Anyone else's school district not showing Obama's education address?

goddess40

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Thu Sep-03-09 01:35 PM
Original message

Anyone else's school district not showing Obama's education address?

Our district is caving to the few people gutsy enough to call and complain that Obama is going to indoctrinate their kids.

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WCIL

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Thu Sep-03-09 01:40 PM
Response to Original message

1. Ours isn't either

11:00 just "wasn't a good time".

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uponit7771

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Thu Sep-03-09 01:42 PM
Response to Original message

2. WOW!

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polichick

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Thu Sep-03-09 01:50 PM
Response to Original message

3. Ed Schultz is LIVID over this on this radio show today - it really is...

...disgusting when an address by the POTUS is censored.

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cm0431

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Thu Sep-03-09 02:42 PM
Response to Reply #3

7. Flashback 1991: Gephardt Called Bush's Speech to Students 'Paid Political Advertising'

Republicans are complaining about Obama being piped into the schools, but Democrats did the exact same thing against Bush in 1991...

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/09/03/flashback-1991-gephardt-called-bushs-speech-students-paid-political-a

As Barack Obama prepares a nationwide broadcast to America's students next Tuesday, it has been revealed that Democrats complained in 1991 when then President George H. W. Bush broadcast a speech from a Northwest Washington junior high school.

In fact, the House Majority leader at the time, Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), said "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students."

Such was reported by the Washington Post on October 3, 1991 (h/t KY3 Political Notebook via Chuck Todd):

House Democrats criticized President Bush yesterday for using Education Department funds to produce and broadcast a speech that he made Tuesday at a Northwest Washington junior high school.

The Democratic critics accused Bush of turning government money for education to his own political use, namely, an ongoing effort to inoculate himself against their charges of inattention to domestic issues. The speech at Alice Deal Junior High School, broadcast live on radio and television, urged students to study hard, avoid drugs and turn in troublemakers.

"The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.' "

Two House committees demanded that the department explain the use of its funds for the speech, an explanation that Deputy Secretary David T. Kearns provided late in the day in a letter to Rep. William D. Ford (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander was out of town. <...>

Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), chairwoman of the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families, said it was outrageous for the White House to "start using precious dollars for campaigns" when "we are struggling for every silly dime we can get" for education programs.

Rep. Martin Frost (D-Tex.) said that if Bush feels obliged to use government funds to hire outside consultants "to make him look good," then he should fire some of the public relations experts on the White House payroll. "Then the president might be more sympathetic to unemployment benefits," Frost said, referring to Bush's threat to veto legislation to extend benefits.

Makes one wonder if today's media, with the economy in what they've repeatedly called the worst recession since the Great Depression, will question Obama's use of education funds for his upcoming speech.

After all, when you look at Education Secretary Arne Duncan's letter concerning this event, one has to assume it's costing the Department a great deal of money.

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treestar

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Thu Sep-03-09 03:18 PM
Response to Reply #7

10. If this is true, the big difference is

That the speech was probably shown anyway. No opting out options.

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polichick

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Thu Sep-03-09 03:25 PM
Response to Reply #10

11. True, because Dem parents wouldn't make a stink about it...

We just tell our kids to think for themselves.

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alsame

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Thu Sep-03-09 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #10

14. And they weren't calling him a fascist, socialist, etc. It sounds like

the complaints were about funding, not 'mind control'and 'indoctrination'.

I would bet that 99.9% of the parents who are objecting have no clue about the funding or the costs. That's not why they are pulling their kids out.

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WCGreen

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Thu Sep-03-09 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #7

15. Well, in October of 1991, Bush was facing potential primary

opponents and also the 1992 election was a little over a year away.

Timing is eveything.

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goddess40

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Thu Sep-03-09 01:55 PM
Response to Original message

4. Show's huge disrespect for the office of the President of the US

Sure will send a loud message to kids - education is not important.

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WCIL

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Thu Sep-03-09 01:58 PM
Response to Original message

5. One of our local news blogs is full of comments

"indoctrination", "fascism" "dear leader" -- ugly (and stupid) stuff. We have a new Superintendent, and he was the one who came up with the "not a good time" quote. What he really meant to say was "I folded like a cheap suit".

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bigdarryl

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Thu Sep-03-09 02:33 PM
Response to Original message

6. I sugest parents pull there kid or kids out of any school DISREPECTING the office

Where were these hypocrites when past Presidents showed up at schools I didn't hear a peep out of them the bottom line is this is RACISM!!!! run a muck.Pull you kids out of those schools and enroll them somewhere else this is RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!

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Cha

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Thu Sep-03-09 02:44 PM
Response to Original message

8. How about more parents calling and saying they

WANT their kids to hear what the President of The United States is going to say about education?

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a la izquierda

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Thu Sep-03-09 03:07 PM
Response to Original message

9. My sister-in-law is one of those folks...

Personally, I think she's nuts, but at the same time, I would prefer that my kids (when and if I ever have them) get their politics from me. How many teachers have we discussed on DU who want to push some Repuke agenda? I wouldn't want my potential children to have a teacher who uses the Obama speech in some negative way.

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Critters2

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Thu Sep-03-09 03:34 PM
Response to Reply #9

13. Children learn politics every time the say the goddamn pledge.

Every civics class has an agenda. I'd like children to hear more than just Repuke nationalism in the public schools.

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a la izquierda

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Thu Sep-03-09 07:10 PM
Response to Reply #13

18. No, YOU think they learn politics...

by saying the pledge. Do you remember saying the pledge as a kid? Were you so prescient at age 7 that every day's pledge was a politics lesson? Don't think so. Kids learn recitation and how to lose 2 minutes of their day when they say it.

And I never took a Civics lesson in elementary school...or high school. This was during the height of Ronnie Ray-gun. There probably ARE agendas in Civics classes...and that is a problem. If you don't think that teachers' agendas are problematic, regardless of whether you agree with those agendas or not, then I'm done with this conversation. Do I think Obama's speech is political? Hell no. But do I truly believe in the capacity for teachers to make it so? Yes, I do. I think that Obama's presidency has brought out the absolute worst in terrible people, who flew under the radar for too long.

It's my freedom of thought and choice that we cherish, no? And goddamn, DU certainly has its share of folks willing to crucify anyone else who doesn't think like them.

And btw, before the teachers come flame me, I'm almost done with a PhD in history, and I teach college kids at the moment. They wouldn't know my political persuasions if they had to guess. Because I keep them out of the classroom.

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NYCGirl

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Thu Sep-03-09 04:35 PM
Response to Reply #9

16. How is encouraging kids to study and stay in school political? NT

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cleveramerican

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Thu Sep-03-09 03:32 PM
Response to Original message

12. why is encouraging kids to get good grades controversial?

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donco6

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Thu Sep-03-09 05:15 PM
Response to Original message

17. It's optional at ours.

We have to have alternative plans for those who don't want to watch it.

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goddess40

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Fri Sep-04-09 07:13 AM
Response to Original message

19. It seems many teachers are opting to show the Obama speech

I still find it disgraceful that any district is buckling to these idiots.

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nc4bo

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Fri Sep-04-09 10:22 AM
Response to Original message

20. NC Public Schools making it optional.

The ultimate decision is left to the schools themselves whether or not to carry the event.

My kids are grown so I have no way to know which schools will show it or not, although I could probably get out the phone book and start calling them all.

Here's the release:

Message from the Newsroom of NC Department of Public Instruction. http://www.ncpublicschools.org/newsroom/news/2009-10/20090904-01

NEWS RELEASES 2009-10
NEWS RELEASES 2009-10 :: SEPTEMBER 4, 2009
OBAMA ADDRESS TO STUDENTS IS OPTIONAL FOR
PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA

NC Department of Public Instruction officials have notified local school districts and schools that President Barack Obama's national address to students on Tuesday, Sept. 8, is an optional educational enrichment activity.

On Tuesday, Sept. 8, President Barack Obama will deliver a national address to students via the Web and C-SPAN to encourage students to set high academic goals and to do their best to succeed in school. The address will be broadcast live on the White House Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov/live/) and on C-SPAN at 12:00 p.m., ET.

In support of this address, the U.S. Department of Education has posted a menu of classroom activities for students at all grade spans - created by its teachers-in-residence, the Teaching Ambassador Fellows - to help engage students in the address and stimulate classroom discussions about the importance of education. These materials are online at http://www.ed.gov .

Information about the address as an instruction option was distributed by email to all local schools and school districts on Thursday.

"This address is an optional instructional activity. As with many other enrichment opportunities available to teachers, it is a local decision regarding participation and how the address might be incorporated into the school day," said Dr. Rebecca Garland, chief academic officer for the NC Department of Public Instruction.

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