President Obama's Speech to Students

[just listening]

Here is the speech President Obama will give to school kids on Tuesday. Read and judge for yourself.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/07/raw-data-obama-speech-american-school-children/

 

[aberkowitz]

Not quite sure what the big deal is.... political messages won't even get through to the kids, they'll be too focused on the fact that they're watching the president. Either that or they'll be too busy tweeting .

 

[griffinconst]

They'll all be asleep before this is over with.

 

[Jed M]

Oh Noes! The sky is falling...

 

[highfigh]

They'll all be asleep before this is over with.

Or, if they're younger than 3rd grade, they may be crying because they think they need to go out now and work.

I wonder if he talks to his kids as if they're adults, or kids.

How can Chicago be his hometown?

 

[Seth=L]

Believe it or not, I was wearing pants when I read this.

 

[Nemo128]

OMG if you play his speech backwards, it's brainwashing your kids to commit patricide and devote themselves to the fascist agenda!!!

 

[cfrizz]

Yup totally evil to suggest to children that they need to learn to be responsible at any age and that the primary responsibility for them is to go to school to learn and come out & be productive, literate, useful adult citizens that will continue to help their country grow & thrive!

I find that most children these days are far more advanced than most of us were when we were kids. It makes sense since they are exposed to so much more than we ever were. Whatever the kids don't understand, the teachers in the classrooms can explain to them.

And while this will be broadcast to all grades, it is obvious that the body of the speech is aimed at the middle & HS kids who need to hear it the most. At these ages they DO have the mental capacity to understand!

 

[tcarcio]

I hate it when liberals talk out of both sides of their face. So it means nothing when Obama does it but when H.W did it .........OH Ya that was different.....http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html

 

[10010011]

I hate it when liberals talk out of both sides of their face. So it means nothing when Obama does it but when H.W did it .........OH Ya that was different.....http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/When-Bush-spoke-to-students-Democrats-investigated-held-hearings-57694347.html

Yeah, it's almost funny how we have all sort of switched sides.

<table style='font:11px arial; color:#333; background-color:#f5f5f5' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='360' height='353'><tbody><tr style='background-color:#e5e5e5' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com'>The Daily Show With Jon Stewart</a></td><td style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align:right; font-weight:bold;'>Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c</td></tr><tr style='height:14px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-august-19-2009/fox-news--the-new-liberals'>Fox News: The New Liberals</a></td></tr><tr style='height:14px; background-color:#353535' valign='middle'><td colspan='2' style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; width:360px; overflow:hidden; text-align:right'><a target='_blank' style='color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/'>www.thedailyshow.com</a></td></tr><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><embed style='display:block' src='http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:246922' width='360' height='301' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='window' allowFullscreen='true' flashvars='autoPlay=false' allowscriptaccess='always' allownetworking='all' bgcolor='#000000'></embed></td></tr><tr style='height:18px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><table style='margin:0px; text-align:center' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='100%' height='100%'><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes'>Daily Show<br/> Full Episodes</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.indecisionforever.com'>Political Humor</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-17-2009/heal-or-no-heal---medicine-brawl'>Healthcare Protests</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></tbody></table>

Maybe it depends on who is signing your pay check...

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[tcarcio]

So your comparing fact to comic spoof, real info vs spin and verbage taken out of context??? Typical.........

 

[bombarde32]

Here is the speech President Obama will give to school kids on Tuesday. Read and judge for yourself.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/07/raw-data-obama-speech-american-school-children/

I don't know anyone that has a problem with their kids being told to work hard, stay in school, etc. Most of the angst is being generated because of the discussion guide that was distributed to teachers. The most commonly cited example is of course "How can you serve your president?"

As a conservative (notice I didn't say Republican) those kinds of questions concern me. We don't serve the president ... it's the other way around. The same for the Congress.

All that being said ... I have no interest in keeping my kids home from school. My wife and I raise them in the church, from a traditional conservative view point (again, notice I didn't say Republican). But at the end of the day ... our kids have to be able to see/hear other viewpoints and make their own decisions.

Isolating kids from opposing messages just weakens their ability to deal with it down the road and makes them more susceptible to being swept away by passionate speakers or high minded ideas without adequate critiquing them to see if it squares with what they really believe.

My 2 cents ...

 

[highfigh]

OMG if you play his speech backwards, it's brainwashing your kids to commit patricide and devote themselves to the fascist agenda!!!

Who is Patrice and why should they kill her?

 

[highfigh]

Yup totally evil to suggest to children that they need to learn to be responsible at any age and that the primary responsibility for them is to go to school to learn and come out & be productive, literate, useful adult citizens that will continue to help their country grow & thrive!

I find that most children these days are far more advanced than most of us were when we were kids. It makes sense since they are exposed to so much more than we ever were. Whatever the kids don't understand, the teachers in the classrooms can explain to them.

And while this will be broadcast to all grades, it is obvious that the body of the speech is aimed at the middle & HS kids who need to hear it the most. At these ages they DO have the mental capacity to understand!

"Whatever the kids don't understand, the teachers in the classrooms can explain to them."

Right. With whatever slant they consider to be appropriate and without regard for what the parents would agree with. Like it, or not, it happens to a great degree and is a major player in kids not agreeing with their parents, IMO.

I'm not sure there's much need to put the youngest through this speech. They don't care about things like these, won't understand most and won't remember it.

The teacher's aids are more of a concern- I'd like to see that, too. He can change the speech to whatever he wants but if the book doesn't match, any agenda he wants can be passed on, and I don't care which party is in power.

 

[rnatalli]

I don't see anything to get bent out of shape about. All presidents do this sort of thing at one time or another and it isn't a big deal.

 

[highfigh]

I don't see anything to get bent out of shape about. All presidents do this sort of thing at one time or another and it isn't a big deal.

It shouldn't be a big deal but it can be one. We all need to pay attention to what is said and done by our government and I thing the upward trend in American lifestyle has made many people so complacent that they never bother. I know of someone in the Upper Peninsula of MI who doesn't and has very little clue about what may/may not be happening, or why people are so concerned by anything political. He says it just makes people angry and he doesn't want to live that way. Just try to make him hand his guns over, though. Not gonna happen anytime soon.

 

[bombarde32]

It shouldn't be a big deal but it can be one. We all need to pay attention to what is said and done by our government ...

Yes, especially when the government is telling us they know what's best for us ... better than we do.

They really have no one to blame for the uproar but themselves. They should have publicly stated they were going to do this speech, list their goals and released the transcript and discussion guide.

What makes people suspicious is that all this came out only after we found out they were speaking to our kids and there was a public uproar.

Schools should be a place where people are challenged to examine different viewpoints and think for themselves. But it's well known that college is the bastion of liberal thinking where even admitting to being a conservative got me publicly shamed and embarassed by the faculty.

If there was even a whiff of the government filtering that down into the high school and lower levels on the sly why shouldn't I be alarmed?

But in general ... I think he's trying to broadcast a positive message. He just did a piss poor job of handling the run up to it.

 

[lsiberian]

A 4th grade teacher's view(my wife).

1. They won't understand him and as a result will be bored.
2. We are required to do a lesson plan for this and parent's that won't allow their kids to participate have to have a different assignment.(please make life easy for your teacher)
3. It takes away from valuable teaching time.

She's a liberal too.

I personally liked the idea till I got her perspective.

 

[bombarde32]

A 4th grade teacher's view(my wife).

1. They won't understand him and as a result will be bored.
2. We are required to do a lesson plan for this and parent's that won't allow their kids to participate have to have a different assignment.(please make life easy for your teacher)
3. It takes away from valuable teaching time.

She's a liberal too.

I personally liked the idea till I got her perspective.

Just out of curiosity - who is mandating to your wife this must be shown? My mom teaches 6th grade and I'm pretty sure she's of the same opinion.

My kids are in 1st and Kindergarten and after the first 30 seconds they would be gone.

 

[lsiberian]

Just out of curiosity - who is mandating to your wife this must be shown? My mom teaches 6th grade and I'm pretty sure she's of the same opinion.

My kids are in 1st and Kindergarten and after the first 30 seconds they would be gone.

the District.