Laughter erupted in Jay Adkins’ American government class Tuesday morning at the end of a period of serious talk about President Barack Obama’s speech to the nation’s young people.
“I was brainwashed,” Lucero Costillo exclaimed, feigning horror as she lightened up the mood of the room.
If Obama’s speech was intended to spur controversy or partisanship, as some adults had predicted, students in Adkins’ class had missed the point.
Instead of controversy, the Emporia High School students interpreted Obama’s words as encouraging to young people.
The president’s speech was broadcast live from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. Some parents and politicians objected to Obama’s addressing a nationwide audience of youngsters, and worried that doctrine would be at the center of the talk.
What the EHS students seemed to take away was reinforcement that they are, in the long run, responsible for setting their goals, working toward them, and becoming productive citizens who need to be prepared to make their own contributions to society through their individual skills and talents.
“It doesn’t matter if you have something wrong with you, you can do what you want with your life,” EHS student Tyler Trahoone commented during the discussion after the president’s talk to the nation’s students.
“You have to work for what you want,” his classmate Cody Burden added.
“I think he succeeded,” another student said. “Everybody who listened to what he had to say, to take it in.”
Adkins questioned students about what they heard.
“Tell me what you heard in that speech that was controversial,” Adkins said after the speech ended. There were no responses.
“He’s not saying anything different than anything anybody else has said to you over and over again,” Adkins said of the president’s focus on the need to work hard to get an education and to serve the country using their talents and skills.
“While you’re in school, you’re serving the country,” Adkins said.
The president’s speech had been a source of controversy among some Americans. Some parents objected to having their children listen to Obama speak, and others accused him of using the talk as a forum to promote his own political agenda.
Emporia district parents were allowed to asked their children be exempt from hearing the speech. Most, however, did not exercise that option, and Adkins’ room was full on Tuesday morning.
“I heard some people on CNN this morning saying this was the next step to communism,” Adkins said. “My point for all this is that there’s very little middle ground any more.”
Adkins said that both left and right wings have their own extremists on opposite sides of most issues.
He reiterated the earlier lessons about compromise among leaders when the country began to separate from British rule and emerge as a country in its own right. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin did not always agree on what course to take, he said, but they managed to work together to produce the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and more.
Adkins also talked with students about socialism in a student context.
“Everybody’s throwing around the word called ‘socialism,’” Adkins said. “…Socialism isn’t something you just throw around as a word. People don’t understand it.”
Students in Kansas public schools are taught to state-mandated standards.
“Every kid in Kansas gets the same education in every school. Oh, my God,” Adkins said, appearing surprised at discovering the socialism in the Kansas school system. “Do you think everybody in the state takes the same test? … Some things in our society are socialist because, why shouldn’t you have the same opportunities as the kids in Wichita or Kansas City?”
Adkins cautioned students not to overreact and to listen to more than one side of an issue. As well-rounded, educated students, they will be able to make their own decisions, become better qualified as voters and take on their own roles in the country.
“He did talk about us old people needing help,” Adkins said, lightening the serious mood of the classroom for a moment.
He estimated 60 as the average age of people serving in Congress.
“It would be nice to get some young people involved — fresh ideas that might make a difference,” Adkins said.
The teacher also touched on attitudes toward the president and whether the negativity was based on his color, his being a liberal Democrat, or other reasons.
“It’s not about what his politics are,” Adkins said. “He didn’t mention Republican in the message; he didn’t mention Democrat in the message. If four years later down the road, kids vote for him that are from that school, you’ll have to decide if it’s political.”
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Ralph Nader said, "there can be no daily democracy without daily citizenship." Thanks to the uproar about the speech, the original draft was deleted.
September 9, 2009 at 1:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Blue_Dog (anonymous) says...
The only thing that was deleted was the part where the President asked the children to write him a letter about how he could do better. It was changed to writing a letter to themselves about how they make themselves better.
September 9, 2009 at 2:42 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KellyG (anonymous) says...
Wow! The children were so brainwashed by our President. How dare he tell the students they need to stay in school to better themselves.
Way to go Mr. Adkins! I'm glad to see that you haven't changed in your style of teaching.
September 9, 2009 at 7:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
If you desire a teaching moment google "The Burning Platform" by James Quinn. FSO Editorial 02/18/2009. This website will tell you what David Walker has to say about the unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threating a crisis if action is not taken soon. How long can we as a nation keep adding 6.85 Billion per day to the national debt. How do you solve a 53 Trillion unfund libility problem while tripling your national debt in the space of ten years. I respectfully ask that you visit this web site and David Walker was the Comptroller General of the U.S. from 1998 to 2008. Thomas Jefferson said, "All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." James Quinn is a senior director of strategic planning for a major university.
September 9, 2009 at 11:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
There are currently 2.8 million interest only mortgages, worth a combined 908 billion In the next 12 months, 71 billion of them will expire, forcing the borrower to pay much larger monthly installments toward the value of the principal. In the year after, 100 billion more will reset. After the halfway point of 2011, another 400 billion will follow suit. Not locally but, on the national landscape there's a chance we haven't seen the worst of it yet. Emporia should benefit from all of this because congress is working on a new 15,000 tax credit and it will be for everyone starting maybe in December. I think this is going to happen because last month all the new homes built did not even add up to half the foreclosures in California. The 15,000 tax credit is what I call housing socialism and anyway you throw it around, it comes down as a hard thud on the middle class. It seems to me that there is a national agenda to destroy the middle class. Mark Twain said, I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. For the benefit of our young people, I hope they understand that in investments, when you think you have graduated from the school of hard knocks, someone dreams up a new knock.
September 10, 2009 at 1:16 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Jon Henke says,"Obama is not a socialist but, he likes centralizing power. Here is how its going to shake out. As the centralization proceeds, the focus of public interest will shift from "how do we fix the immediate economic problems? to "how do we fix the problems we created when we tried to fix the that temporary problem? That is when the pendulum will swing back towards decentralization and individual empowerment" We have a mixed economy and we always will, but what concerns me is the systematic nationalization of business with high progressive taxes and huge government spending. It seems that government is more and more concerned with all aspects of my life. Main Street America is very concerned, in July Americans shed 21.6 Billion dollars worth of debt not counting mortgages, the largest deliveraging since 1975. The things that have made America great are being subverted for the things that have made a few big bankers rich. I and 286 members of Congress want to audit the Federal Reserve and find out where the trillions of dollars are going.
September 10, 2009 at 2:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Paccifier (anonymous) says...
reddog.. way to take a blog far off subject. Aren't comments this far off subject to removal by staff? James Quinn and David Walker have nothing to do with the President's speech. Your comments sound as though you are trying to editorialize on housing, not how a class at EHS watched a speech.
September 10, 2009 at 2:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Well done, Mr. Adkins. I especially liked how you handled the current accusations of socialism by introducing the idea of state standards. Good for you!
It certainly sounds like students received the President's message as it was intended. I liked how Ms Costillo reacted with feigned horror at being brainwashed. That made me smile.
This was a perfect time for students to learn the definitions of such words as socialism and communism, terms which have been bandied about wily nily and used only as fear words.
reddog, you can take your comments to the News Forum and even introduce your own column if you want. Fits there better.
September 10, 2009 at 7:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
These are fresh ideas that might make a difference. Our success as a nation how high we bounce when we hit the bottom and I think that will be a learning moment for all of us. Young people need to know that success is just an idea away.
September 10, 2009 at 9:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
roger (anonymous) says...
I wonder how many future voters across the nation mainly caught the idea that the Republicans acted stupidily about this situation and others including death panels. If you have a legitimate complaint then by all means voice it but a lot of this made up stuff is just making the Republicans look stupid and petty. Kids aren't stupid nowdays. They are probably the most informed generation yet.
September 10, 2009 at 3:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MisterO (anonymous) says...
There was a political cartoon posted here that I thought fit this situation perfectly:
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...
September 10, 2009 at 5:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )