President to address nations students

[HLBiteME!]

Obama has asked to give a speech to all the nations students on Tuesday. Some people are freaking out about it. And while Obama has certainly given us reasons not to trust him, I don't think he will do anything controvertial with his talk on Tuesday. From the lesson plans that came with it, it looks like he will be talking about perserverance, goal setting, and achievement. So I don't think there is anything inappropriate there. We were not given any instructions at our staff day on whether or not we should show it. I don't have a class that period, but if I did, I would probally show it, but not get too involved in any of the lesson plans that went with it.

[Thomas the Solitary]

I heard about this on the radio the other day.

Something about the line "think about how you can you help the President" set the guy off.

[HLBiteME!]

I think that was in the original list of questions, but it's been taken out now. It's been reworded to something like, "how can you reach the goals the president talked about?" I really doubt Obama is going to be stupid enough to get political in this talk. The backlash he would face would be incredible.

[Thomas the Solitary]

Is there somewhere (online) where we could look at the packet?

I just found this, and am reviewing it.
http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/bts.html

"Menu of Classroom Activities"

Here is something for the PreK-6th grade: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/prek-6.pdf

Here is the 7-12 grade: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/lessons/7-12.pdf

this whole exercise has just given me an existential crisis.
This quote from the Wikipedia sums up my thought process as I read the 7-12 handout.


When a person faces the paradox of believing his or her life important, whilst perceiving that human existence is meaningless and without purpose a cognitive dissonance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance) occurs, overcoming many innate psychological and cultural defense mechanisms.


I think that was in the original list of questions, but it's been taken out now. It's been reworded to something like, "how can you reach the goals the president talked about?" I really doubt Obama is going to be stupid enough to get political in this talk. The backlash he would face would be incredible.
Sounds like it's just going to be one of those motivational kind of speeches.

I must admit, those questions about "who is this addressed to" making the student actually realize that it's meant for THEM (perhaps as individuals) actually sounds like a good way to get their attention.


The more I think about this, the more interesting it gets. If you get down to brass tacks, it's not the political message people have problems with, it's the underlying ideology. And that will color everything a person with that ideology has, necessarily. I may be using the term "ideology" in a different manner than will be immediately recognized.

Dear god. I'll just stop here.

[Donna]

I'm glad my kid goes to a christian school where they don't air this shit. I don't trust him and unless i knew the exact content of what he was planning on saying, i wouldn't want my kid in school that day if he went to public.

Quite frankly, people are really pissing me off posting shit about how "we" are ignorant and horrible parents because we would even consider "depriving" our children to hear the president speak to them. I've seen posts on fb saying depriving them to hear the prez speak to them is censorship. :cuckoo: They soon will be unfriended. heh.:whoopdedoo:

[sws4420]

I'd probably opt of out letting my kids watch this guy because of simple fact that he's swayed so many people his way with his charisma that I wouldn't want them hearing him talking to them, feel special, and think the guy is anything but the lying imbecile he really is. There would have been Senate investigations into Bush trying anything like this.

[sws4420]

Well well well....

When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings

The controversy over President Obama's speech to the nation's schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. But when President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning. Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush's speech -- they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.

Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president's school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," the Post reported.

With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. "The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC," Ford began. "As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event."

Unfortunately for Ford, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly. "The speech itself and the use of the department's funds to support it, including the cost of the production contract, appear to be legal," the GAO wrote in a letter to Chairman Ford. "The speech also does not appear to have violated the restrictions on the use of appropriations for publicity and propaganda."

That didn't stop Democratic allies from taking their own shots at Bush. The National Education Association denounced the speech, saying it "cannot endorse a president who spends $26,000 of taxpayers' money on a staged media event at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C. -- while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters."

Lost in all the denouncing and investigating was the fact that Bush's speech itself, like Obama's today, was entirely unremarkable. "Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart," the president told students. "If someone goofs off today, are they cool? Are they still cool years from now, when they're stuck in a dead end job. Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams."


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html

[HLBiteME!]

You know, Obama rose to the national level as being a charismatic guy. But really, I haven't seen him give many good speeches, certainly not since he got into office. Everything is off the telaprompter and a lot more reserved. If it wasn't for the liberal media telling you what a great speaker he was, I don't think people would be able to figure that out on their own

[Thomas the Solitary]

8ZZ6GrzWkw0

[MedicCook]

Just listened to the video (could not watch since the audio & video did not match up) and I did not see anything that was outrageous. I also do not think it is going to alter the lives of the kids who watched it either.

[sws4420]

I don't think anyone believed it would.

[MedicCook]

I remember watching stuff like this when I was in school from President Regan & President Bush about staying in school, stay off drugs, ect. The only difference is when they filmed it they did it while sitting in the Oval Office.