Sept 8th Obama Address to School Children

[GalateaDancer]

I just got this in an email from my daughter's school district:

President Obama has asked to address American public school children on Tuesday, September 8th – 11:00 a.m. CT. The School District of Menomonee Falls will not air the presentation live. Rather, we will tape the program. My administrative team will determine if and how we will use the President’s address after it is reviewed. We will determine how various age groups and schools will use the presentation. I have also asked that we tape the program for streaming on our webpage, which would allow parents to view the presentation with their children. I will communicate with you again next week with more specific details about the presentation. Thank you.

WTF????? What in the world do they think he's going to say that they need to shield them from the leader of their country? Do they think he's going to use his mind control to have them go Children of the Corn on us? And why do I have a feeling that they would have aired a speech from Bush or Regan most happily to the students?

[Lainie]

The far right says Obama is bad for our kids (Salon.com)

The hysteria Obama inspires in his far-right foes is primeval, primordial. From the Birthers' obsession with the facts of his birth -- which lets them obsess about his origins in miscegenation -- to the paranoia that he's coming for the children, there's a deep strand of irrational paranoia that can't be anything other than racial. These people don't merely disagree with him, they distrust and dislike him viscerally. He's not merely wrong, he's scary; even terrifying.

[Dr. Dave]

Originally Posted by GalateaDancer

I just got this in an email from my daughter's school district:



WTF????? What in the world do they think he's going to say that they need to shield them from the leader of their country? Do they think he's going to use his mind control to have them go Children of the Corn on us? And why do I have a feeling that they would have aired a speech from Bush or Regan most happily to the students?

Rigt-wing nutiness aside, I think that your school district's plan is a good one (based solely on the part of the email you posted, natch.) Also, caveat, I do not know how old your kids are. But if they are elementary age, I think it is appropriate for the teachers to view the speech and take sections of it to show. They can also prepare a lesson based on the sections they wish to highlight. Or show the whole thing, but still, get a chance to prepare a lesson. Not many younger children will sit through a 45 minute speech and follow much of any of it.

My comments have nothing to do with censoring the president or being concerned about him indoctrinating the kids; it is more of a practical issue. I of course do not know what your superindentant's motivation is.

[Mama Duck]

Why do they need to review it? Other than dyed in the wool nutjobs, who honestly believes the President of the United States would say something inappropriate in a speech aimed at schoolchildren? Seriously, people need to get a grip.

I think our district is handling this one just fine. They won't show it at the time district-wide but they are providing it on their website. So parents can watch it at home and teachers can show it in the classroom if they want to. While I would have no problem with them showing it district wide during school, I know the district really doesn't want to deal with the screaming that would ensue.

[ASL]

I certainly wouldn't have objected to a speech from Bush to the children of America being pre-screened by responsible adults prior to being shown to school children. Personally, I think the idea is a bit manipulative and that politicians, like the cigarette companies of yore, should stop targeting children.

[GalateaDancer]

Dr. Dave, that was the entire email, from beginning to end. I didn't leave any of it out. And as far as age, my daughter will be 12 next week.

Honestly, I wouldn't have batted an eye if any President, whether I personally supported them or not, had a live speech broadcast in school. Like Mama Duck said, I can't imagine that someone holding the highest office in the land would risk saying anything controversial or inappropriate for children to hear.

[AnglRdr]

The President talking to school-aged kids about the importance of staying in school is eeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvviiiiiiiiiilllllllll.

[Sylvanz]

Originally Posted by GalateaDancer

Dr. Dave, that was the entire email, from beginning to end. I didn't leave any of it out. And as far as age, my daughter will be 12 next week.

Honestly, I wouldn't have batted an eye if any President, whether I personally supported them or not, had a live speech broadcast in school. Like Mama Duck said, I can't imagine that someone holding the highest office in the land would risk saying anything controversial or inappropriate for children to hear.

Exactly, we aren't in some dictatorial regime here (and if we were they wouldn't be able to censor it anyway.) He is the democratically elected leader of our country. I think it's pretty damned arrogant of these people to censor and parse what he says as if he was some creepy child molester or presidential pied piper. It would not (and did not) ever happen to any other president. It really makes me sort of sick. They are saying that our President is not fit to talk to the children of the country he leads. It's disgusting.

P&LL, Syl

[Mama Duck]

Originally Posted by Sylvanz

It would not (and did not) ever happen to any other president. It really makes me sort of sick. They are saying that our President is not fit to talk to the children of the country he leads. It's disgusting.

P&LL, Syl

Has any other president aimed a speech at school kids? I know when Bush had press conferences during the school day, they weren't shown. I'm sure some schools probably watched them as a Civics lesson. But they weren't televised district-wide.

[Simply Madeline]

Originally Posted by Mama Duck

Has any other president aimed a speech at school kids? I know when Bush had press conferences during the school day, they weren't shown. I'm sure some schools probably watched them as a Civics lesson. But they weren't televised district-wide.

GHWBush did in '91 and Reagan did in '88.

[GalateaDancer]

Originally Posted by Sylvanz

They are saying that our President is not fit to talk to the children of the country he leads. It's disgusting.

P&LL, Syl

You pretty much just summed up my thoughts entirely. My daughter is a citizen too. She has just as much right to the opportunity to be addressed live by the the President as adults do.

[jimmy101_again]

Originally Posted by Simply Madeline

GHWBush did in '91 and Reagan did in '88.

Wouldn't both of those addresses have been in either election years or the year before an election?

Dummy that Obama is, he's doing it nearly 3 years before the next election.

The vitriol over the talk is really amazing. We just received an email from out kids' high school. If parents don't want their kids to hear the speech the can send a note in to the school. Whether the kids actually hear the speech or not depends on what class they happen to be in at the time.

My only hope of some good that might come out of all this … some flaming idiots head's will explode and they'll be removed from the population.

[Lainie]

I don't have a problem with the president making a speech directly to schoolchildren. I wouldn't have a problem with Bush doing it, either. I'd want to know it was happening, and what the topic was, and I'd discuss it with my daughter afterward.

When I was a kid, anytime the president made a speech, that was the only thing on TV (and boy, could Richard Nixon talk!). I'm bettting a lot more kids saw/heard at least parts of presidential speeches (whether they paid attention or not) far more often than they do now.

[Simply Madeline]

I like Wonkette's take:

By BANNING this video from children, parents and schools have in effect established the President’s short speech about the importance of goal-making as the coolest shit ever, ever, ever, at least since the South Park movie. Kids will be watching this thing at sleepovers after the parents go to bed for the next decade.

[babyshoes]

Originally Posted by Dr. Dave

Not many younger children will sit through a 45 minute speech and follow much of any of it.

According to the email our local school system sent out, it's scheduled to be 15 minutes. Parents have the option to "opt out" their kids from watching it.

Here at the Bella Farm Homeschool we will be watching the speech. I've looked at the classroom activity suggestions from the Dept. of Ed., and like them; we'll probably do some of the activities.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I don't have a problem with the president making a speech directly to schoolchildren. I wouldn't have a problem with Bush doing it, either. I'd want to know it was happening, and what the topic was, and I'd discuss it with my daughter afterward.

Agreed. I don't understand why people are making such a fuss about this.

[Enchanting_eyes]

Loudoun county schools will not be showing the speech. I do believe in my son's county (Fairfax) parents can opt out of having their children see the speech.


E*E

[Starla]

While the people in my town and the surrounding areas are completely freaking out, my school district is actually making sense. On the homepage of the district website is a blurb about how Obama is expected to "challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning in his address to the students of America. The President 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."
They go on to say that their computer network has issues when they try to view multiple simultaneous networked video streams, but they will provide a link to the speech on their website and a DVD of the speech will be available on demand.

Maybe it's a copout, but I'm just relieved that they kept politics out of their statement and I'm glad they are taking steps to make the speech easily accessible for those who would like to see it.

I think it's nice that Obama is addressing the children like this and it makes me very mad that people are trying to turn it into something it's not. I remember watching H.W.'s address when I was younger and thinking, "Wow! The president cares how I do in school!" I'd like it if every president briefly addressed kids at the beginning of the school year about benign things like doing your best and being kind to others. At best it would make kids feel important, and at worst it's just a few boring minutes out of the year.

[RivkahChaya]

I think it's appropriate to show an edited portion to very young children. My first reaction to the email is WTF? What are they afraid of? And the email is certainly worded in a way that sounds as though they expect something inappropriate.

However, I remember a very bad day for public schools: January 28, 1986. Pretty much every school in the US wheeled a TV into every classroom for kids to watch the Challenger launch, with the first teacher in space! Wow, was that just every possible kind of bad.

I would not blame principals for recording and showing this later, on the off-chance that some nutcase thinks this is a great opportunity to try offing the president (wasn't Squeaky Fromme just released?) Even if Obama weren't actually killed on camera, just watching the secret service go into action would be scary. Even if no one made an attempt on Obama's life, if some fringe group just decided to disrupt the speech somehow, it could be scary for kids. Maybe that Czech internet-lawyer/dentist will show up with a bullhorn, and keep demanding his birth certificate, and try to drown him out, and teachers will spend the rest of the day explaining conspiracy theories to the class.

So, maybe still a good call. Maybe for the wrong reasons, in the case of the OP, but still, not unreasonable.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

However, I remember a very bad day for public schools: January 28, 1986. Pretty much every school in the US wheeled a TV into every classroom for kids to watch the Challenger launch, with the first teacher in space! Wow, was that just every possible kind of bad.

That was the last day I ever watched television at school. I was a sophomore then, but still.