Again, I have to ask, what would the left have done if President Bush had asked for an opportunity to preach to our/their children?

They have to realize that the pendulum swings, and like so many other issues, if they are okay with The One doing it, it should be okay when the next conservative POTUS wants his turn.

Hypocrisy.

TR

The Left would have been apoplectic, and had a conniption fit similar to Coke and Mentos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWS0FZEqdJA

TS Sir, Very well said!!! Am very curious as well.:munchin

Holly

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/02...of-revolution/

Flashback: Bill Ayers declares education “the motor-force of revolution”

By Michelle Malkin
September 2, 2009 10:36 AM
I thought this would be a useful refresher as President Obama’s September 8 junior lobbyist recruitment speech approaches. It’s his Chicago pal Bill Ayers’ 2006 speech at the World Economic Forum in Caracas, Venezuela.
You can separate Obama from radical Ayers’ neighborhood. But you can’t separate Ayers’ radicalism from Obama.


"President Hugo Chavez, Vice-President Vicente Rangel, Ministers Moncada and Isturiz, invited guests,comrades. I’m honored and humbled to be here with you this morning. I bring greetings and support from your brothers and sisters throughout Northamerica. Welcome to the World Education Forum! Amamos la revolucion Bolivariana!

This is my fourth visit to Venezuela, each time at the invitation of my comrade and friend Luis Bonilla, a brilliant educator and inspiring fighter for justice. Luis has taught me a great deal about the Bolivarian Revolution and about the profound educational reforms underway here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chavez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution, and I’ve come to appreciate Luis as a major asset in both the Venezuelan and the international struggle—I look forward to seeing how he and all of you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane. Thank you, Luis, for everything you’ve done.

I also thank my youngest son, Chesa Boudin, who is interpreting my talk this morning and whose book on the Bolivarian revolution has played an important part in countering the barrage of lies spread by the U.S. State Department and the corrupted Northamerican media.

On my last trip to Caracas I spoke of traveling to a literacy class—Mission Robinson— in the hills above the city along a long and winding road. As we made our way higher and higher, the talk turned to politics as it inevitably does here, and someone noted that the wealthy—here and everywhere, here and in the US surely—have certain received opinions, a kind of absolute judgment about poor and working people, and yet they have never traveled this road, nor any road like it. They have never boarded this bus up into these hills, and not just the oligarchy or the wealthy—this lack of first-hand knowledge, of open investigation, of generous regard is also a condition of the everyday liberals, and even many of the radicals and armchair intellectuals whose formulations sit lifeless and stifling in a crypt of mythology about poor people. Everyone should come and travel these roads into the hills, we agreed then—and not just once, but again and again and again – if they will ever learn anything of the real conditions of life here, surely, but more important than that, if they will ever encounter the wisdom and experience and insight that lives here as well.

We arrived at eight o’clock to a literacy circle already underway being conducted in a small, poorly-lit classroom. And here in an odd and dark space, a sun was shining: ten people had pulled their chairs close together—a young woman maybe 19, a grandmother maybe 65, two men in their 40s—each struggling to read. And I thought of a poem called A Poor Woman Learns to Write by Margaret Atwood about a woman working laboriously to print her name in the dirt. She never thought she could do it, the poet notes, not her– this writing business was for others. But she does it, prints her name, her first word so far, and she looks up and smiles— for she did it right.

The woman in the poem—just like the students in Mission Robinson—is living out a universal dialectic that embodies education at its very best: she wrote her name, she changed herself, and she altered the conditions of her life. As she wrote the word, she changed the world, and another world became—suddenly and surprisingly—possible.

I began teaching when I was 20 years old in a small freedom school affiliated with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The year was 1965, and I’d been arrested in a demonstration. Jailed for ten days, I met several activists who were finding ways to link teaching and education with deep and fundamental social change. They were following Dewey and DuBois, King and Helen Keller who wrote: “We can’t have education without revolution. We have tried peace education for 1,900 years and it has failed. Let us try revolution and see what it will do now.”

I walked out of jail and into my first teaching position—and from that day until this I’ve thought of myself as a teacher, but I’ve also understood teaching as a project intimately connected with social justice. After all, the fundamental message of the teacher is this: you can change your life—whoever you are, wherever you’ve been, whatever you’ve done, another world is possible. As students and teachers begin to see themselves as linked to one another, as tied to history and capable of collective action, the fundamental message of teaching shifts slightly, and becomes broader, more generous: we must change ourselves as we come together to change the world. Teaching invites transformations, it urges revolutions small and large. La educacion es revolucion!
I taught at first in something like a Simoncito—called Head Start—and eventually taught at every level in barrios and prisons and insurgent projects across the United States. I learned then that education is never neutral. It always has a value, a position, a politics. Education either reinforces or challenges the existing social order, and school is always a contested space – what should be taught? In what way? Toward what end? By and for whom? At bottom, it involves a struggle over the essential questions: what does it mean to be a human being living in a human society?

Totalitarianism demands obedience and conformity, hierarchy, command and control. Royalty requires allegiance. Capitalism promotes racism and militarism – turning people into consumers, not citizens. Participatory democracy, by contrast, requires free people coming together voluntarily as equals who are capable of both self-realization and, at the same time, full participation in a shared political and economic life.

Education contributes to human liberation to the extent that people reflect on their lives, and, becoming more conscious, insert themselves as subjects in history. To be a good teacher means above all to have faith in the people, to believe in the possibility that people can create and change things. Education is not preparation for life, but rather education is life itself ,an active process in which everyone— students and teachers– participates as co-learners.

Despite being under constant attack from within and from abroad, the Bolivarian revolution has made astonishing strides in a brief period: from the Mission Simoncito to the Mission Robinson to the Mission Ribas to the Mission Sucre, to the Bolivarian schools and the UBV, Venezuelans have shown the world that with full participation, full inclusion, and popular empowerment, the failings of capitalist schooling can be resisted and overcome. Venezuela is a beacon to the world in its accomplishment of eliminating illiteracy in record time, and engaging virtually the entire population in the ongoing project of education.

The great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote a poem to his fellow writers called “The Poet’s Obligation” in which he instructed them in their core responsibility: you must, he said, become aware of your sisters and brothers who are trapped in subjugation and meaninglessness, imprisoned in ignorance and despair. You must move in and out of windows carrying a vision of the vast oceans just beyond the bars of the prison– a message of hope and possibility. Neruda ends with this: it is through me that freedom and the sea will call in answer to the shrouded heart.

Let those of us who are gathered here today read this poem as “The Teacher’s Obligation.” We, too, must move in and out of windows, we, too, must build a project of radical imagination and fundamental change. Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education– a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation. This World Education Forum provides us a unique opportunity to develop and share the lessons and challenges of this profound educational project that is the Bolivarian Revolution.

Viva Mission Sucre!
Viva Presidente Chavez!
Viva La Revolucion Bolivariana!
Hasta La Victoria Siempre!"

Well, GHW Bush did. He gave a "Don't do drugs" talk.
The Democrats opposed it. They said the broadcast was too expensive.:rolleyes:

I've been stewing over this all day. My school district is showing it live, but parents can opt kids out if they choose. But you know that that information is not being disseminated. We had to ASK the school.

I may let my kids watch, because they are very mature for their ages and my wife and I have taught them to think for themselves and to try and discern the underlying motives of the people who are telling them things (or trying to sell them things etc.)

In fact, we just talked over the dinner table about the WH message that was being fed (and largely accepted) to a left-leaning education system. We talked about Obama's associations with racists and terrorists and how he kow-tows to those who would love to tear down our country as we know it. We talked abotu my distrust of the Teacher's union and the danger when there is a cozy relationshiop between the executive branch and the education system in this country. We also talked about how these types of presidential addresses (from this President at least) are less about encouraging education , an more about preparing schoolkids to vote for OBAMA in the next election and/or socialist candidates in the future.

You know, in reality, I'm less worried about MY kids and more worried about the impact of this propaganda on OTHER kids.

I think Obama has an outstanding chance to give children the motivation to work hard in school and make a better life for themselves. Particularly some minority children whose surroundings make the idea of a better life hard to believe - unless they make money from crime, music or athletics.

But BHO talking in schools should be a politicized issue based on his plans.

BHO's education agenda includes civilian service - and it's been passed into law - but not widely reported by MSM. At first he wanted it to be mandatory but now there are just financial incentives for service. I have a feeling it will be big news in 2010 as BHO has requested $1.1 billion to fund that first year. I'm not saying that it's a "hitler youth group" - but parents should know about it.

H.R.1388 - The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act - was made law April 21, 2009.

Text of the "Serve America Act": Link

OpenCongress Summary: Link

Makes sense to me that it would follow the administration's agenda to Integrate Service into Learning:

• Expand Service-Learning in Our Nation's Schools: Set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year. Develop national guidelines for service learning and give schools better tools both to develop programs and to document student experience.
• Expand Youth Programs: Create an energy-focused youth jobs program to provide disadvantaged youth with service opportunities weatherizing buildings and getting practical experience in fast-growing career fields. Expand the YouthBuild program to give 50,000 disadvantaged young people the chance to complete their high school education, learn valuable skills and build affordable housing in their communities.
• Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
• Promote College Serve-Study: Ensure that at least 25 percent of College Work-Study funds are used to support public service opportunities instead of jobs in dining halls and libraries.

Link

Seems more like a WPA 'pump priming' type effort to me. :confused:

FWIW - many schools (public and private) and organizations (e.g., BSA troops, honor societies, fraternities and sororities, church groups, etc) already mandate their students/members perform various numbers of hours of community service annually.

And so it goes...;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

The wife handed me a piece of paper today before the lads (ages 9 and 6) went off to school today. She said "Well, that's a facial expression I've never seen from you before. I didn't know your face could twist that way." It was a permission slip for the Obama speech on Sep 8.

I, too, am torn about whether to let the Bandy Boys watch the speech. The kneejerk part of me says absolutely not. But, as Richard points out so many times, facts remain when feelings fade away. So I read up on what the speech was supposed to be about, and have decided to approach Sep 8 this way.

I'm in favor of our leaders telling our kids to work hard, stay in school, and set goals for their lives. I wish those verbal sentiments were stated with concurrent positive action by our leaders, but that's another story for another time. Let's face it, our kids are being taught the media's version of the world via tv by the latest "tweener" (see Nickelodeon's recent 'green' campaign), the latest flash-in-the-pan pop superstar, their favorite athlete, and so forth. As parents, we have to respond to any message that is presented before our kids as "gospel", and present the pros and cons of the message to our kids based on our own family value system. The message from BHO is no different. Keeping them out of the speech, just as a reactionary move, is no different than shielding them from anything else going on in the world that we may not approve of. We can only keep them in bubblewrap for so long. If we keep them protected for too long, they will not be able to think for themselves, and will be ripe for the ideological picking once they get into the real world on their own.

Also, remember that the text of the speech is going to be put online Monday. I plan on checking it out then so I will know what the lads will be hearing on Sep 8. I will keep the permission slip until Tuesday morning so that, in the event it truly is a brainwashing session, I can opt them out on the day of the speech. I doubt seriously though that this will be the case. So, I will be prepared to sit down with both of them and talk about what the President says on Sep 8...just like I should with every other message that floats between their precious little ears.


Bandy

I thought that was unofficially Biden. Not so much to make excuses, but as a comedic sidekick so BO could say "I may have said something bad, BUT LOOK AT THAT GUY!"

Back to School Night
 

I've been kicking around Richards perspective on this, but last evening.....

The Wife and I went to Back to School Night to visit the classes of my two grade schoolers. While we were waiting to talk to my son's energetic and charismatic teacher I over heard him talking to another parent, who from past conversation has made it known they are a ardent supporter of Obama.

What were they talking about? They were talking about next Tuesday and they both were extremely excited, giddy in fact. Oh I can't to wait see! I am so excited!


Will the classroom discussion afterward be fair and balanced or slanted? Should we go and monitor what goes on? If we don't agree with the discussions direction should I leave with my kids or confront the teacher?


Should any grade school parent be put into such a predicament....I don't think so.

The Speach.....
 

The Speach or the Revised Speach?

We'll never know.

What we do know is many parents were up in arms over what was first put out. The "do for" the President has been dropped.

Has the White House done an "Oh, crap we were caught" and now revised the Speach into the good 'ol Ra Ra speach about do good in school?

As, I said, we'll never know.

And about Opt Out - BS.

Remember the stink about "Opt Out" for saying the pledge?

That was - The rest of the class would look at who sat out the Pledge and treat them different.

So know the classroom teacher can show "The Speach" and ID all the right wing little trouble makers because their parents didn't want them to listen to the Speach. The teacher "Well class, it's clear that most of us want to help people - not like Johnny and Mary. They want the poor to get sick and die. Johnny, Mary why do you want the poor to die just because they get sick? Is that how your parents think?"

Pete

Waiting for Richard's "Teachers wouldn't do that reply".

That's true, and I'm with you on that. I'm going to ask the boys questions about what they heard during the speech, and then compare that with what I've read. It's a shame I even feel like I should think that way, but such is the world.


Bandy

Teachers shouldn't do that - I'd fire any teacher I found doing that to a student or a class - and have. :mad:

We always allow an 'alternative assignment' for such activities w/o any sort of reprecussion. For example, there are parents who will not allow their high school students to view Schindler's List when studying WW2 - so we allow them to use the National Holocaust Museum's web-site to study the subject and present a short overview to their classes on the resources they found to be offered there. For the POTUS speech, a short reflective paper on personal educational goals and how one might attain them is sufficient.

If you're concerned, arrange to sit in with the class - I'd wager the discussion with a teacher such as you've described might be a bit more balanced if you did.

I invited parents to come visit as often as they wanted - just made sure I personally let them know the parameters of expected behaviors and what subjects they would be seeing that day beforehand, some guidelines for participating and expressing any opinions or concerns, and then ensured we sat and visited before they left campus to personally discuss how their day had gone/questions/concerns/etc.

Schools which deny parents an open and objective look at their programs - as well as do not allowing for appropriate parental input - are hiding something IMO.

I disagree - schools work best when all the 'stakeholders' are actively involved.

Unfortunately - many of the concerns brought up are valid somewhere out there - and a lot of it depends upon the relationships between the parents and the schools/teachers - bottom-line is that a parent should attempt to do what a rational person* would think is best for their child.

And so it goes...;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

* Remember - there are a lot of parents with strange opinions, too.

Why not include bestiality and polygamy? :munchin