have money,” came the answer.

Socialism, here we come!

“Because you might need help when you get old,” offered another student.

You might need help dying is what the kid meant. And if you do, Obama’s your man.

Deeply Misled

Sarcasm aside, I hope parents who kept their children out of school rather than risk an Obama brainwashing now recognize how deeply they were misled by ideologues sowing fear over radio airwaves and cable television.

No message could have been more traditional, more conservative, than the one the president delivered. Work hard to succeed. Stay in school. Do your homework.

What was different was that it didn’t seem to produce yawns among its intended audience. At least, there was no visible boredom at M. Agnes Jones Elementary School, located on Fair Street in Atlanta, where boarded up duplexes and “Bank Owned” signs dominate. I floated among three fifth grade classrooms before, during and after the speech.

These are children, all of them black, for whom Obama is an idol. His political opponents say he is building a cult of personality. I agree the president seems to be enamored with his own rhetorical skill, even if his actions don’t always match his words.

Something for Nothing

On this day, he put that skill to work to make a non- partisan, all-American point to an impressionable population: You can’t get something for nothing.

He aimed his message directly at children with more troubled lives, who may be tempted to blame others rather than take responsibility for improving their lot.

“I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork,” the president said to the children.

Well, he had troubles, too. His father deserted the family when he was 2, and his mother worked and still had trouble paying the bills, he said.

“There were times when I missed having a father in my life,” Obama told them.

No, this wasn’t a standard back to school speech, for it carried more meaning coming from someone whose background these kids at Jones elementary could understand.

No Excuses

But it wasn’t some sort of pity party, either. However poor they may be, however crime-ridden their neighborhoods or chaotic their home lives, “That’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude,” Obama said. “That’s no excuse for not trying.”

How many presidents can say that without sounding callous or clueless?

All those conservatives who are sick and tired of leaders who peddle victimhood to the poor should be standing on their chairs rejoicing.

“No one’s written your destiny for you,” the president told them. “Here in America,” he said, “you make your own future.”

A relative of mine who taught inner-city teenagers says many of her students had ambitions for becoming doctors and lawyers but couldn’t write a paragraph. They had been told they could be whatever they wanted to be. But they had neither the background nor skills to know what it would take to get there.

Lesson Plans

In the fifth grade classes where I saw teachers doing lesson plans around Obama’s speech, no child could get away with saying what they wanted to become as an adult without being asked what they are doing now to get there.

An aspiring lawyer is preparing himself for the debating club. A girl who wants to be president is reading up on Abraham Lincoln and (naturally) sharpening her speaking skills.

Work to succeed is the message the children who stayed in school took away.

Those whose parents refused to let them listen got a more radical one. It’s more extreme than questioning authority, because you can’t question something you don’t hear.

The message those children were given is to disrespect the president. I’m not big on blind faith myself, but there are worse things to learn in school than respecting the office of the presidency.

More dangerous is the notion that you shouldn’t even listen to ideas someone has led you to believe could be different from yours. You don’t have to bother with looking into these ideas yourself or check what you’re told against the evidence.

So what if Obama’s speech had been about health care? What would have been wrong with using that as a jumping off point for a full-out debate on the subject, a way to study the legislative process at work?

The students at Jones got a rich lesson yesterday when Obama linked their own lives to the well-being of the country.

Those who missed it learned how to drop out when they disagree with authority. They learned how not to be a fully participating citizen in this democracy of ours.

(Ann Woolner is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

To contact the writer of this column: Ann Woolner in Atlanta at awoolner@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 8, 2009 21:00 EDT