Letter to James' Principal

[cadetevon]

Mr. Xxxxxxxxx,

I am taking the time to contact you because I feel it is important for school administrators to hear the voice of their families.  Today I phoned Xxxx Middle School and inquired about President Obama’s speech of next Tuesday.

From what I was told by your assistant, the speech will be shown via Closed Circuit Television and

Comments

[trexphile]

It didn't cut :)

I am honestly curious and a bit confused as to all the teeth-gnashing and hair-tearing going on about this upcoming speech. And it doesn't have much to do with my vote for Obama this past November.

I don't understand parents' opposition to this. Everything I've heard on this has said that the speech is going to be about the importance of staying in school and working hard and each student being the best they can be -- pretty innocuous stuff. I just don't see how any of it can be deemed partisan at all. Past presidents have spoken to school children -- is it because it's being done electronically rather than in person? I truly don't get all this uproar. Bush visited schools, Reagan visited schools. I'm sure that Carter and Clinton did as well.

Can you explain why you and so many other parents are against this?

[cadetevon]

No teeth-gnashing nor hair-tearing here. I'm sure you meant that in general and that you didn't get that from my letter. The letter specifically said I was intentionally not going to have a fit

[marytng]

I'm glad they have decided to release the text of the speech on Monday so we can talk with James about it. I have a big problem with the federal government being involved in education in any form already, so to have the President addressing students and then the WH giving teacher's instructions on how they should follow up with the students really irks me. James knows how important school is and he knows how important helping your neighbor is and how important volunteering is. We've taught him that. That's *our* job, not the school's.

[tarzanic]

I'm really confused. According to ed.gov, the topic of the speech is given as:

"During this special address, the president will speak directly to the nation’s children and youth about persisting and succeeding in school. The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning."

I don't see any information on religion or volunteerism. Has other information been given from another source?

The information covered above seems like stuff James already knows, so maybe he wouldn't be that interested in the message, but maybe they'd discuss use of media and critical analysis of media in his class?

[marytng]

Maybe, but is that what they'll discuss in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classes? The teaching material that was sent in conjunction with the speech didn't include those suggestions for any age group. It did suggest how you can help the President further his agenda, basically. A President visiting one school at a time for a specific reason is one thing. Broadcasting a speech to every public school at once smacks of indoctrination. The federal government already oversteps it's authority in education, this is just one more step.

[tarzanic]

Y, since this might be a long conversation, if you'd like us to discuss this in one of our journals please let us know. I'd be glad to move it to Mary's or mine if you wish.

I would hope that they'd work on critical media skills in all grades. Looking at the PreK-6 activities, there are a few questions that consider beginning media analysis: who is the president, who is his audience, what might you say given this position/audience?

Many of the other activities seem to lead into the message of urging students to do well in school. I am confused about the difficulty with the message of the importance of doing well in school. Do you believe there will be a different message given? What do you you believe that message is?

How do you think the federal government oversteps its authority in education? Should more be left in the hands of the state? I'm only familiar with NYS, but the state sets the education standards.

[cadetevon]

Nah, it can stay here, even though I can't respond quickly all the time, I still want to read up and respond when I can.

The bit I was cheesed with most was this (found in this article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ib8qja0qqnnbZFsHF7kP6GV9XVfQD9AGCI3G1):

Critics are particularly upset about lesson plans the administration created to accompany the speech. The lesson plans, available online, originally recommended having students "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."

The White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."

"That was inartfully worded, and we corrected it," Higginbottom said.I find that more and more I'm leaning not so much Right or Left, but Libertarian. I want my government to serve me, not the other way around and I want them