President plans to address students nationwide via the internet Sept. 8; schools caught in crossfire as some parents object
Primary Topic Channel: Federal Policy , Multimedia
 |
|
|
|
A plan by President Barack Obama to address students nationwide via the internet Sept. 8 has energized opposition, with some districts refusing to allow students to view the speech. Others, however, say they welcome the opportunity to let students hear from the president directly, and they don't see what all the fuss is about.
"It's hard to understand how a speech by the president of the United States that is expected to encourage students to work hard and stay in school could be so controversial. The anger this has generated among some individuals feels misplaced," said Nora Carr, chief of staff at Guilford County Schools in North Carolina.
Carr, who writes a monthly column for eSchool News on the use of technology to connect with school stakeholders, added that as a public school district, Guilford County welcomes and encourages diverse viewpoints. "We believe in the First Amendment, [so] it's important that students and families with many different viewpoints feel valued and accepted in our schools," she noted--including those who object to the president's speech as well as those who support it.
According to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Obama will discuss the importance of education on what is the first day of school for many students in the United States.
"The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. 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," Duncan said in an Aug. 26 letter to school principals.
However, some school districts are choosing not to show the speech.
The superintendent of the Wichita Falls Independent School District said his district's schools will not participate. The Times Record News reported Sept. 2 that Superintendent George Kazanas said too many aspects of the speech are unusual and atypical and conflict with education protocol.
He added that educators are not getting adequate lead time to work the address into their plans.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is providing resources developed by and for teachers to help engage students and stimulate discussion about persevering and succeeding in school.
Corinne A. Gregory, president and founder of SocialSmarts, a schools-based program that integrates social skills, character, and values into core curricula, said that according to the parents and teachers she's spoken with, the lack of planning time is a problem.
"There was strong encouragement by the White House that everybody, essentially, in schools across America drop their normal educational lesson plans so that all kids could watch this," she said. "But at the same time, it was never said what was going to be in the address, what was going to be discussed, and more importantly, parents, by and large, have not been informed."
Comment now.
Don't forget to check out our Online highlights:
- Discover new resources that help school leaders strengthen their school district inside our new Superintendents Center.
Go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/superintendents-center/
- View this week's Student Video News Cast at www.eschoolnews.tv where you can also upload video too!
- Follow eSchool News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eschoolnews
- Add our RSS feeds or our new widgets to any school web site. Go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/content-exchange-rss/
- Find the latest news in the current issue of eSchool News. Go to http://www.eschoolnews.com/current/
Obama's Speech
Obama's speech to school children aside, people need to take a look at themselves, those who propagated hate when George W was in office. Where was the respect of the President's Office then. All I am saying is, it should not matter who is in the Office of President of The United States, that office should always be shown the respect it deserves. Hate begets hate. It started with George W and it is continuing on now. What a shame.
Posted By: smgrsd, 2009-09-09 8:28 AM
Freedom to Think - indeed you are correct!
When they graduate, and go on to higher institutions of learning, don't they get the exposure to democratic thought and process? Like the right to protest peacefully, the right to challenge the system, and the right to develop their own line of thinking? Do we teach them these democratic principles before they finally earn the right to vote? Most of them will earn that right before they earn a high school diploma. What's different about an FDR fireside chat during a very depressed time, and a president who knows how to reach out and attempt to inspire a current generation? During FDR, war and reconstruction was the economy. Today, knowledge is the economy, with a dash of reconstruction thrown in for survival in our current economic mess. Perhaps a youthful mind will come up with a potential solution to our economic mess. Perhaps it will be based on their preparation to inherit the mess they see around them. How can you take away a poignant moment and address from our president to our youth, regardless of your political predisposition? We already filter what they are supposed to see and hear, and stifle their own ability to reason what is appropriate. Now we take away a potentially inspirational moment? They used to hand out little red books in China....
Posted By: rock.morey, 2009-09-08 7:08 PM
Obama's Education Speech
As my children did not start school until tomorrow we watched the speech at home from my laptop. My children were in awe that the President was taking the time to speak to them. Following the speech I was able to ask them to think about their own school goals. They asked me about the President - they didn't know he went to law school (like their mother) and they were intriqued that his mother woke him up at 4:30 a.m. to do extra studies (they were also relieved I didn't engage in such practices!). There was nothing "political" in the speech unless you consider the idea of self-reliance and responsibility for one's education "political."
Posted By: ninaz, 2009-09-08 7:01 PM
What are people so afraid of?
What is so frightening about the President of the United States encouraging students to stay in school and become educated? The USA needs educated people in order to compete in the global economy. Perhaps they are more afraid that a charismatic African-American President may be too well liked by their children. Or is it that some people are afraid that students of color will take President Obama's talk to heart and there would be more students of color who demand and receive a high quality education. Heaven forbid that all of America's citizens become well educated!
Posted By: drgatorgal, 2009-09-08 5:23 PM
This Is Why I Object....
"History Unfolding I am a student of history. Professionally, I have written 15 books on history that have been published in six languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have come to think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus. Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two. We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why? We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the $700 billion we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the people," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.. We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy.. Why? We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity... Why? We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it simply wants marriage to remain defined as between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose? Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and I know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.. It is potentially 1929 x ten...And we are at war with an enemy we cannot even name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so. And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe are more important.) Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word: Change. Why? I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now. This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again. And that is only the beginning... As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have felt in the mid-1930s In those times, the "savior" was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they should have known was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now. And there were the promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his "brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission. Which they did - regularly. And then, he was duly elected to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at hand - the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized the controls of government power, person by person, department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly what to think.. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of course, How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and .... . .. change. And the people surely got what they voted for. If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the history books. So read your history books. Many people of conscience objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not listened to. Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors.. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them. As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.. I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and why I believe it. I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am. Perhaps the only hope is our vote in the next elections." From David Kaiser, professor in the Strategy and Policy Department of the United States Naval War College. He has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College and Harvard University .
Posted By: clh4591, 2009-09-08 5:03 PM
This just opens the door...
While I have great respect for the office of the president and appreciate the fact that he wishes to encourage our children to be successful in school...I would caution the parents of this nation to be wary of any federal administration attempt to directly have contact with our students regardless of the message. And NO, that does not make me a "conservative" - just a concerned parent. Would you be comfortable with your sophomore student (who will incidentally be a voter in a mere 3 years) receiving "tweets" or facebook comments from a federal administration on a regular basis? While today's speech was seemingly inocuous, we've just opened up the door for much, much more.
Posted By: bbcurtis, 2009-09-08 4:24 PM
Parents, what is your greater fear?
All of this talk about not having enough planning time before hearing the speech and other fabricated "reasons" for blocking the President's speech in schools only points to hypocrisy. The fact is guests visit schools to read books to children, talk to them about careers, health, other cultures, etc without being previewed by parents. Which is the greater fear that children see a Black President who cares enough to take time to address children on the first day of school or be reminded that the Black President stands for family values that we all uphold? It is clear that this opposition is nothing but a pretext for the real reason that lies inside the hearts of those vocal enough to reveal what's inside them.
Posted By: jing13, 2009-09-08 8:02 AM
Why not let parents and kids watch it together?
First, kudos to Prabhu for achieving balance in this article. The majority of today's print and television media could learn something from her about presenting both sides of a story. The president could have defused this controversy by publishing the text of the speech a week or more in advance. But no, his decision was to make it available for review and critique a mere 24 hours before its presentation, and on a national holiday at that. So much for transparency. And again, parents' rightful concerns could be resolved by airing the speech on network television at 7:00 pm. Parents could decide for themselves whether to view the president's message together with their children. We could avoid the massive disruption this speech will inevitably cause and the loss of many precious hours of school time. Although I deeply distrust this president, I do not believe he is going to poison our kids' minds with this speech. It all seems like a tempest in a teapot. But there is a sad irony in this. The previous 8 years saw an unfortunate precedent established- that a sitting president could be savaged mercilessly and without cease for every policy, every initiative, every statement, every failing whether real or perceived, without any questioning of the attacker's motives or credibility. It's almost laughable now to hear some express shock and wonder at how the office of the presidency no longer commands respect. Ye reap as ye sow, and it is a bitter harvest, indeed.
Posted By: vrwc, 2009-09-07 9:02 AM
Graceworker response
I am confused, how do you know what the curriculum calls for? Socialism is not Communism nor is it a dictatorship- please do your own homework and don't just blindly quote whatever right wing garbage you have been fed.
Posted By: dgreene, 2009-09-06 6:45 PM
 |
You need to be registered at eSchoolnews.com to add your comments. If you do not have a username / password please register here ! Registration is very simple and will not take much time! |
I commend the author of this article for posting the various sides of this story. Education is important, and I am glad that the President is addressing its importance. Education continues through adulthood as well. As citizens, we must educate ourselves and our youth about the statements, opinions and agendas of our government in order to help form our own conclusions, defend our opinions with facts and not heresay, and demand answers or actions from our government. This is a huge but necessary responsibility. This also needs to be done with the inclusion of our religious upbringing. The schools cannot address the religious aspect but the parents can. Making this speech available at a time that parents can view it with their children is important. Schools cannot address all the aspects and controversies that the speech can harness, and if education is important so is its planning and parental inclusion. I do hope parents do not ignore this speech, but openly discuss it with their children. Discussion is important, and discussion does not make assumptions about others nor does it insult or belittle other peoples' opinions. We may not always agree, but we can respectfully disagree.
Posted By: lizdlr, 2009-09-10 2:38 PM