I just got this in an email form my local school:
TO: Superintendents of Schools
FROM: Mark K. McQuillan, Commissioner
DATE: September 4, 2009
SUBJECT: President’s Speech to Students on September 8thSome of Connecticut’s school districts have been receiving calls from parents and others about the upcoming Web-based speech that President Barack Obama plans to deliver to the nation’s students at noon on Tuesday, September 8. The U.S. Department of Education has asked school districts to participate in the broadcast and provide access to students during this historic event. Administrators have asked for guidance on how to respond to parents and also how they can appropriately include this event in the school day.
Many of the calls from parents stem from cable news and conservative radio characterizations of the speech as “socialist” or “Nazi-like propaganda” suggesting that the President is “attempting mind control of your children.” This is truly unfortunate, inaccurate and clearly goes beyond the definition of responsible civil discourse.
We have reviewed materials relating to the President’s speech and can report that the major themes of his address are consistent with messages delivered to the nation’s young people from previous Presidents – Republican and Democrat – focusing on the importance of staying in school, working hard, taking responsibility for your learning, graduating and going on to higher education.
The State Department of Education believes the issues being debated are a local matter and the responsibility of local boards of education to decide what course of action to follow. Please give every consideration to providing access to your students in a way that you deem most appropriate to your school schedule and provides due respect to the Office of the President. I have included a link to an article in the Hartford Courant that addresses this issue:
http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-obama-speech-0904.artsep04,0,3843813.story
STATE OF CONNECTICUT
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
165 Capitol Avenue Hartford, Connecticut 06106
That’s right, all of us who oppose this speech to our kids (a speech none of us parents know the contents of) are all right-wing cray people! The only reason we oppose this event is obviously because we are crazy conservative people!!!
Lucky for me my local school officials did not deign to treat me as such and have instead sent word that even though they are taping the event, and teachers may use it in the future, us parents will be notified if it will be shown to our kids.
That’s all I wanted. Just a little bit of respect from my local school board and the ability to know what is being taught to my kids.
Dan McLaughlin
Moe Lane
Neil Stevens
Steve Maley
Isn't Chris Dodd a Senator from CT?
izoneguy (Diary) Friday, September 4th at 4:15PM EST (link)Hmmmmm,
Most Texas schools are not even going to waste time asking parents if they want to opt out….
We are just not going to show communist propaganda.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
Why mixing politics with education is a mistake when dealing with kids.
archer52 Saturday, September 5th at 12:06AM EST (link)http://truthandcommonsense.com/2009/09/04/an-example-of-why-you-shouldnt-let-politics-into-public-schools/
I went in depth on my blog. But the points I made were:
1. If a President puts his weight behind a bad idea, as a parent you are fighting two major influences in a young life, the President and teachers.
2. Once again, we are starting this argument from the wrong position. We somehow have accepted that any President has a right to talk to your kids in a captive environment in a school setting. His mere presence makes it political, regardless of his message. If it wasn’t all about him and his ideas, where is the opposition speech at the same time?
No president has the right to educate your children about politics in such a setting where no other opinion is available. Your child’s development concerning political opinion is your job. Young children look to please authority figures (and you’ll note he originally had questions in the forms asking what the student can do to help “President Obama” ) while older students are rebellious and looking for a cause. A win/win for a radical inhabiting the White House and looking to recruit.
Of course the public school system has long been compromised by radicals This is just one more planned step in creating mindless drones chanting “Yes we can.” Remember nothing they do is by accident.
The Beck/Horowitz interview is enlightening and explains why you are seeing what you are seeing.
This whole episode leaves me with a queasy feeling, like watching him drive up to a bus stop in a van and offering the kids candy if they will get in.
Yuck.