Obama Day in schools Sept 8th

[Carol]

Let`s not read too much into this.

I DON`T like Obama or his policies, but if the theme of the speech is just "work hard in school to learn to better yourself and achieve your goals" I see nothing wrong with it. However, if it contains any, repeat that ANY, policy then I think it`s grossly out of place. But I teach jr high for a living, and as long as the lesson plans and activities are just suggestions and not requirements, I think it`s basically a civics lesson.

Trust me there will be some hard core Dem teachers who`ll spend way too much time on this. But there will be just as many teachers who could care less about having anything to do with it. They`re too busy trying to get thier kids to learn thier subjects.

Personally I'm fine with an overall focus of working hard to better oneself in school. And if the president's role is emphasized in an effort to reach out to children that have been more at risk, I don't have much of an issue with that either, nor do I have an issue with encouraging folks to get off the couch and take steps to being the change they wish to see in others.

Work/study hard, set goals, don't quit, don't give in to every single indulgence, and reach for someone or something you believe in. Great ideas! But pledging oneself as a servant to the president?

 

[chrispillertkd]

One more reason why I'm glad my daughter doesn't go to public school and that my son will not (now, if they'd just give me back the money I am forced to pay to support that largely failed institution...).

Pax,

Chris

 

[CoryKS]

These things tend to have a way of backfiring. My son's class was studying the election last fall. His left-leaning teacher made a point of telling the class that she was voting for Obama. Don't know how she worded it exactly, but my son's understanding was "She wants Obama to win because he cares more about education than McCain."

Which is how my son, not the biggest fan of school, decided that he wanted McCain to win.

 

[celtic_crippler]

I read the description of the YouTube video. Apparently, the teacher that created the video got in trouble. . . . for posting it to YouTube.

She should have got in trouble for bringing a political agenda into a classroom.

Classrooms are for encouraging learning and that means teaching these kids HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Excercises should focus on getting them to think about how they feel and then backing it up with reasoning. Not how they can support a single ideology.

That's a huge problem many college professors have, and I know from personal experience some of them get quite testy when you challenge their rhetoric thoughtfully.

Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short‐term and long‐term education goals.”

Now I don't see this as a bad idea, really. I would expand on it and have them think about how their educational goals are going to impact the rest of their lives as well.

6 P's man!
Proper Planning Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance

 

[geezer]

Classrooms are for encouraging learning and that means teaching these kids HOW to think, not WHAT to think. Excercises should focus on getting them to think about how they feel and then backing it up with reasoning. Not how they can support a single ideology.

I'm a high school art teacher, and a lot of times my students try to draw me out on politics. I just side-step these issues during class presentations, especially since they are not pertinent to the subject.

On the other hand if I am sitting with a small group of students, working on projects, we often have casual conversations. At those times I'm willing to offer up opinions, usually phrased as a question and encourage the kids to respond. Many will disagree with me, and some are really good at making their points. It's pretty cool to see. The important thing is that they have the gumption to tackle these issues and make up their own minds. It's the kids with no opinions that worry me.

 

[CoryKS]

I'm a high school art teacher, and a lot of times my students try to draw me out on politics. I just side-step these issues during class presentations, especially since they are not pertinent to the subject.

On the other hand if I am sitting with a small group of students, working on projects, we often have casual conversations. At those times I'm willing to offer up opinions, usually phrased as a question and encourage the kids to respond. Many will disagree with me, and some are really good at making their points. It's pretty cool to see. The important thing is that they have the gumption to tackle these issues and make up their own minds. It's the kids with no opinions that worry me.

I had no opinions in school. Life and experience changes things. Most of the kids with opinions have no real first-hand knowledge of the subjects at hand anyway.

 

[blindsage]

Yeah, that's what I said.

 

[geezer]

I had no opinions in school.

Yeah, right.

Life and experience changes things. Most of the kids with opinions have no real first-hand knowledge of the subjects at hand anyway.

Yup. What'ya expect. They're kids.

 

[Makalakumu]

I had no opinions in school. Life and experience changes things. Most of the kids with opinions have no real first-hand knowledge of the subjects at hand anyway.

I encourage my students to take opinions on subjects based on the information they have and then change those opinions when new information presents itself. This is one of the ways that I am able to tie science and the scientific method into my students every day life. I think that many teenagers are perfectly capable and knowledgeable enough to hold opinions. The trick is to teach them how to be self critical and flexible enough to recognize when they need to change them.

 

[Gordon Nore]

Check out 03:17

This video was widely discussed here post-election. The fact that the guy -- whoever he is -- kisses his own biceps after pledging loyalty to the President makes is pretty hard to take seriously anyhow.

and most importantly 03:53

WTF...?

Dude, it's Ashton and Demi, not exactly two of the brightest lights in the array. Ashton's big thing a few months ago was getting a million "followers" on Twitter.

 

[Gordon Nore]

The trick is to teach them how to be self critical and flexible enough to recognize when they need to change them.

QFT. It is also a trait that is not modeled in the media or practised particularly well in general. The saddest part of partisan thinking is that if one identifies as left/right or liberal/conservative or Rep/Dem, one is then expected to identify with a fixed set of core values.

 

[Makalakumu]

QFT. It is also a trait that is not modeled in the media or practised particularly well in general. The saddest part of partisan thinking is that if one identifies as left/right or liberal/conservative or Rep/Dem, one is then expected to identify with a fixed set of core values.

The thing is, if you really look at our national education standards, they teach exactly the kind of inflexible partisan thinking that we are talking about. The focus on testing produces students who see things are right or wrong and black or white. They are unable to assimilate new information unless it is filtered through the proper channels. It's really sad....

 

[geezer]

The thing is, if you really look at our national education standards, they teach exactly the kind of inflexible partisan thinking that we are talking about. The focus on testing produces students who see things are right or wrong and black or white. They are unable to assimilate new information unless it is filtered through the proper channels. It's really sad....

Boy, do I ever agree. Now here's the latest installment on this topic in my district. We teachers just received a form letter to send home with the kids. It asks theat the parents mark their choice and sign permission as to whether or not their child should be allowed to watch the President's speech.

Now remember, I teach high school. My students are 14-18 years old. Many have jobs, cars, and other responsibilities. Hell, some even have kids of their own. And they need to have special permission to watch the President address them on the topic of education??? I swear, the inmates are running the asylum!

 

[celtic_crippler]

No doubt. I wish they'd put as much energy into improving education in this country as they are into healthcare reform. It would have a longer lasting, and more far-reaching impact on our society than anything else.

 

[Steve]

No doubt. I wish they'd put as much energy into improving education in this country as they are into healthcare reform. It would have a longer lasting, and more far-reaching impact on our society than anything else.

I agree, completely. At the same time, though, I think it's overly optimistic to believe that any sincere efforts to reform public education would go through without much the same kind of vehement opposition. There are powerful lobbies all around education and plenty of real hot button issues from vouchers to magnet schools to homeschooling to standardized testing. Any comprehensive overhaul of public education would be propagandized by both sides, each with plenty of money and powerful lobbies.

 

[geezer]

No doubt. I wish they'd put as much energy into improving education in this country as they are into healthcare reform. It would have a longer lasting, and more far-reaching impact on our society than anything else.

They? You mean the big federal they? I used to think that way. Now with NCLB and heavy handed micro-management of my job (I'm a teacher) at the state and mega-district level, I'd just as soon that "They" would leave us the hell alone! Before all that junk, I used to be a pretty effective teacher. Now, I'm not so sure.

 

[JDenver]

Wowzers, you know that partisanship in the US is out of control when a 'credible' news source talks of worship and political indoctrination around presidential quotes regarding hard work and goal setting.

Sheesh.

 

[Makalakumu]

Wowzers, you know that partisanship in the US is out of control when a 'credible' news source talks of worship and political indoctrination around presidential quotes regarding hard work and goal setting.

Sheesh.

IMO, the GOP missed the boat on this one. There is a point to be made regarding the Federal Government's involvement in public education, however, its getting lost in the mindless hyperbole. There's irony in the fact that the head of the Executive Branch is going to speak to children about goal setting and achievement when that very same branch is mucking it up so poorly.

 

[geezer]

Wowzers, you know that partisanship in the US is out of control when a 'credible' news source talks of worship and political indoctrination around presidential quotes regarding hard work and goal setting.

Sheesh.

Totally out of control.

BTW remember Obama's first nationally broadcast speech at the 2004 Dem convention... the one that catapulted him onto the national stage? You know the, "There are no 'red states' or 'blue states'... only the United States of America" (or something like that). Boy, was he wrong! And that's pretty sad for the country.

My guess is that if he had a 'do-over' on this education speech, he would have made it a joint address, delivering it together with a top Republican figure. After all, at least we should be able to agree on the value of hard work, a good education, and committing yourself to worthwhile life goals!

 

[Gordon Nore]

Students in grades pre-K-6, for example, are encouraged to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

Here's what I find troublesome about the proposed suggested lesson. It's not the doctrinaire aspect of -- that's almost to be expected. It is the banality and the meaninglessness of the exercise.

In some of his earlier books on US public education, Jonathan Kozol wrote about what he called a pre-ordained "exercise in failure and denial." These are the sorts of lessons in which school teachers ask children to write to *their* elected officials about injustices they see in the world. Invariably these queries are met with no response, save perhaps for a polite letter saying that so-and-so is very concerned with this problem and is working on it.

In other words, nothing happens. The lesson, however, is that one never demands change but requests it and quietly acquiesces to failure. It is a message that basically any government wants to be taught.