Estimated reading time: 6 – 10 minutes
With all the brouhaha brewing over President Barack Obama’s speech to students next Tuesday, I thought I ought to call my son’s school to express my support for it. I was horrified to learn that, in spite of the fact that it is on the school calendar:
It is left to the discretion of the school principal to show the speech or not – or to tape it to show at a later time:
My son’s school has decided to tape the speech and show it – on WEDNESDAY – to students who bring in a permission slip on Tuesday morning:
I cannot even imagine that my parents would have been given a permission slip to sign, had a U.S. President chosen to address school children during school hours when I was growing up. I’ve already done my homework; I have reviewed the Department of Education Web site, printed out the lesson plans, and planned to discuss them with my son. If I had any concerns about the content of our President’s speech – and I don’t – I could certainly keep my child home, ask that he be sent to the library during the speech, or watch it myself and discuss with my child where my views differed from those of the President. That is what freedom of expression is all about. The ONLY reason for the supreme protection afforded to “speech” isn’t so we can all blather profanity on Internet forums, but so that we can exchange political ideas and debate them on the merits.
I know some parents are unhappy with a Democratic Black man in office. I get it. But this is the person the majority of voters chose to represent the U.S. both at home and abroad. Pull it together. It’s time to support the office, no matter what you think of the man. Most of us did that with President George W. Bush, and President George H.W. Bush, before him. We disagreed, but we didn’t prevent them from speaking to students.
What are you teaching your children about respect and patriotism?
The Republican Party of Florida claimed that Obama would “indoctrinate” school children with “socialist ideology,” forcing them “to watch the president justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other president.” The originator of that ludicrous rumor has recanted:
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President Obama is going to speak on goal setting and the importance of education. It’s a 15-20 minute speech. And you can watch it, yourself. You can read the lesson plans. And if you really can’t stand the notion that your child might somehow be harmed by listening to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, then keep your child home. I’m surprised you’re not homeschooling, in the first place.
Oh, it was fine when George H.W. Bush spoke to school children in 1991, wasn’t it?
It was fine when George W. Bush, accompanied by the Secretary of Education, continued reading to children the morning of 9/11, wasn’t it?
Incidentally, this is the first time I watched the whole video – and I have to say I can think of better uses for our President’s time. Like maybe giving an inspirational and encouraging address to all of the students in the U.S. at the same time, instead of sitting there with that incredibly bored look, barely paying attention to these kids who are performing for their President. Barely paying attention to the country, for that matter:
What about when John F. Kennedy inspired kids to get fit? Too bad we don’t have a President inspiring our little couch potatoes to get active and make childhood obesity a thing of the past. What about when JFK said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?” Next time the Republicans gear up for war and try to recruit our young men and women to join the military and risk their lives on behalf of our nation and its ideals, they’d do well to think carefully about this and remember that it was a Democratic President who said it.
What the hell is wrong with people?
During the campaign, such a flap was made of Obama’s not wearing a flag pin in his lapel, but any real encouragement of kids to support their country and DO something – get involved in civic life – is to be discouraged and picked apart and blasted left and right? It’s just ludicrous. I guess a symbolic gesture – and pledging allegiance to a flag (or two, if you’re in Texas) – is laudable in the eyes of some, but real patriotism and real service to one’s country and one’s neighbors…forget it.
I don’t believe for one second that our school district has chosen to delay the broadcast because it “conflicts with the school day.” Here in the reddest of red states, I’m sure the real conflict they hope to avoid is a picket line of angry and irrational parents who believe the President is out to “indoctrinate” their kids with his “socialist” ideology. These people could have kept their kids home, as they threatened to do, so the rest of our kids could watch the speech live.
Yes, I’m disappointed. I’m not surprised, really; in retrospect, it was completely predictable. This, after all, is the same district that gave my kids a worksheet in Kindergarten, purporting to show the “lifecycle of a chicken.” It showed, in a nice “circle of life” diagram, a hen laying an egg, an egg hatching to reveal a chick, and a chick growing up to be a hen. Where’s the rooster? What’s wrong with this picture? That’s right… They need to get some balls.
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Regarding “I know some parents are unhappy with a Democratic Black man in office.”
Was the race card really necessary to play?
“I get this.”
I really don’t think you do. Parents and others are unhappy because your chosen leader, not mine, will toss anyone under the bus, including unborn babies and family values, to promote his USA destroying agenda.
The last thing I want is a direct line to the minds of my children.
I’ll pray it is not already to late for you and yours.
I spell Patriotism as I-M-P-E-A-C-H O-B-A-M-A
Bruce, yes, it was. I don’t know where you live, but where I live, the racism is sometimes quite open and quite hostile. I know that’s not the only issue some people have with Obama; perhaps it’s not the main issue, even for those who do take issue with his race. But don’t pretend it isn’t there.
If your chosen leader last go ’round was President Bush, I used to believe that no President single-handedly had the power to do so much damage to our Constitution and our national image as he managed to do in his eight years in office. I now see so many people somehow trying to twist history to place the blame for the last eight years on the CURRENT administration – the revisionism is just amazing to me. That said, I would have allowed my children to listen if Mr. Bush had chosen to speak to them on the importance of education. I probably would have allowed them to listen to any speech by any President – and I might have gone with them to school, had I had genuine concerns about the content that would be presented to them. But I would not have protested or kept them out of school.
Clearly we are on opposite sides of this, but I will approve any comments that can remain civil and not degenerate into personal attacks. IF this becomes a forum for personal attacks and malicious diatribe, I reserve the right to delete comments and ban IPs. Until then, I thank you for offering your viewpoint.
Given the attention span of most Americans nowadays, politicians are most often elected not for thier stance on important issues, but how well they speak and look on television.
And the Republicans are not taking the previous elections very well.
Also, the fear of lawsuits often dictate the decisions leaders make. If an old lady can sue McDonalds over a hot cup of coffee, you can bet school administrators are going to be afraid of getting sued for showing something so controversial as a Presidential speech against the wishes of a few radical, er, Republican parents.
What’s amusing to me, Bill, is that Obama’s ability to speak coherently is so often cited as a negative. I was watching an interesting and disturbing report this afternoon on students buying term papers – Filipino writers working through a Ukrainian firm pretending to be in the U.S. are writing American students’ term papers. For $15/page. I’d say the Filipino writers are getting ripped off, as are the American people. It’s no wonder, though, that an articulate man seems somehow threatening – not “one of us.”
I just want to say that George Bush Sr. has his eye on you.
Carry on…
ROFL – Heather, you’re just trying to give me nightmares with that picture, now, aren’t you? Maybe he’s just winking at YOU.
P.S. In case anyone’s wondering, the picture Heather and I were talking about is here. Along with the text of his “Remarks in a Teleconference With Schoolchildren During the Annual National Space Science Symposium.”
Oh, didn’t George W. Bush ask school children to each donate $1 to Afghanistan?
I just don’t understand what’s so bad with socialism. In Norway, our government runs most of the key areas in our country like healthcare, education and transpo. I don’t mind paying high taxes since I reaped the benefits of it. I am just happy to live in a country where there is a nice balance between capitalism and socialism. It works great in most areas but no system is perfect, but our politicians are trying hard to refine the system. Making it even better. Plus, It gives everyone the same rights whether you’re rich or middle-class. The weak in the society are taken care of not left out to be ravaged by the wolves.
Charles, Socialism got a bad name in this country years ago – long before my time. Interesting that you mention “a balance between capitalism and socialism.” I’ve long suspected that the two could coexist.
Look, we have public schools and private schools. I’m not sure how health care differs. If “educating our children” is a shared value that we’re willing to pay taxes for, and “decent roads within and between states” are something we are willing to pay taxes for (we all grumble about private toll roads raising their rates – at least here in Houston), then why isn’t “healthy people and people NOT dying, going bankrupt, or choosing between life and their kids’ tuition fund or their own retirement fund” a value we can agree on?
In any case, this issue here ISN’T ideology; it’s just whether or not to let our school-aged children listen to our nation’s PRESIDENT give them a special address on the importance of education. It’s NOT unprecedented; Republican Presidents have done this in the past. I think the kids NEED to hear this message, and I’d like for my son to hear it when it’s given – not previewed, tape-recorded, and scheduled the next day during what amounts to “study hall.” Other schools are working this in with History or Social Studies lesson plans – why can’t ours? Because they’re afraid of an angry mob? I have issues with this.
Yes, Scandinavia is a living proof that the two system coexist side by side. The rest of Europe are actually setting us as an example to follow.
The public schools and universities are free here but I go to a private film and media school due to field specialisation. Still, I get my fundings from the state. From elementary to highschool it is compulsory for children here to go to school. For us education is important. It is a right not a luxury same goes to healthcare. I read in the paper here recently that we have a low unemployment rate and independent from the financial crisis because of the state. The state serves as a buffer for those who got bankrupt or lose their jobs. They provide them with necessary help in order to get back on their feet again. I know this isn’t about ideology but I am just wondering here.
Regarding with the issue on hand, I feel your disappointment. I agree that schools should not censor something that everyone has the right to hear or see. They should not decide for the others who are willing to listen what President’s speech just to avoid an angry mob.