Posted on 09/02/2009 8:21:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
An upcoming presidential address to local school children may bring the United States’ current fractious political climate to local classrooms.
A little more than a week after President Barack Obama announced that he would be delivering a speech directly to children in classrooms across the country on Tuesday, some local parents have caught wind and are up in arms about what they perceive to be the president’s ulterior motives.
Lety Martinez, the Odessa City Council PTA president, said the majority of parents she quickly polled about the president’s address were in favor of their children watching, with only one mother who expressed concern that the president speech was an attempt to “indoctrinate” America’s school children.
But other officials have heard their fair share of complaints from parents who find Obama’s speech suspect.
“We’ve had calls all day long on both sides,” Ector County Independent School District Director of Communications Mike Adkins said. “Some folks are excited that the presidents is going to address the kids. And some folks are not all that excited that the president is going to address the kids.”
He said the district’s administration, however, is largely leaving the decision up to individual schools and teachers, who can decide for themselves if they want to play the address in their classrooms.
But if parents should decide they don’t want their children to watch the address — which will be aired via webcast at noon Tuesday on the White House website, www.whitehouse.gov — Adkins said they do have the option of requesting that their children be excused from that particular class, as per the ECISD handbook’s policy that they may do so on grounds that the speech “conflicts with your religious or moral beliefs.”
“The onus is on parents to go to their campus and talk to the principal if they have objections to it,” Adkins said.
In a statement released Wednesday by the district, however, the district cited a letter form the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and concluded that the speech does not appear to include any elements of political indoctrination or bias.
“The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning,” Duncan’s letter to school principals reads. “He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.”
According to ECISD’s statement, these are the same principles “ECISD continually trumpets to its own community.”
Suzanne Marchman, a spokesperson for the Texas Education Agency, said state officials are encouraging parents to refrain from keeping their children home from school all day because they are scheduled to watch the address during one of their classes.
“You would think the parents would realize their kids are going to miss a lot of educational opportunities by keeping their kids home all day,” Marchman said. “But, then again, I’m not a parent.”
Odessa High School Principal Ron Leach said the president’s speech could have educational value, particularly for the social studies teachers with whom he met to discuss this issue, and therefore has not given any “hardcore mandates” about whether teachers should show the president’s speech.
“It’s a current event to us,” Leach said. “It’s not a philosophy. We’re not Republicans or Democrats. As we approach things like that, that’s not different than anything else that happens on a daily basis.”
Because it is rare that a president speaks directly to America’s students in their classroom, he said he appreciates the speech’s potential for historical — and therefore educational — significance and value within pertinent subjects.
So for the most part, Leach said, he is leaving it up to individual teachers to decide.
“Their job is not to direct the opinion with kids but to allow them to discuss it openly,” he said, “not to direct their sense of values.”
In fact, Leach added, not showing the speech in some appropriate classes because of its sensitive nature may prove detrimental to the education of students.
As educators, he said, it is teachers’ and administrators’ jobs to give their students an opportunity to learn as much as they can about an issue before coming to their own conclusion about it, whatever that conclusion may be, because that’s a key part of “teaching the democratic process.”
“If it’s not dealt with as a current event and something worth discussing, then we’re missing the boat on what we’re teaching kids,” he said. “Our job is to stimulate discussion and help them become public-minded citizens.”
The bottom line, Leach said, is that “we’re not going to be shutting down school due to this, not by any stretch of the imagination.”
“What’s amazing is kids always surprise you,” he added. “A lot of times they’re smarter than we give them credit for. But they need the opportunity to develop themselves.
“The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother’s care, shall be in state institutions at state expense.”
- Karl Marx
If that doesn't say it all...every parent who cares about his or her child should keep that child home from school. Let the idiot schoolmasters suffer the loss of state revenue when attendance drops through the floor for a day.
I’ve currently got my kids in Christian school.
If they show this broadcast, required or not, home school here I come.
I call BS. That's like some idiot congresscritter staffer saying that they're getting calls on both sides of the healthcare issues. Yeah, 99 against, 1 for.
Bammy should take a clue from the late Jacko and serve them all cookies and milk-—’very charming, very sweet’.
I plan on signing my kid out at noon and entering “sick of government intrusion” as the reason on the sign out sheet
So everybody is very happy or neutral. Nobody is virulently against the idea? Bull Puckey!!
Superb.
National Strike at Schools. That is what is needed. A National Strike.
Start at Schools on Tuesday. Continue with a Complete National Strike on Sept 12.
First of many. It will make the tea party look like a teddybear picnic.
Like Chavez or Castro, he's playing Big Brother to the youngest and most impressionable.
Lety Martinez, the Odessa City Council PTA president, said the majority of parents she quickly polled about the president’s address were in favor of their children watching, with only one mother who expressed concern that the president speech was an attempt to “indoctrinate” America’s school children.
***
And I suppose she looked up the parents’ phone numbers in the Local Democrat’s Phonebook ...
I would make it a learning moment.
Keep your kid home, have them read the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and The Declaration. Discuss it with them.
In hour two, have them listen to Glenn Beck.
After lunch, take the kid for drive to local historical places. Have Rush on the radio as you go.
Think of it as Field Day.
What does malaise have to do with the article?
Obama’s “look at me” attitude is tiresome.
I have finally realized what troubles me about this....
What problem is the president trying to solve with this speech? What is he going to say that parents and schools do not already say (Work hard, be competitive, etc..). What about the president’s eco leads him to think that one speech will have a difference?
It takes a narcissist to think they have this much sway over people, or children. Parents can be trusted to handle this message. The president does not need to give this speech. He needs to trust the resolve and capabilities of Americans to do what is right to raise our children.
Students don’t do well in school becasue we have crappy schools, high overhead, noway to replace under performing teachers, etc. He should work on that or get out of the way, not give speech. He is not Stalin.
OK Jimmuh! Malais ain't cuttin it here.
What I feel is extreme forboding, fiery anger, and a great big dose of---"See? We've been telling you this administration is up to no good.
vaudine
Like Chavez or Castro, he's playing Big Brother to the youngest and most impressionable.
Outstanding post! And most teachers are right there with him.
Regards,
TS
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