Posted on 11/18/2008 2:01:20 PM PST by pissant
When second- and third-graders chanted “Assassinate Obama” on a Madison School District bus recently, district spokeswoman Janet Goodliffe explained that most of the children didn’t understand what the words mean. According to The Associated Press, she attributed the chant to the community’s being “highly conservative” and overwhelmingly for John McCain.
I admire Janet Goodliffe as a preschool education leader. But as a teacher, she offered tortured excuses instead of capitalizing on a great teaching opportunity.
This is not an isolated incident. As a former teacher and Idaho Falls school volunteer, Luella Hendrickson, wrote on this page Thursday, after the election, children in her daughter’s elementary class condemned Obama for being a Muslim, not being a U.S. citizen, selling out to the Arabs, taking away our guns, etc.
Anyone with ears to hear know these children were parroting their parents. Children get the drift from home: The new president is radical, dangerous and not to be trusted.
How terribly sad.
Elsewhere, Obama’s election loosened a joy and celebration unknown for decades, including unprecedented acclaim from abroad. It was the greatest imaginable affirmation of America’s capacity to renew itself. It could only have happened in the U.S.A. Whether you voted for him or not, you could be proud of your country in this hour.
Predisposed by their parents, many Idaho children will miss the marvelous message that, with character and ability, anyone can succeed here. They may go on muttering, complaining and passing on adult myths instead of joining in the renewal we so badly need.
Goodliffe did say School Superintendent Geoffrey Thomas, another admirable educator, had reminded district employees that words like “assassinate” are taken seriously by law enforcement and stressed tolerance of different political viewpoints.
All well and good but he, too, misses what’s been going on.
Rumors about Obama’s religion and loyalty—which have persisted for a year in the face of contrary evidence—are not “political views” to be “tolerated.” They are lies. They should be denounced explicitly. They should be used to teach not mere tolerance but the difference between truth and falsehood.
Chanting “Assassinate Obama” is not some kids’ cutup but signals a serious underlying malady.
Lies, innuendos and slurs have become commonplace in close Idaho elections in the form of ugly last minute “robo calls” and leaflets. Yet the next day they’re dismissed by most Idahoans with a wink and a sigh, as if politics is a realm divorced from honesty and accountability. All’s fair if it’s done by my side.
That’s what kids are learning and from this comes the chant.
But forget politics and consider their education alone.
We live in a world so interconnected our food is harvested mostly by black and brown hands, without which we’d starve. When today’s elementary children reach 40, the majority of Americans will be people of color. Will our children understand this new world?
Ignorance and prejudice cripple education, stunt economies and corrode culture. Success comes not just to the nimble of mind but to the open of heart.
People who professed to be Christian have been maligning an honorable man continually. Were Christ to return, how would he judge liars and rumormongers? Are we not one people of God, striving for justice, mercy and truth?
A principled, intelligent, and deserving man is our new president. John McCain said it best: In a time of terrible challenge, let us unite and move forward together.
Adults may wallow in resentment and delusion if they wish but not, I pray, the children. From altars and pulpits, from classrooms and dinner tables, let children learn that the days of racial hatred are passing and that truth is sacrosanct. Grab those words from the school bus and teach our children well: Never again.
Jerry Brady is president of the Post Co. and co-chairman of Idaho for Obama. This column appeared first on Nov. 16. Reprinted with permission from the Post Co.
BUT:
This is not an isolated incident. As a former teacher and Idaho Falls school volunteer, Luella Hendrickson, wrote on this page Thursday, after the election, children in her daughter’s elementary class condemned Obama for being a Muslim, not being a U.S. citizen, selling out to the Arabs, taking away our guns, etc.
Sounds to me that those kids are alot closer to the truth than you are, you commie stooge.
I smell a Tawanna.
Total fabrication. The incident and the article.
Too young. They'll never make it past White House security. ;)
This is a lie, and it is just another excuse for the state to intrude on the family. Round up the kids and place them in state care, send the parents to the camps!
Me, too.
BULL-BLEEP. Why should I be proud of my country? Who are you to tell me how I should feel? It's not his race, it's his philosophy of government that bothers me!
seems like someone needs to post that BS meter
Somone’s parent probably called Obama an a** and the kid was learning about Abraham Lincoln and put two and two together.
My daughter called cheese and crackers “Jesus Crackers” for forever.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6KUDv1wzraWhwlBt1
The schools are turning their students against their parents, kids come home from school and don’t want to “eat animals” anymore and start spouting green propaganda. The Enviro-Communists are indoctrinating kids very young.
I call BS.
Absolutely -
why in God’s Creation should I be proud of turning our country over to a Marxist?
oh... yeah, because he has a higher than average melanin content in his skin.
Yep.
How terribly sad.
I agree completely. Wait what do you mean I'm taking the quote out of context? The MSM does it all the time.
when I was child I had about as much interest in politics as I did nuclear physics. I did not know what either of them were .This does NOT pass the smell test
Brady (pansy)-—
The real question is “Are you smarter than a 2nd grader?”
Answer: NO.
Besides, this story has all the hallmarks of one
of those madeup “incidents” designed to rally not only
sympathy for the President and the Dems, but also justify
the coming crackdown. CAIR regulary makes up stories about anti-Muslim bias, in order to accomplish the same thing.
I agree. Seems like there are a lot of these poor Obama assassination stories. Wonder why?
What time does the bus taking the parents to reeducation camp leave?
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