September 8, 2009
 

September 8, 2009

Do you know who will be in the classrom with your child?

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10582301...ptember-8-2009


"President Obama’s Address to Students Across America September 8, 2009
PreK-6 Menu of Classroom Activities: President Obama’s Address to Students Across America
Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education
September 8, 2009

Before the Speech:
• Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama and motivate students by asking the following questions:
Who is the President of the United States?
What do you think it takes to be President?
To whom do you think the President is going to be speaking?
Why do you think he wants to speak to you?........"

How long before each child will be required to have the little red book?

Hmmmm, they voted to keep religion out of school, the pledge of allegiance....but allow politics?!?:rolleyes:

I have no issues with these activities - typical foreshadowing, predicting, observing, recording, analyzing, reporting type activities for schools.

Context may be important - in this case, why education is important to students and how their education will help them achieve their goals - as indicated in the Secretary of Education's letter to principals from the Department of Education's web-site:

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

And so it goes...;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

IMO, a worthy goal that will go completely unachieved without enduring and full parental/guardian reinforcement. Those that haven't received that already are likely to continue going without, regardless of the President's broadcast.

Like Richard, I have no problem with this type of activity. As a teacher, I appreciate notice such as this, so that I might prepare classroom activities to augment/supplement/reinforce/clarify etc.

He is, despite my extreme differences with him in regard to policies/attitudes, the President of the United States. Ask yourself, "If this had been done by President Bush, would I have a problem with it?" I wouldn't.

Razor is correct. Of more importance is how the parent or guardian approaches such things. How aware do they make their child(ren) of such things? Do they discuss politics, policies, history, economics, government around the dinner table. Hell, do they even eat dinner together at all - ever?

Parents should enquire as to what their child's teacher is doing in regard to this program. How will the teacher approach it? (I know how I would. Unfortunately, I also know how my evening school colleague will approach it.)

Thanks for pointing this out....

As long as he doesn't try to read along!:p We remember how well that went the last time a new President tried to "read with me";)

Maybe that's why he's doing it three days earlier this time! ;)

Richard

Yup.
The pastor's wife and the deacon's wife.
They are the teachers.

My kids won't get targeted at home, either.
Don't have cable tv.
Don't have at-home internet access.

If they're gov't issue, my kids will draw bulls-eyes on them and use them for target practice.

My kids' school gives them each a children's Bible at the end of the year.
Oddly enough, the color is usually red.

I make no apologies for indoctrinating my own children.
The fertile shall inherit the earth. :D

Sounds like a quote from either Mao's Little Red Book, the Catholic Bible, the Book of Mormon, or the Koran. :D

Richard

The allusion was deliberate.
It figures that you would catch it. :lifter

Herein lies the motive for going after kids through the public indoctrination system: the fertility gap.

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editor...l?id=110008831

I expect the thing to go something like this:
(watch to the whole thing: the important stuff is at the end.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwG5M...eature=related

My boys will not be involved in this period
I guess their 4 day will be extended

IIRC, critics of Bush the Younger subsequently alleged that his presence at an elementary school on that awful day was "proof" that his presidency was a failure.:rolleyes: Gotta love those double standards.

[FWIW, my two cents are that any president, regardless of the motivation, who encourages students e to take their education seriously is doing a good deed.]

If I can go out on a limb here, and ask a simple question???

Does anyone else think it rather strange that:

"President Obama’s Address to Students Across America September 8, 2009
PreK-6 Menu of Classroom Activities: President Obama’s Address to Students Across America
Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education
September 8, 2009

Before the Speech:
• Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama and motivate students by asking the following questions:

Who is the President of the United States?

What do you think it takes to be President?

To whom do you think the President is going to be speaking?

Why do you think he wants to speak to you?........"

This seems a little "1984" to me...but I am most likely wrong, and just not educated enough to read it for what it is???:o :confused:
Holly

We're good for now...ramadan won't be over by then...

How do you survive? :eek:


I think it will go more like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQT830mo8Mc

Every word he says is going to be picked apart by both sides. If he goes into anything overtly political with children this age it will be career suicide. I'm just glad my kids are not old enough yet to participate... this time.

I would think you would welcome the opportunity to engage in this discussion with your children.

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.

But that's me - and YMMV. ;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

Richard Sir,

Am always inclined to follow the lead of the QP, when attempting to understand complex situations, and complex theories.

So in this situation, the conflict arrises when the Source of the "Challenge" is a man like Barrack Hussien Obama...

Am at a loss here, but am trying to understand, and appologize in advance if this seems like a stupid question.

Holly

Some of the classroom activities suggested by the Department of Education to coincide with the speech:

"I pledge to be a servant of our president." - 3:54 into the embedded video.

Under most circumstances I would agree. But like my parents told me, choose your friends wisely because people will judge you by the friends you keep.

And in Obama's case your dealing with a person who has no issue hanging out with and taking advice from the likes of Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, Van Jones, Cass Sunstein, John Holdren, Mark Lloyd and Jeff Jones....just to name a few!

That is a well rounded lot of Anti-Americans.......those are the type of 'Friends' you tell your kids to stay far, far away from and you tell them to stay away from anyone that associates with them.

So what is President Zero going to communicate to my Kids? If his smoke and mirrors campaign promises are any indication, I should expect this little event to be nothing close to what is stated on the Menu of Classroom Activities (which says absolutely nothing about what Zero is going to focus on).

The man is at very least a LIAR and a MANIPULATOR. The only difference between Obama and a Drug Dealer is what he is Peddling.


It is a good day to take your kids to the Dentist or something.

:munchin

Here are the facts about the "I Pledge" video - if anyone is interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcPA...layer_embedded

We never showed a video/movie without having previewed it and agreeing to the appropriateness of its use to the subject of discussion.

However - IMO - this video is an appropriate video to be used for a high school level speech, government, or film course to engage in an age appropriate discussion of point of view, the influence of Hollywood or Madison Avenue on our culture, the use of subliminal and overt messaging in advertising, etc.

Ref posts #3 and #18, and http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html

Maybe the Secretary of Education should have written his letter to school Principals telling them what the POTUS was going to focus on in Klingan so Americans could understand what he is planning to communicate to the students. :confused:

FWIW - here in North Texas school districts are leaving it up to the individual school principals and classroom teachers themselves to choose whether or not they want to engage in the POTUS' message to the students on 8 Sep 09.

And so it goes...;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

Let's see...
 

Let's see....

The NEA and it's states organizations are loyal foot soldiers of the left.

The left calls and they march and protest.

The Prez wants to talk to all the little kiddies and the classroom teacher was to guide the talk and papers into "how we can help the president".

Of course that first idea has now been changed to shared responsibility.

Yeah, when the rat gets it's tail caught in the trap it starts to sign another tune.

Just here waiting for the "racist" charge to be slung at anybody who opts their kid out for the day.

Interesting,, The WH is back-tracking before it starts..

I wonder how much of the youtube pledge video was being used in the POTUS classroom segment??

I think our POTUS should interact with the children of this nation,, But I am also leery of the left using subliminal and back-handed innuendo to alter what I think is a basic parents job. Do all parents do well,, NO,, look at the rising crime.. That does not mean the responsibility should be usurped,, and by a dicidely Left leaning education system,, Richard and a small minority excluded..

You're laying out a pretty specific set of circumstances...and also requires that the teacher moderating the discussion is not a Obamaton.

I really don't want this propaganda opportunity anywere near my grade school aged kids. Just doesn't feel right to me.

I can just imagine.....


Hi Kids! I am President Barack Obama (he flashes his big smile) and I am speaking to you today about education and how you can help me through education. Now I know you've probably heard a lot of stories about me and some of your parents don't like me (flashes smile), but let me make it clear to you that my Administration and myself are trying to make a better world for you.

And through education (brainwashing) we can make that happen, which is why I am speaking to you today. It is important that you study and learn so that you can help me and your country become a better place.

He touches (plants the seeds) on Green Energy and Health Care. Then he asks them to discuss what they learn with friends, family and neighbors (Community Activist).

And then he mentions they can become part of a new club in school called 'Civics Corps' which they can join and get a cool Red Jacket!

You are the future of this nation and together we can change it.




I don't trust his motivation and intentions. ;)

I agree.

My kids will not be anywhere near that speech that day.

Fact is the Federal government has zero authority to do what they did and now the white house knows it.

"Christina Erland Culver, former deputy assistant secretary for education, said presidents have traditionally addressed classrooms on the first day of school, but the problem with the event was the accompanying materials from the Department of Education.

"That's where they kind of got into a slippery spot. Federal statute denies any authority to the Department of Education to provide any kind of curriculum or anything that can be passed down to the state, and that's part of the statute forming the Department of Education. So they kinda got themselves into this mess because they didn't really understand some of the key legal roles or the dos and don'ts at the federal Department of Ed," she said."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elec...est=latestnews


Not only is it inappropriate IMO, but it's against the law. But I guess they know that now.....

Please tell me how "I pledge to be a servant of our president" in any context is "appropriate"? If I recall correctly senators, congressmen and presidents work for the "people" not the other way around. Now in socialist/dictatorships the people do "serve" their leader.....

"White House Withdraws Call for Students to 'Help' Obama"

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elec...est=latestnews


I wonder if obama will appoint a "Foot in Mouth" Czar to make excuses for "Zero" everytime he makes an asinine comment or statement.

I'm sure glad there's a few real media outlets such as Foxnews & Washington Times that take a stand on these issues and report them.

I think I'll go and clean my guns and later purchase some more ammo at the non-union Wal-Mart.;)

TS

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!"