conservatives against education

[Towntalk]

You did it perfectly. and I thank you. 

[irishbobcat]

I don't know what you want me to explain. When I was a high school principal, I always aired any speech President Bush gave during the school day. Every teacher had a right to either watch the speech or continue with their lesson for the day. I didn't let my personal politics get in the way of the President of the United States addressing on t.v. the country and my students.

[Towntalk]

When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html

DENNIS explain this:

[From CNN]

VERJEE: President Obama is giving a back to school speech and there's so much controversy over that.

Do you think it's a good idea?

LAURA BUSH: I think that there is a place for the president of the United States to talk to schoolchildren and encourage schoolchildren. And I think there are a lot of people that should do the same and that is, encourage their own children to stay in school and to study hard and to try to achieve the dreams that they have.

I also am happy that it seems like they have not -- the Obama administration has not backed off the accountability part of the No Child Left Behind act that President Bush worked with Ted Kennedy on to pass. And I think that's really important.

We want every American child to have the very best education possible. And I think that's what those -- that legislation really demands.


AND THIS:

VERJEE: Do you think that it's fair that Obama is criticized as a socialist?

BUSH: I have no idea whether it's fair.

Do you think I thought it was fair when President Bush was criticized?

VERJEE: Not really.

BUSH: So I guess not.

VERJEE: Well, what President Bush was criticized -- he was called by many on the left a fascist.

What kind of advice would you give the president...

BUSH: Well, I think...


VERJEE: ...President Obama in how to handle the situation?

BUSH: Well, I wouldn't give him, you know, any advice. I don't think I need to give him any advice. But I think it's just going to happen and people know it. And our country is, you know, because of our very really safe Congressional districts everywhere in our country, we're -- we're polarized, in the sense that people are -- a lot of people are on the right, a lot of people are on the left. And we've seen that for the last eight years certainly. And we're still seeing it. And that's just a fact.

[irishbobcat]

That still is only one sentence...lol

Ohio school district reverses decision to skip speech
by KTinOhio
Share this on Twitter - Ohio school district reverses decision to skip speech   Sun Sep 06, 2009 at 01:53:41 PM PDT
On Tuesday at noon, President Obama will address the nation's schoolchildren and deliver a message that, on its face, should be non-objectionable to people at all points on the political spectrum; that students should work hard and stay in school.  Unfortunately, in this age of Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, and Fox News, some people reacted by deluging their districts with calls and e-mails demanding that the speech not be shown.  My district provides an interesting case study.

KTinOhio's diary :: ::
I live in the Dublin City School District, which includes the northwestern portion of Columbus, the city of Dublin, and large areas of unincorporated territory.  My son just entered high school, and my daughter graduated this spring.  Let me be clear that I am completely satisfied with the education my children have received throughout their careers.

In response to calls from conservatives, some disricts - including Dublin - decided to skip the speech.  This provoked a response from other district residents, including myself.  So, the district backpedaled a bit.  According to the Columbus Dispatch...

The political heat on central Ohio schools intensified yesterday, as districts planning to take a pass on President Barack Obama's Tuesday speech to students heard from angry parents who want the address shown in school.

In Dublin, callers opposed to the address led Superintendent Dave Axner to announce on Thursday that schools would not participate.

But by yesterday, the tide was turning in favor of showing the speech, a spokesman said. Officials changed their minds -- sort of. The district will record Obama's speech and teachers can show the video at a later date if the video aligns with class material. Parents can opt to not have their children watch.
After further consideration, the district backpedaled even further.  According to the district's web site...

Hello, this is David Axner, Superintendent of the Dublin City Schools. I am calling this morning to inform you of some new protocols for President Obama's live address to our students.

During the past two or three days we have received some very strong arguments on whether or not the President's' live broadcast should be part of school day.

As with any decision, we constantly assess the input of our school community and staff and how day to day operations are affected. There will be a live broadcast of the President's address on Tuesday.

The live broadcast of the web address will be available in designated areas of each school. Students should bring a signed note from a parent to be excused from their regularly scheduled classroom activities to attend the live broadcast at noon.

Students who will not be viewing the speech will continue their normal school day.

For parents who are undecided, the White House has now made the decision to release the transcript of the speech on Monday.

The complete transcript of this telephone message is available at www.dublinschools.net.

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend.
To be honest, I wouldn't want to be in the superintendent's shoes on this issue, because he will get an earful whatever he does.  That said, it is imperative that the right not be allowed to dominate the discussion through sheer volume.  If you want to call it working the refs, that's fine with me.  I just sent the following message to the superintendent:

I am the father of a Dublin graduate and a current Dublin student.  I am also one of the people who called in on Friday objecting to the district's decision to not show President Obama's speech to students.

I was outraged when the district decided to forgo the speech in response to demands from conservatives.  To those of us on the other side of the aisle, it looked as if they told you to jump and your response was to ask how high.  And the decision to record the speech for possible viewing later in the year came across as if you were throwing us a bone in the hope we would be quiet.  Even if the speech was made available later in the year - and I doubt that it would have happened - the speech would have been old news by then.

It would have been fairer to show the speech to all students and require parents who did not want their children to hear the President's subversive pro-education message to provide an excuse.  In any case, my son will be watching the speech, and I will be watching the district's response to future incidents of this type.

[ytowner]

The only reason Dubya didn't talk to the American students is because he couldn't string two sentences together....DUH!

How easily you can forget:
"My fellow Americans, for as long as our country stands, people will look to the resurrection of New York City and they will say: Here buildings fell, and here a nation rose."

Always has and always will be one of my favorite quotations..

[irishbobcat]

The only reason Dubya didn't talk to the American students is because he couldn't string two sentences together....DUH!

[Rick Rowlands]

Yes I concur.  The Department of Education is completely unnecessary.  Each state already has a state board of education which can manage the education of the students within each particular state.

[ytowner]

I am of the belief we must eliminate the Dept. of Education to balance the budget. If Americans actually understood that education is nowhere in the 24 enumerated powers to the Constitution, then they would understand why it should be left up to the state.

Cut that dept and save about 10% of the money they received to give out to states for vouchers and books.

[Towntalk]

Menu of Classroom Activities
President Obama's Address to Students Across America
(PreK‐6)
Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education

http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/prek-6.pdf

Menu of Classroom Activities
President Obama's Address to Students Across America
(Grades 7‐12)
Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education

http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/7-12.pdf


FACT SHEET

http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html


Q: Is it mandatory?
A: No. The Department is inviting schools to show the address. The choice is entirely up to schools and their communities.
Q: Has any other President done something like this?
A: In 1991 President Bush addressed the nation's students on live television from an American history classroom at Deal Junior High, in Washington, D.C.

[Rick Rowlands]

The fact is that a good percentage of the country does not trust this president, due to his track record and his stand on various issues.  He has shown again and again that he puts his left wing beliefs ahead of the interests of the nation as a whole.  Trust has to be earned, not blindly given.

[Towntalk]

I have to agree with Sarge on this one Dennis.

If "conservatives are against education", kindly explain Catholic and Protestant private schools, Explain all the religious affiliated colleges and universities.

And where do you get off calling those who opposed Obama's wanting to talk to school children as "insane"?

It was the teachers guide that they opposed, not necessairly the speech itself.

Would you want your children indocternated by anti-environmentalists? I would hope not.

[sfc_oliver]

BTW My daughter plans on keeping her children home, recording the speech to watch herself, and then after she see's it she will watch it again with the 2 children.

[sfc_oliver]

Bull, the outrage was mainly directed against the lesson plan that was sent out to the schools to go along with the speech. According to ED.Gov the lesson plan for PreK- 6th grades originally included the plan for students to write letters to themselves about how they could help President Obama.

After this was seen by the general Public it was deleted from the lesson plans.

  The question I still have is how do you present a speech to PreK students at 4-6 years old and to senior 17-19 years old; and still make it relevant to all of them. If you talk on a level that will interest HS students the Younger Children will learn and hear nothing. If you address the Younger Students the HS Children will go to sleep or laugh.

Of course what do I know about education I was only a senior instructor for 2 years in the Army Signal School. No kids there.

[irishbobcat]

With each passing week, it becomes more apparent that the conservative media will take anything Obama does and twist it beyond comprehension.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent a letter to school principals last week describing Obama's speech as being about "the importance of education" and "persisting and succeeding in school." Duncan also offered "classroom activities" to "engage students and stimulate discussion on the importance of education."

How absolutely communisty of Obama! How dare he subject our children to such indoctrination. If our kids take his advice, they might, they might end up in college, and we all know how liberal our colleges and universities make our once-wholesome boys and girls.

The Right's Insane Reaction To Obama's Speech To Students

It's that time of the year again. Parents are busy preparing their children for the first day of school while children are busy holding on to every minute left in their precious summer vacation. But, out in the distance, an ominous threat is looming. That threat has a name ... gulp ... and it is ... whimper ... President Barack Hussein Obama.

Following news this week that Obama will speak directly to students next week in a special "back to school" address, media conservatives went absolutely apoplectic, calling Obama's forthcoming speech "indoctrination," as Fox News' Glenn Beck put it.

Beck's comments were only the tip of the iceberg in right-wing outrage. Others compared it to "brainwashing," communist China, and the Hitler Youth. Some (yes, Beck was of course among them) went as far as encouraging parents to keep their children home from school on the day of Obama's speech. Filling in for Rush Limbaugh, Mark Steyn said the president's speech was part of a "cult of personality" though not on the scale of Kim Jong Il or Saddam Hussein. Steyn also claimed that Obama's speech was based on the view that education exists to make kids "good subjects" of big government. Over on Lou Dobbs' radio program, guest host Chris Stigall pulled back the curtain on this smear ever so slightly when he said that he "didn't say the message was bad," just that he didn't want Obama to talk to his kid alone. Then there was Michael Savage, the third most listened to radio host in America, who put it this way: "Hitler had the Hitler Youth, and Obama would like to have the Obama Youth."

Of course, Fox News was hyping the outrage. On The Live Desk, Fox commentator Andrea Tantaros flexed her intellectual heft, saying of the president's speech: "They do this type of thing in North Korea and the former Soviet Union ... very cultish." Fox & Friends hosted a parent who plans to "keep kids home" from Obama's "indoctrination" speech, while the network's right-wing website TheFoxNation.com asked visitors "Will You Keep Your Kids Home the Day Obama Speaks to Schools?" I'm actually surprised the options for answers weren't "yes" and "absolutely."