Quote:
Originally Posted by SPF2245
VRM, I completely agree...if the message ALONE was stay in school, great, have at Mr. President (regardless of who that person is thus building respect for the position of President). The problem lies in the approach, presentation, attached lesson plan and lack of consideration Obama used in his dealings with this issue. This violates many school policies of alerting parents to material presented to children and I agree many parents DO blindly accept what is presented, I'm not one of them and don't care to accept that arguement as acceptable with my kids. I don't need my children answering questions for the President at age 6, I need them to follow the directions of a teacher and me. Motivation is fine, specific directions for material to be taught by a politician...don't think so.
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SPF,
My point is that we do not know what the message is yet. The administration has said that the message is about staying in school, doing your homework, getting good grades, and so on. And there is no violation of particular school policies if the lesson plan is not used, and they are under no obligation to do so.
The wording of the lesson plan could be questioned, but again, until we know the language of the speech then it is possible to take it out of context.
The speech might say "You are very important to me because you are an American. I need your help to make this country better. We need smart and strong people to show how good America can be. You can be smart by learning, getting good grades, staying in school and listening to your teachers. You can be strong by playing sports, staying active, and eating all your vegetables even though they might not taste great. I'd like you to help me make America better by being smart and strong."
I suspect that the speech is going to be very first person - a lot of 'you and me' to get the kids invested in doing something that is going to help the country 20 years from now. I also suspect that Obama wants to impress the kids that the actual President is interested in them personally doing well, and it does make sense to impress on them what the office of the President is, and who holds it (past and present). I am sick of Americans not knowing who our elected leaders are. The lesson plan looks like it is designed to reinforce a speech of that type. I would be willing to bet that his original speech would have been fairly personal, and probably also would have been more effective for that reason. I would also be willing to bet that there have now been some changes to the address, and that it will not be as effective.
I distrust government and politicians, but I also do it on a situational basis. Obama has visited schools and has done well, and not tried to make them all into little V.I. Ulyanovs (I give Bush credit in this department also). I really think that this will probably be a non-issue.
Steve
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