Posted on 09/05/2009 6:31:04 AM PDT by Son House
"I think we've reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can't tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success."
But critics objected to the language of one of the lesson plans, for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 6, that suggested that students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president." Another assignment for students after hearing the speech was to discuss what "the president wants us to do."
The suggestion about writing letters has since been changed to: "Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said the changes to the language are intended to make the lesson plans clearer. He added that the president's speech will not be a policy speech, but is intended to encourage kids to work hard and commit to school.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on Friday defended Obama's plan to address students.
"The bottom line is we need the president of the United States of America to use his bully pulpit to talk to kids about the importance of education and to help inspire kids," she said on radio station WOR in New York.
The White House plans to release the text of the speech online Monday so parents can read it. Obama will deliver the speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
^
They've scrapped the Bill Ayer's inspired draft
Weather Underground Bill Ayers, “Over throwing the Capitalist System, and put in something more humane”
Please explain to us what THIS line from the lesson plan was suppose to accomplish
Write a letter explaining what you can do to help the Presidnet."
I’ll tell you what’s silly - that Robert Gibbs makes $175,000 per year. There should be outrage over an incompetent boob making that kind of money at taxpayer expense.
The protestors are malicious right wing nutjobs.
All they can do is demonize their opponents.
Bottom rail on top ,,,,, not so easy ,,,, huh ?
It’s all a joke to these clowns. I watch them on tv with their ear to ear grins, chortling with contempt and arrogance while their desired crises mount minute by minute.
Now Gibbs is calling American parents concerned about their children ,”SILLY”. Nice diplomatic move you moron!
Gibbs is as stupid as his boss.
Everything Gibb’s says is silly, he is a clown who works for the clown in chief.
Whatever, Mr. Gibbs! We’ve proved that we can organize and mobilize, and put the brakes on your efforts, and it is just beginning!
The majority of America is putting you on notice. Your shenanigans are gonna come to an end.
You are being found out.
> Treating flippantly, We the People.
> Heaping upon yourselves lavish bonuses and perks.
> Conducting business to benefit the buddy buddy system.
> Open borders.
> Fiscal mismanagement.
Your elitist attitude will eventually bring you down.
Stupid, fatso Gibbs: Stay Away From America’s Children!
These lefties creep me out.
Robert Gibbs ignites some deep fiery anger in the depths of my being. It’s the smugness. I can tolerate almost anything except his level of smugness.
Let that sink in for a minute...
It must be “Silly Season” at the White House when there are much more crucial problems in America and all Obozo wants to do is chat with kids.
A Nation At Risk - April 1983
A Nation At Risk
All, regardless of race or class or economic status, are entitled to a fair chance and to the tools for developing their individual powers of mind and spirit to the utmost. This promise means that all children by virtue of their own efforts, competently guided, can hope to attain the mature and informed judgement needed to secure gainful employment, and to manage their own lives, thereby serving not only their own interests but also the progress of society itself. Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world. This report is concerned with only one of the many causes and dimensions of the problem, but it is the one that undergirds American prosperity, security, and civility. We report to the American people that while we can take justifiable pride in what our schools and colleges have historically accomplished and contributed to the United States and the well-being of its people, the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people. What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur—others are matching and surpassing our educational attainments.
If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. We have even squandered the gains in student achievement made in the wake of the Sputnik challenge. Moreover, we have dismantled essential support systems which helped make those gains possible. We have, in effect, been committing an act of unthinking, unilateral educational disarmament.
Our society and its educational institutions seem to have lost sight of the basic purposes of schooling, and of the high expectations and disciplined effort needed to attain them. This report, the result of 18 months of study, seeks to generate reform of our educational system in fundamental ways and to renew the Nation’s commitment to schools and colleges of high quality throughout the length and breadth of our land.
That we have compromised this commitment is, upon reflection, hardly surprising, given the multitude of often conflicting demands we have placed on our Nation’s schools and colleges. They are routinely called on to provide solutions to personal, social, and political problems that the home and other institutions either will not or cannot resolve. We must understand that these demands on our schools and colleges often exact an educational cost as well as a financial one.
On the occasion of the Commission’s first meeting, President Reagan noted the central importance of education in American life when he said: “Certainly there are few areas of American life as important to our society, to our people, and to our families as our schools and colleges.” This report, therefore, is as much an open letter to the American people as it is a report to the Secretary of Education. We are confident that the American people, properly informed, will do what is right for their children and for the generations to come.
Frankfurt School followers infiltrated public and higher education, the N.E.A. and many church denominations during the mid 1900’s. Those folks brought us sensitivity training and consensus building.
Their Marxist-socialist plan was indoctrination of youth over time, leading to an eventual vote that would turn America hard left. That was 11/4/8.
Search on “Frankfurt School”.
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