Tomorrow, Barack Obama addresses the nation’s students. Like previous presidents — including Ronald Reagan and the two Bushes — the president will try to inspire young people to work hard in school, so they can lead satisfying personal and professional lives.
Naturally, some people object to that message.
Thankfully, superintendent of schools Dr. Elliott Landon does not listen to them.
He has told principals and teachers at all levels to integrate Obama’s message into their lessons on Tuesday — or whenever they believe it is appropriate. The speech will be available on school TVs, streamed on computers, and taped if desired.
Dr. Landon trusts teachers to handle the president’s speech in the manner in which it is given: intelligently. His staff, he knows, will lead objective discussions of it, at age-appropriate levels.
Or they may not use it at all. They’re professionals; they know how to handle math, science, phys ed, spelling, history, and presidential addresses.
Some people say President Obama wants to “indoctrinate” young people.
Dr. Landon knows this not about indoctrination; it’s about access to information. In other words: It’s a perfect moment for education.
Once again for the comprehension challenged, it’s not about the fact that Obama wants to tell the kids to “be cool and stay in school”, hell even Fonzi said that!
The backlash comes from the following below, which included a suggested lesson plan and assignment. So please stop saying, “he only wants to give the children a talk on the importance of education, I think that’s so wonderful”. Originally it wasn’t “just a talk”, and I would like to know where our school superintendent and board of education stood before the white house relented to the huge outcry and deleted the aforementioned lessons and assignments.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan dispatched letters to principles nationwide boasting that “This is the first time an American president has spoken directly to the nation’s school children about persisting and succeeding in school.” But the goal is not merely morale-boosting. According to White House event-related guides developed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching Fellows, grade-school students will be told to “listen to the speech” and “could think about the following:”
*What is the President trying to tell me?
*What is the President asking me to do?
*What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?
Students can record important parts of the speech where the President is asking them to do something. Students might think about: What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
After the speech, teachers will ask students:
*What do you think the President wants us to do?
*Does the speech make you want to do anything?
*Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
Some of the activists in the White House Teaching Fellowship program.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html
All the president’s radical education men. For more background on Commie Michael Klonsky, see Andrew McCarthy’s report from last October.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTQzMDIxZjlmMTM5N2ZhNzlmY2IyZDYxMWQ5NjQ2NDM=
Obviously there were more than a few concerned parents in Westport for Dr. Landon to issue a statement.
That would be “White House,” and “principals”.
I hope Obama’s words prompt more attention to better grammar and spelling.
I wasn’t writing an essay or novel, it’s a blog posting! However, I noticed you didn’t disagree with anything I said, or try to counter any of the facts above. And afterall, that was the point of my message, not if I properly capitalized the White House or not.
I just disagreed with your saying it so poorly and sloppily. How do you expect to be taken seriously if you don’t even know the difference between “principle” and “principal?”
I’ll make more of an effort in the future, or you could just be my editor and we can work together. Hit me on Facebook 🙂