WASHINGTON (AP) -- Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the furor surrounding President Barack Obama's speech this week to the nation's school children is "silly."
Duncan's department is taking heat for proposed lesson plans distributed to accompany Tuesday's speech. Duncan acknowledges that a section about writing to the president on how students can help him meet education goals was poorly written and has been changed.
Duncan says viewing the speech is "purely voluntary." And he says the hubbub is something "I frankly don't pay any attention to."
He says he's is focused "laser-like" on the big problems in the country's education system.
Duncan spoke on CBS"s "Face the Nation."
