Malia Learns Knowledge Is Good

(Nov. 5) -- Anyone who's ever been 11 years old understands the sense of dread that strikes when your parent tells a story about you in public. Think what it's like when your dad is the president.

During a speech on education Wednesday, President Obama went off-script for a few moments to reveal to the world that his older daughter Malia recently got a 73 on a science test.

He did it to make a point about how parents should set high standards and students should take responsibility for their education. Malia was "depressed" about her test score, her father said, because she knew the expectation within the Obama family is for "90 percent and up." He asked what she was going to do. The sixth-grader at Sidwell Friends School resolved to read chapters all the way through and adjust her approach to studying for tests, the president said.

On Tuesday, Malia came home with a 95 on her latest test.

"I just like having knowledge," she told her dad.

Call it Malia's "knowledge is good" moment -- in honor of one of the first laughs in that cinematic homage to higher education, "Animal House." During the opening credits, a shot of a statue honoring Faber College's founder shows a plaque that reads:

Emil Faber
Founder A.D. 1904
Knowledge Is Good

It's funny because it's so simplistic, so self-evident -- but also so true. And once kids learn the value of "having knowledge," they crave more.

Parents must "set a high bar" for their children, the president said. But students must want to get over that bar. When Malia got a 73, her parents didn't tell her what to do and didn't do the work for her. The learning was up to her.

"What was happening was she had started wanting it more than us," the president explained. "Once you get to that point, our kids are on their way."

So Malia Obama's science test trauma is a lesson for everyone. However, some people are questioning whether the president, who normally demands privacy for his children, should have used his daughter as an example in a speech about education standards.

"Somewhere ... Chelsea Clinton is grimacing in commiseration," New York Magazine's Chris Rovzar wrote.

You can just imagine Malia's first word to the president when he returned to the White House on Wednesday.

"Da-a-a-d!"

The Right to Bear Cheese

There was a memorable father-daughter moment of a different kind at President Obama's speech in Madison, Wis.

Mansfield Neblett wanted to show his love for the Dairy State while he attended the event at his daughter's school. So he donned his cheesehead hat -- one of those big, yellow wedges favored by Green Bay Packers fans -- and headed off to Wright Middle School.

At first, the Secret Service wouldn't let him in the building, declaring the cheesehead a security risk. Neblett persisted and said he'd leave if he couldn't wear the hat. Agents finally relented, and Neblett not only got inside, but the president ended up autographing his cheesehead. He and his daughter Jennifer posed for pictures with it outside the school. But, apparently, the hat won't become a family heirloom.

"I'm going to sell it on eBay!" Neblett declared.