On Tuesday, President Obama is set to address our nation's school kids - a feat not attempted by any other president in history. Other presidents have made speeches with subject matter directed toward kids, such as saying no to drugs. But this is the first time a president has ever tried to speak directly to all the nation's school children all at once
I have a couple of problems with it:
1. They are a captive audience. When the president gives a press conference or the State of the Union address, we have the right to turn it off and not to listen. If he comes to our town to give a speech, we don't have to go. But millions of kids will be watching this in their classrooms, whether they want to or not. Now granted, kids don't get a say in the curriculum, but we parents know what the teacher's curriculum will be. With the president's speech, we have no idea what he's planning on saying. We're just supposed to trust that he's going to keep politics and ideology out of his address to our nation's youth and not engage in any questionable tactics. But judging by his track record so far, one could understand our distrust.
2. We're constantly told that our kids have so much to do that they can't have any extra days of summer or Christmas vacation. And they're so busy with their academics that we no longer have time for recess or art or music in many places. So here comes the president asking teachers and schools to basically stop everything for an hour so he can make a live speech. It costs X dollars in taxes to teach each child per hour each day. According to wikipedia, there are roughly 56 million children enrolled in public schools in the United States. In Wisconsin, it costs $14,000 per year to educate the average child. Let's assume that this is an average figure. It sounds low to me, but let's adopt it for the sake of discussion.
There are approximately 175 days in a school year, depending on the district. At $14,000 a year, that comes out to $80 a day per child. There are about seven hours in the average school day, which comes out to $11.43. That's what we spend each hour on each child to send them to school. Obama is speaking directly to all 56 million school age kids for about 20 minutes and has released a set of activities and discussion items (more on that in a minute), which should take an hour out of the day. That $11.43 per child times 56 million kids comes to $640 million dollars spent in lost productivity.
That's one expensive speech. And once again, President Obama is willing to spend our tax dollars recklessly on something frivolous. And once again, its at the expense of our kids.
3. He's making one speech. To an audience that has nothing in common other than that they are minors. What on earth is Obama going to say that is going to captivate both 4-year-old Pre-K kids and at the same time have any meaning to a high school senior? Pure nonsense.
But perhaps the most maddening of everything is the pure feeling of propaganda that this speech has about it. Take, for instance, the elementary school discussion guide, which encourages before the speech:
"Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama."
Presidents and Barack Obama? Not United States Presidents? Not President Obama? Why the separation between Obama and presidents? Why not use his title? Why use his whole name? Can you imagine this reading "...books about presidents and George Bush?" The hubris is unbelievable.
Teachers are encouraged to ask:
"Who is the President of the United States?
What do you think it takes to be president?
To whom do you think the president is going to be speaking?
Why do you think he wants to speak to you?
What do you think he will say to you?"
All these seem just designed to get kids thinking about President Obama. It's all about him! There's no "what do you think about seeing the President speak? or "have you ever listened to a speech before?" or "what is a speech to you?" or "why do people give speeches?" It seems that talking about what exactly they're about to see and why they're about to sit through it would be important.
"Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?"
This should read "why is it important that you do exactly as the government tell you, without thinking about it or asking questions?" Be good little robots, now children.
But what about doing what your parents and teachers and principal ask you to do? That seems to be a glaring omission. Those people are more important than any stupid elected officials because they have direct relevance in a child's daily life.
But get this, from the grades 7-12 discussion points:
"Teachers may engage students in short readings. Teachers may post in large print around the classroom notable quotes excerpted from President Obama’s speeches on education."
Post in large print quotes from Obama around the classroom???? I have a wall of post-its in my cube at work of quotes that inspire me and have meaning. The very act of placing them on the wall gives them a feeling of importance, especially to people who stop by every now to see what new quotes or ideas I've posted. Here, the very act of posting Obama's quotes gives them significance, as if we should hold on to every word for posterity. If he says something profound that deserves to be hoisted up on the wall, then let it be so. But don't force importance into his words to our kids by making the teacher appear to treat his words with reverence.
And the word "speeches..." Now we're asking either the teachers or the kids to go pick through and read Obama's previous speeches for quotes to put up on the board? That sounds a lot like they're asking kids to study Obama's speeches, doesn't it? Surely, that's not what they're asking our kids to do, right? Frankly, I'm surprised they're not asking the kids to draw a picture of Obama's face on Mount Rushmore as an exercise in envisioning the possibility that a modern president could stand with the great presidents of the past.
"Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us?
How will he challenge us?
What might he say?
Do you remember any other historic moments when the president spoke to the nation?
What was the impact?"
How will he inspire us??? Holy crap. My head is about to explode.
"Teachers might ask pairs of students to create a word bank at the top of a notes page that has been divided into two columns. On the right‐hand side, students could take notes (trying to capture direct quotations or main ideas) while President Obama talks about personal responsibility, goals, or persistence. At the end of the speech, students could write the corresponding terms from the word bank in the left‐hand column, to increase retention and deepen their understanding of an important aspect of the speech."
Again, this sounds a lot like they're asking the kids to learn, word for word, the president's speech, doesn't it? This is a basic study skill, and they're asking the kids to study the president's speech, not just come away with a general understanding of it's subject.
"Teachers might conduct a “listening with purpose” exercise based on the themes of inspiration and challenges. Using a similar double‐column notes page as the one described above, teachers could focus students on quotations that either propose a specific challenge to them or that inspire them in some meaningful way. Students could do this activity individually, in pairs, or in groups."
So now we're assuming that Obama is naturally going to inspire our kids? And we're making them choose a quote in particular - and discuss it amongst their peers - professing that inspiration? Wow, this is slick. This is really subtle. And it's borderline brainwashing.
"• Suppose President Obama were to give another speech about being educationally successful. To whom would he speak? Why? What would the president say?
• What are the three most important words in the speech? Rank them.
He'd speak to students again, obviously. What would he say? Hmmm. Probably a lot of what he probably just got through saying. How insulting is this?
And its bad enough that they're asking kids to study the speech word for word - now they're asking them to assign weight to the words and pick the top three? You've got to be kidding me. Right?
Teachers could introduce goal‐setting activities in the following way to make the most of extension activities:
...
“When you set a goal, you envision a target that you are going to reach over time. Goals are best when they are “Challenging,” “Attainable,” and “Needed” (CAN). ... But, every good goal also needs steps that guide the way. These steps keep you on track toward achieving your goal ... Your steps should add up to your goal. If they don’t, that’s okay; we fix them until they do!"
Hmm. Kinda like the Communist Goals for America?
"Create decorated goals and steps on material that is the size of an index card. The index cards could be formatted as an inviting graphic organizer with a space for the goal at the top and several steps in the remaining space. Cards could be hung in the classroom to create a culture of goal setting, persistence, and success, and for the purpose of periodic review."
...and as a reminder of the glorious day that President Obama came down through the clouds riding his white unicorn and gave his super awesome speech!
"Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked as steps. These also could be hung around the room, to be reviewed periodically and to create a classroom culture of goal setting and for the purpose of periodic review."
On second thought, index cards aren't big enough reminders. We need POSTERS!!!
"Interview and share their goals with one another and the class, establishing community support for their goals."
Community support for your goals? This touchy-feely socialist crap is giving me a headache. How about the challenge of achieving your goal and the satisfaction of achieving it? How about personal responsibility? How about being accountable to yourself?
"Create incentives or contests for achieving their personal goals."
Great. Now we're going to have "Goodies for Goals" like we had "Cash for Clunkers."
"Write about goals and the steps to achieve them in a variety of genres such as poems, songs, or personal essays."
Bonus points if you set it to the tune of Kum-bay-ya.
"Create artistic representations of goals and the steps to achieve them."
Somewhere in the White House there's a drawing of Obama's face on Mount Rushmore.
If these questions are any indication of the substance of the president's speech, isn't a lot of this stuff basic study skills? Do we really need the President of the United States teaching our kids how to study? Doesn't he a have more important things to do???
My daughter's school is recording the speech to be shown at a later time to the kids so parents will have the option of opting out. I'm thankful for that kind of level-headedness and prudence at her school. But make no mistake: she won't be seeing the speech, no matter what he says.
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