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But not mine?!
On the radio I just heard that some people are concerned about President Obama’s plan to address public school children next Tuesday. I thought, well, there’s always a minority with strong and vocal views. And then, at almost the same moment, I came across a note from Amelia’s school. They do not plan to show the speech to the children. Their first reason makes sense, they don’t have the bandwidth to stream it without interruption. Their second reason left me incredulous:
This will [also] give us a chance to review the speech so we can select segments that would tie directly to our curriculum. If we do decide to show a clip in the future, parents will be notified to give their permission or to have their student participate in an alternative assignment.
“If we do decide”? You’ve got to be kidding!
[I should not be blogging because I am still so stirred up, but I just can't help it.] This is something that I don’t understand at all. Perhaps some of my more conservative readers could explain this to me, because I can’t make sense of it. My child’s school needs to preview the speech in which the President is scheduled to “challenge students to work hard, set education goals, and take responsibility for their learning” because this may or may not tie in with their curriculum? I have a suggestion: [Such-and-Such] Elementary if you find something about “challenging students to work hard, set education goals, and take responsibility for their learning” that does not tie in with your curriculum, then consider changing your curriculum!
Also, am I to understand that the principal and teachers at my daughter’s school, who are completely unelected are going to substitute their judgment for that of our elected President? Now I understand that a lot of people feel education decisions need to be made at the local level, but this is ridiculous.
Apparently, there’s still the possibility that they will show a “clip” in the future. The entire speech is only twenty minutes! I wonder, does my daughter’s school plan to pre-review the local sports teams that will visit during assemblies this year? Will they edit those presentations for what ties directly to the curriculum? Or perhaps local sports stars have more legitimacy than the President of the United States?
I am shocked and saddened. I really like my daughter’s teacher, but to me this episode is a huge black mark on my view of her new school. On Tuesday, I will be keeping her home to watch the President’s speech. And Duncan’s school? I am calling the principal to ask his plans.
Updated to Add: I spoke with Duncan’s principal. His elementary school (same school district as Amelia’s elementary school) is going to show the speech to all of their 2nd-6th graders. They are allowing parents to attend the presentation with their children if they wish or to opt out and have their children do some other supervised activity. Since there is such a controversy, I think the school is probably doing the right thing. On the other hand, I think it’s ridiculous. They won’t be sending opt out notices for the rest of the assemblies they have this year. And the other outside groups coming won’t be offering them a transcript of remarks ahead of time either.
The principal thanked me and sounded very grateful that I had called. Apparently, he had been talking to people who do not believe the speech should be shown at school before he talked to me and was glad to talk to someone who didn’t think he was doing the wrong thing. It is important not to be silent, even if you agree with the position your school is taking.
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14 Responses to “President Obama Speaks to Children”
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Our school district is not going to participate either. They cited concerns that the time could be better used for normal curriculum instruction. I don’t have a problem with local school districts doing this–Education is a local concern, and the county school boards are answerable to their local citizens. They don’t have to snap to attention when the President wants.
And I’m not particularly upset that the kids won’t be hearing from Obama. I don’t really doubt that the speech will be nothing but platitudes about staying in school. Nonetheless, I don’t trust the man, or like him, and would prefer that my kindergartner and my third grader were not exposed to him.
I’m kind of irritated about this debate too. We have to turn everything into politics, it seems. Conservatives complained for eight years about people disrespecting President Bush and are now disrespecting President Obama. Must we be tit for tat, or can we all take a higher road? Do people really think his speech written for children is going to include some sort of liberal indoctrination that will harm their child? I’m sorry, but that is just stupid and preposterous. I don’t even know what our kids’ schools are doing, but we’ll definitely watch President Obama’s message at home and discuss it with them.
Frank–I think the argument that the time could be better used for normal curriculum instruction can only carry if the school doesn’t have assemblies with loose ties to educational purposes. That is certainly a claim that schools in our district would not be able to make.
As for the local concern part, well, I’m going to do my best to make sure that my school board members hear from me.
I think some respect should be given to the office of President–if not the man himself. Although I feel very worried about Obama’s costly programs, I don’t see as yet any reason to disrespect Barack Obama himself. To me, it seems there is a lot to admire. He is a great person to speak to my children about the value of hard work and setting educational goals.
I think schools, in partnership with parents, need to help students walk on the path to full and active citizenship in adulthood. (My dissertation was on what it means to be an excellent citizen, so this is a pet passion of mine). Part of that is showing them who the President of the United States is and fostering their curiosity about how he got there. It doesn’t mean the schools should deify him–that would be a mistake. But he is definitely worth talking about and listening to–twenty minutes isn’t too long.
I don’t really understand what you mean when you say that you don’t want your children “exposed” to him. Whatever his problems may be (bankrupting our grandchildren may well be one), he doesn’t seem much like the chicken pox to me. He isn’t some sort of evil you become infected with by hearing or seeing. Especially not if parents are willing to balance the message when necessary. I think parental responsibility means teaching children to think for themselves, to ask questions, and to respond appropriately to people they disagree with. You can’t teach any of these things to your children if you hide them from what you disagree with.
Liz–Discussion is key, isn’t it? Although I agree with you and Frank that I’m really not expecting any harmful indoctrination, talking things over with our kids is what we always need to be doing.
My kids just got home and it turns out that our district is showing the broadcast, but parents may send in an “opt out” request. In my opinion, this is the perfect position for them to take, and I’m heartened by this news!
Thanks for this great blog. I’m quite disturbed by the controversy over this issue. Since when did promoting education become an issue with two sides? Are conservatives really arguing against promoting education?
I’m not a fan of George Bush myself, but if he were the one adressing students, I would have no problem with my kids watching. What is wrong with watching the president give a speech?
I would like my children to be able to opt out of the fundraiser assembly this year. I wouldn’t mind seeing them miss the Miss Utah assembly either (don’t get me started about bimbos in bikinis…). Funny, I never even get told about these assemblies, much less given an “out option”.
If the president were a Republican there would be no parental problems and no opting out. This whole business is politics, pure and simple, and as such it stinks to high heaven (like most politics does…). I agree wholeheartedly with Pmom. The office of the president demands our respect and our attention. Even if you entirely disagree with the man (and maybe some people should try listening to what he’s saying before writing him off as a “liberal Democrat”) it is important that we know what he is saying and what he is doing. Our children are going to be saddled with the enormous debt he’s conjuring for them. Shouldn’t they know something about the man himself?
One of my pet peeves about living in Happy Valley is that Republicanism seems to equal righteousness, and all Democrats are going to lead our children down the primrose path. I am neither one nor the other (a little bit of both) and I believe my children should have the option to decide for themselves (with discussion, of course) what is “righteous” and what isn’t, and what is right and what isn’t. I find Barack Obama fascinating, and we will definitely be watching the speech at home if they don’t get it in school. (My son’s school does not have television capability and I’ve heard nothing from my daughters’ schools.)
I expressed much of my views on this on Facebook, as you know, but I just wish to reiterate and agree with two points made here: First, the office of the President of the United States demands a certain amount of respect, enough that we should listen when he has something to say to us. Whether or not we agree with him is beside the point. We should give him the courtesy of listening to what he has to say before we dismiss it out of hand. Second, the idea that children should be shielded from opinions and people with opinions that differ from our own is ludicrous. It does a disservice to your children and raises them to be close-minded and hateful of everyone who doesn’t agree with them. I don’t agree with Barack Obama’s politics, but I think he is an excellent example of hard work and determination that our children could learn something from. I don’t think he will say anything in this speech I will find offensive. Thanks for this post, I agree with you that we need to speak up about our views even if agree with the school’s position. Support is always nice in a controversy!
I’ll respect him when he respects me. So far Obama and his ilk have been very disparaging towards Middle America, those of us who “cling to our guns and bibles”. Obama does not come off as a “my fellow Americans” sort of President. He comes off as holding himself above that–almost as if he considers himself as a world citizen, and his job is to get us backwards Americans in step with the program. He has a serious disconnect with the average Joe out here. Even Bill Clinton, with all his faults, would not have gotten a reaction like Obama is getting. People had trust problems with him, too, but at least he was all-American.
And, no, this isn’t about race.
The following is by the respected journalist Charles Krauthammer:
“Look, this was never about content. We were not going to have the president urging eight-year-olds to come out in favor of high taxes as patriotic. And anything he said would be perfectly OK, it will be “tie your shoelaces and be nice to your neighbor.”
What is odd and creepy is the conception of government that underlay whoever it was in the Education Department — and it could have been a plural — to have a question [for the kids to write about]: “How can you help your president?”
That is not innocuous. Look, it is not going to do any real damage. We’re not going to have people chanting poems about their Dear Leader. The question is that that kind of thing — about a relationship between the child and the president — is extremely odd. A child has a relationship with a parent or with a teacher, later a mentor or a coach, but not a president.
A child swears allegiance to the flag and the republic for which it stands, but not the man who happens to be sitting in the White House. That’s the difference between a “popular democracy” (which is really a dictatorship) and a constitutional democracy.
And the idea that you would want a child to have any relationship with a president is odd. He shouldn’t have any at all.”
“almost as if he considers himself a world citizen”
Guess what? We live in an interconnected world. We are all world citizens, and the sooner we recognize that our actions in middle America affect the outcome of wars in countries that we can’t even spell, the better we as a nation will be respected and able to further our own interests. People in many parts of the world were bemused, then dismayed by the Bush administration’s narrow focus, and yes, even here in America there are people who care about the fate of other people even if they have brown skin and different accents. President Obama has been a breath of fresh air to those of us who have been ashamed to talk to our non-American friends for the past eight years.
It IS all-American to be a world citizen. The sooner we realize that, the better. So maybe President Obama does need to pull some of the nation, kicking and screaming, into the twenty-first century.
As for respect, one of the first things I saw President Obama do was to hold out a hand to Senator McCain, showing him the utmost respect and desire to work together. Then he invited several influential right-wing members of the press to have lunch with him, in an attempt to steer the national dialogue to a higher plane. Mr. Krauthammer was among them. His articles continue to be incendiary and to make no effort to reconcile. When will the far right stop demanding that everyone else play by the rules of courtesy that they themselves choose to ignore?
I am not an Obama worshipper (in fact, I worship, as you do, the God of the Bible), but I admire the determination and vision of his life story. I want my children to emulate his good qualities, and to question vigorously and articulately all of the bad.
I shouldn’t blog about this, since the whole thing makes me so extremely irritated. How DARE the elected president of our country speak to our children?! Keep them away from him — he may turn them all into socialists!
On the chance you want to hear a well-reasoned argument for why this whol furor is ridiculous, check out this piece by a Dallas Morning News columnist who did not vote for Obama.
Not sure it will work, but here is the link: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jragland/stories/090409dnmetragland.3a33595.html
Parents in your area may be particularly sensitive about the upcoming speech because of the “Pledge to Serve Obama” video that was shown in Utah at an elementary school assembly.
Here is a link to an article in the SL Tribune:
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13249171
Personally I don’t have a problem with Obama wanting to encourage children to succeed in school and help their community–but I agree that asking “What can you do to help the president?” is a bit weird. JFK didn’t ask for help for himself- he said “…ask what you can do for your COUNTRY”.
[Pmom],
I have to comment because I’m in complete agreement with you. Even when you consider that the DOE prepared some questions that asked children what they can do to help their president, it seems strange for everyone to be up in arms about this. I think the DOE questions need to be taken in context and when you read the speech and then read the question, I think the obvious answer is, “work hard, study hard, don’t use your circumstances as an excuse for failure.” I’m glad my school district (Provo School District) opted to show the speech and allow parents to opt out. I think parents should always be allowed to opt out but the district ought to support the president.
Great link Sharon, and I loved the “furor” comment. Sehr gut meine freunde.