Most parochial and public schools are off to an early start this year, and these first few weeks are always a very scary time for most children (and parents). Kids worry about getting lost in a big building around people they don't know. Will others laugh at how they're dressed? Will teachers be miserable? Will there be violence and bullying? Will my Johnny fall in with the wrong crowd and start doing drugs? Will there be gangs? But there's a deeper, darker fear preying on most minds this school year - Barack Obama.Some parents are scared to death that the President's desire to speak to schoolchildren is some goofy plot designed to brainwash them. What's next, Obama youth? It makes no difference that Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush did pretty much the same thing.
The Lehigh Valley's seventeen different school districts - kingdoms unto themselves - have about seventeen different reactions to this firestorm of protest. You can see that in the approach the three city-based, school districts.
Allentown School District - "Technical difficulties" will prevent schools from showing the speech to all students. But parents who think Obama is trying to brainwash their kids can send a note.
Bethlehem Area School District - In a letter written by someone who desperately needs a few English lessons, we're told this is a class-by-class decision. Even if a class decides it wants to see the Prez, those opposed will be afforded the opportunity to engage in an "alternative activity."
Easton School District - Before exposing schoolchildren to the President, administrators will pre-screen the video. If considered appropriate, the experts will then decide on a procedure for future use.
I have an advance copy of Obama's speech, and let me tell you, it's very dangerous. He actually asks our children to take responsibility and work hard. He even offers them bribes.
"Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team."
He orders them around, too!
"I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter."
Finally, he mocks rap, basketball and reality TV.
"I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things."
Who the hell does he think he is, President? Oh, that's right, he is. And it's a sad commentary on us that this nation has become so divided that we're unable to recognize that this might actually mean something to our kids.
It will mean something to my grandson. Like Obama, he is half black and has no father. When Obama was elected President, he asked his mom if he could have a sign from one of the streets to put in his yard. It's still there. This nine-year old actually went to D.C. in freezing weather to watch the Inauguration, and had to give his class a report when he returned home. If Obama can keep my grandson and other children interested in school instead of drugs or gangs, why not listen?
41 comments:
It is fascinating that Obama identifies himself as black when he is half-white, and the only person who stood beside him as his grew up was his white mom and her family. Why has he never proudly acknowledged that he is half-white? His upcoming school disertation is self-serving and will only add to his "cult of personality". Obama heads for the limelight like a moth to flame. A massive ego that has been fueled by the "yes we can!" apostles. Those impressionable kids will swoon over this imposter. Just what he wants. A new generation of acolytes to his far-left religion.
Obama has identified himself as black, half-black, half-white. he even once publicly referred to himself asa mutt. He has not hidden who he is.
You have an advance copy of his speech. I see nothing in it remotely self-serving. He is encouraging kids to study hard and do well. Why this is controversial is beyond me.
The only thing I found disturbing, and only slightly was the lesson plan that White House staffers are sending along w/ the video. That should be left to the pros.
As far as the lesson plan, it's only a template that teachers can choose to build on (or not). Asking "how does the president inspire me" in the context of the speech as you describe it seems innocuous enough. Asking "how can I help President Obama" might not be a question that all teachers would ask, but I bet some teachers, knowing their own students, would feel perfectly comfortable asking it.
If Obama's goal is to brainwash kids into being good students, I'm all for it. Most of my generation are culturally illiterate and almost incapable of critical thinking. A little brainwashing might have helped.
There are a lot of people posting remarks on this topic in the Blogosphere, especially here in DC. It will be interesting to see the variety of remarks. I wonder what the concensus will be?
Peace, ~~Alex
Deb, I never saw the lesson plan, so my description may be off. Like you, I'm all for brainwashing kids to excel at school.
Alex, We shall see.
Anonymous said..."It is fascinating that Obama identifies himself as black when he is half-white"
He explained this last year on the "Today Show". He said if he and his interviewer both stepped out on a NYC street to hail a cab... you would see whether a cabbie would consider him as a white fare or a black fare. So he goes with the black based on his life experience.
"Those impressionable kids will swoon over this imposter."
So your saying these kids can't think for themselves and stupid? I doubt kids will leave class "swooning".
Come on really! Half of them will be texting and the other half wondering how soon the damn thing will be over.
Burne, the Republicans to whom you give so much aid and comfort on this blog (your perogative; I know), have not accepted the Election results.
Annon 5:44
Did you read the address or are you just writing what the extreme right wing wants you to write.
Tell me is all the Reagan worship on the right part of a cult of personality?
Naming the Houston airport after George HW Bush a cult of personality trait?
Is the Eisenhower national interstate system cult of personality?
Are presidential libraries cult of personality?
You say he is an imposter yet you back it up with nothing - so therefore just empty words.
My head hurts from all this - read the remarks and then feel follish for what you wrote - trust me if you are honest - you will
LVCI, You, Donald (View Beyond Bethlehem) and I posted parts of Obama's speech at almost the same time. Weird. Great minds think alike?
Thanks Bernie for joining the fight
"Burne, the Republicans to whom you give so much aid and comfort on this blog (your perogative; I know), have not accepted the Election results."
Not true. Not even close. There are extremists on both sides, like you, who are willing to blame an entire party for the faults of a few.
A little more on this Obama black thing... I've received the ugliest emails of Michelle working in the garden on a watermelon patch. Obama's head pasted on an African medicine man. So from what I too have experienced with the vast majority of these race baiting emails, makes it pretty much decided the haters have determined... he's black.
Which sort of confirms (in a ugly way) just what he said on the "Today Show"
Irony 101: Nearly all those obnoxious emails I receive are from the very same ones who accuse Obama of playing the 'race card'.
The problem some of these numb nuts have is that their hate is greater then their IQ. They think addicts like Beck and Limbaugh have the "hidden agenda", figured out.
Let us literally get real. I don't care if Obama is the anti-Christ he is a black man who is very educated and successful. He is the freakin President of the United States. He is in a much better position to get to the disenchanted blacks and mongrels in this country and maybe just maybe a few will actually believe someone of color has a track to success besides sports or gangs.
Come on you idiots, buy a damn clue. I am tired of walking in Allentown and seeing ignorant dummies having a bunch of more ignorant dummy kids. Give it a chance.
The lesson plans accompanying the video have been changed, or so we have been told by the administration itself, becasue of the complaints from parents and adminstrators about the content and context
THe original was quite a bit different from the more innocous watered down version that is now being sent out to schools.
I believe that it is always a good idea to keep an eye on what is going on in both the class room and in the White House, no matter who the current resident may be.
If there was and/or is a propagandist message it better that we know about and react to the situation rather than let these things go by unfettered until our society becomes Orwelian and we are scratching our head wondering what happened to our kids and our country.
Well, all of the Obamaphytes are out in full farce tonight! Naming airports after ex-Presidents = "cult of personality"!!?? Are you that disengenuous? I was never a Reaganite and was far from enchanted by his "charm" and charisma. I am equally disgusted with the blind allegience of far-left lemmings to the Obama "cult". The difference is that the media made Reagan an affable but bumbling buffoon. Obama has been given a golden ticket by the adoring press and critical minds must rely on the facts without the rosy media spin. You may be right that kids in school may not "swoon" over his remarks, and merely wait until assembly is over. But a good number of them have already been molded by the mainstream media to think that Obama is our nation's next Lincoln, even though he has done nothing to deserve that level of admiration. His message of "study hard and stay in school" has been said a thousand times by every politician and celebrity. This is just another calculated effort to give Obama more "air time". He hasn't found a camera yet that he doesn't like. He is a publicity hog if there ever was one. His ego excels even his lofty office. He is not a "man of the people". He is a "man of the media".
Keep drinking that Obama kool-aid folks. 9.5% unemployment and a nation on the brink of socialism.
YES WE CAN!!
I share your disdain for Obamaphiles. I voted for the guy, but it was a close call for me. I'm fairly unhappy with his presidency, from the way he handled the stim to cap-and-trade to health care reform.
Having said that, I believe a President who wants to address our schoolchildren on the iportance of education should be afforded that privilege. I agree with Not So Casual that we should remain vigilant for propaganda, but his speech is just what many kids may need to hear. That "study hard" message may have been delivered 1,000 times, but it is a message that alwatys bears repeating.
Jackson Sigmon was a crusty old lawyer who loved to watch Lehigh wrestle. He wanted to go to a match at Princeton so he asked Kevin Kelleher, a Princeton grad, how to get there.
"Study hard," Kelleher replied.
Supporting someone does not mean one is in a cult or that my support is blind. I am not sure what the word is for not blindly not supporting someone. His detractors oppose everything he does with out exception. They are critical of his ties, his taking his wife out to dinner. In their eyes everything he does is wrong.
The people who claim he is a socialist or leading us to socialism crack me up. Read history - truly understand what real socialism is and you will (if honest) feel foolish for saying things you have no true understanding of.
Please don't rewrite history the MSM fawned over Reagan from the debates with Carter all through his eight years in office
"He is in a much better position to get to the disenchanted blacks and mongrels in this country and maybe just maybe a few will actually believe someone of color has a track to success besides sports or gangs."
Did he/she just use the term "mongrels" ? This is like telling me you apologize and then slapping me in the face.
Please, people, get a clue!
On a lighter note:
"This is just another calculated effort to give Obama more "air time". He hasn't found a camera yet that he doesn't like. He is a publicity hog if there ever was one. His ego excels even his lofty office. He is not a "man of the people". He is a "man of the media".
Bernie, where have I heard this before ? (smile)
Alfonso Todd
www.prolifickmag.com
"He is in a much better position to get to the disenchanted blacks and mongrels in this country and maybe just maybe a few will actually believe someone of color has a track to success besides sports or gangs."
Did he/she just use the term "mongrels" ? This is like telling me you apologize and then slapping me in the face.
Please, people, get a clue!
On a lighter note:
"This is just another calculated effort to give Obama more "air time". He hasn't found a camera yet that he doesn't like. He is a publicity hog if there ever was one. His ego excels even his lofty office. He is not a "man of the people". He is a "man of the media".
Bernie, where have I heard this before ? (smile)
Alfonso Todd
www.prolifickmag.com
Alfonso, I let that slide bc the person making the comment was trying to make a point about Obama's appeal and I think he was using te terms Obama has used himself, although it did make me wince.
As far as likening Obama to a media hog, I'm trying very hard to think of someone who may have been called a shameless publicity whore. I'm drawing a blank!
I see you have a new web page, and I'll be checking it out. You certainly are ... prolific.
Government needs to get out of schools, just like health insurance. Only parents with children in school should pay school taxes. Why should I pay for your kids education if I have no kids? Why should I pay for your hospital bills if you get sick. Privatize all the schools.
Obamabots goose-stepping, that's all.
"What can you do to help the President?"
Goose-step and join the national youth volunteer corps! :)
If the original stuff was so inocuous, why was it changed?
CURIOUS
Van Jones bit the dust.
How long before Obama?
So far as I know, the speech was not released until today. The lesson plan appears to be the same one I heard about before, too, although Not So Casual claims it has been toned down so that it is not perceived as Obama propaganda.
Objections to a speech from the President to schoolchildren at the beginning of a school year, urging them to study hard, are a tad histrionic.
Perhaps the larger point here is that as with health care Obama has handled this poorly as well. The bloom is off the rose.
Scott Armstrong
Reagan and Bush were trusted respected. Obama is feared and mistrusted. Parents tend to keep kids away from the feared and mistrusted.
Politics suck; especially when you're losing the PR war. Just ask Robert Bork or John Tower.
Bernie, please cue that video that you ran a few months back of the teacher leading a chanting Obama youth brigade.
No problem with a non-partisan, apolitical speech from any POTUS. Once I saw the changes, I gave up any consideration of keeping my kids out of it.
That being said, I do question his motivation.
What is concerning, as Armstrong points out, is how President I-bama goes about things. Everything starts from his ego-centric view of the world. Everything is about him. He is a lecturer and dictator, not a persuasive leader.
This appears to be a campaign-type event, "For the children", to give "the one" some positive at a time when he is taking a beating in the polls for the economy, healthcare, Van Jones and even Afghanistan.
The mere existence of that lesson plan, provided by the Dept. of Education, simply furthers the mistrust among those already skeptical. He tried to pull a fast one, and got caught. That kind of action will only dilute the effectiveness of any legitimate efforts going forward.
"Reagan and Bush were trusted respected. Obama is feared and mistrusted."
I did not much trust Reagan or Buish, but had no problem with them talking to my kids.
I like the idea of privatizing all the public schools. I have no kids in school so all my tax money gets dumped in there and I get no money back. Make them all private, only the parents pay, trade them on the Stock Market which will give incentive to the rest of us without kids or with grown kids to pitch in and we'll all make money. It should be set up just like the insurance coampnies, health, education, smae things. THere is nothing in our Founding Fathers consititution that says we are to have public school systems.
I saw on the news that for the first time ever, the U.S. lost its spot as most competitive economy. The new #1 is one of those evil socialist universal healthcare countries that we fear, Switzerland. Our healthcare system is bankrutping us and making us not competitive in the world. How many people do you know that still work in a manufacutring environment. I'm all for being socialist if it means we'll make money.
Obamaphiles and their cult of personality have created most of this recoil. To neutralize their obnoxiousness, a sitting POTUS is criticized for simply addressing school kids. The public has lost respect for the office - regardless of who's in it. I'm not certain that's a bad thing, however.
You may have a point, there.
Bernie -
A few comments about the "speech".
First off, I am wary of any politician addressing school children - they are a captive audience.
Just last year, the Allentown School district carried a Rendell address and he used the occasion to promote food stamps and welfare programs. Yes, those programs are out there, but I would have preferred a message about how children should strive to avoid getting on the public dole, not one about not feeling shame for being there.
Secondly, this was the first day of school for many students in the Valley. Many parents will not find out about the speech - or have a choice about whether they want their child to attend - until after their children has watched it. As a parent, I would prefer some advanced notice of anything outside of the normal day of instruction.
Most importantly, the lesson plan was the major problem. Besides the fact that the lesson plan was so biased that it had to be changed, it is my understanding that the US Department of Education is prohibited from writing lesson plans on ANY subject.
That so many administrators are unaware or this or so quickly and easily willing to cede their authority and power to bureaucrats in Washington is appalling.
Bernie, as I remember the demo's investigated the George H W Bush's presentation to the school kids. They believed the speech to be political, which it wanted. As I remember they even investigate the people that wrote the speech. Just wanted to clear up the misconception that Bush's speech had the same kind of political intrique.
Bob
Bush's speech was blasted as a political speech paid for by the taxpayers. I think it cost $26k. It was totally innocuous.
Barack is anti-choice on schools for kids. He and Michelle wouldn't let their babies anywhere near DC public schools because they have the money to CHOOSE otherwise. Not so much for poor kids (mostly black) in the District. They're sentenced to the very schools Barack and Michelle know better to avoid.
He really has no credibility on public schools or educational choices. Left and right know this. Best he keeps politics away from the kids and aims campaigns at adults who are presumed to know better than captive kids.
BTW: Michael Vick spoke to Philly school students for about 13 minutes today.
No word if Obama's was overlooked so they could listen to Vick's. Nor how parents reacted.
Maybe we don't have all that information because the news hounds were too scared to be there.
:-)
Very good.
People are so ignorant in this country.
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