Posted on 09/04/2009 10:55:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Why I Don't Want the Obama Speech Shown in Other Schools As I have said, I am happy President Obama has decided to deliver a back-to-school message Tuesday at Wakefield High, an A-plus school in Arlington County. I just wish the White House hadn't suggested that students at other schools across the nation watch it, for a reason I have not heard much in the increasingly heated political debate over the announcement.
I don't think the speech is an effort to "spread President Obama's socialist ideology," as charged by Jim Greer, chairman of the Florida Republican Party. I don't think it will turn its young viewers into guinea pigs, as columnist Michelle Malkin said. I do think it poses logistical difficulties, as many schools have complained, but that does not go far enough in identifying the problem.
The speech will take up class time. American children need every available minute for learning. They are not getting it, and watching the president's speech won't help.
I know Tuesday will be in many cases the first day of school, where there are traditionally many interruptions. That is part of my point. We have come to accept breaks in the learning day---assemblies, morning announcements, home room periods, parties, early dismissal for sports, even TV news shows. The teachers who have influenced me are convinced they are a waste of time. Why aren't teachers allowed to start teaching as soon as students arrive, that first day and all days after?
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
I seriously disagree with this. I truly believe anything obama does is politically motivated.
The amusing thing about this...which the teachers unions, White House, advisors, and Obama fail to grasp....is that barely ten kids out of one hundred that watch this...will grasp anything.
Fifteen kids will be doped up or drunk...so they don’t get any plus out of this. Six kids will be sleeping because they were out till 1AM (as a sixteen year old kid). Forty kids will plotting the overthrow of the teacher, the school or Obama’s agenda...simply because they are anti-authority. Nine of these kids will be writing letters during their speech to Quarterback Tod who might be inviting them out on a date. Ten of the kids will be sitting there and having various fantasies about their teacher-girlfriend who accepted an invite to the local motel this weekend.
And finally, the last ten....who watch Rush and Glenn Beck...will immediately challenge the teacher to a debate as the show ends. They have their argument prepared and this dimwit teacher who barely graduated Arkansas State and doesn’t know a thing about English Literature...is stuck there having to listen to more gifted and intelligent kids than they themselves are.
The thing is...we’re turning the classroom into a political debate atmosphere....like this health care debate. This is the absolute wrong place to turn into a battleground. We don’t need red-versus-blue battleground schools. If this becomes a trend, then the Republic is pretty much finished off.
When President Reagan was inaugurated, I was 11 years old. On the day of the inauguration was a school day. The social studies teacher brought to school his personal 12 inch screen black and white tv so that we kids could watch it. He set it up where we usually had our science classes because that was the largest classroom in the building, and could bring in other kids from the other classrooms. What with the tv being so tiny, and the classroom packed with other kids (many of whom stood on their chairs so that they could see), some of my classmates and myself used that opportunity to play quietly in the rear of the classroom. The kids standing on their chairs hid us from sight from the teachers. We had no idea what this inauguration stuff was all about, nor did we care. We didnt even know who Reagan was at the time. We just saw that moment for a break from our usual studies. Many times I miss being that naive and uninformed.
I love how for 40 years, it was acceptable (even funny, by late-night TV’s performances) how ignorant our children were about history, civics, etc., but now the 1st question on Dear Leader’s (original)list is: who is the president? As far as my children are concerned, we’ll have to wait until the lawsuits regarding eligibilty determine that. I believe a driving force behind this is that many children are not seeing him on TV (because we have multiple channels, and static if worst comes to worst). Since our personal “dear leader” is Benedict XVI, this presidency will pass with as little notice as that of his predecessor (who I voted for twice, without regrets, by the way).
That was straight out of the Pyongyang handbook on creating a cult of personality.
>>The thing is...we’re turning the classroom into a political debate atmosphere....like this health care debate. This is the absolute wrong place to turn into a battleground. We don’t need red-versus-blue battleground schools. If this becomes a trend, then the Republic is pretty much finished off.<<
You may be right, but you may be wrong.
Maybe debate would be healthy in school. Maybe the youngsters need to develop critical thinking skills, instead of believing stuff cuz it’s “cool.”
It might be a good idea for children to be exposed to all sides of an issue, instead of the spoonfed liberal line.
That might not be such a bad idea.
Sorry, I don't see that happening.
"Critical thinking skills" is marxist doggerel right out of Frankfurt critical theory. No, we do not need to teach children to critique everything. We need to teach the trivium--grammar, logic and rhetoric. Without being able to organize and articulate their thoughts, all they have is emotion on which to base their "critical thinking". That is why marxists push "critical thinking". It isn't thinking at all.
I think you posted to the wrong person, or else uo misunderstood me.
My point is that the NEA is a bunch of Obama enforcers, and anybody who doesn’t recognize this as a boldfaced move to propagandize isn’t too bright.
I didn’t say “teach” critical thinking. I said “allow” it.
And critical thinking is to becshunned because it reeks of Marxism? That is pure idiocy.
Doesn't reek of it. That is where leftists in education get it. From Frankfurt School Critical theory. Education as psychology.
The term is used so often, I guess many are unaware of how it came to be used so freely. But what its about is real. They only idiocy is among those who believe breaking down kids in such a manner will create a better society.
While I am dead set against the speech, that is the lamest excuse I've seen.
Children today have school canceled at the very appearance of snow flakes and icy roads. Not air-conditioning? Cancel classes.
It's all Bullsh*t.
Your not a voter citizen, your not addressed. If your a minor, double protected from govt. anything.
I probably did. Sorry 'bout that.
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