WAS IT JUST me, or was the hype surrounding President Barack Obama’s speech to students this week reminiscent of something we once called Y2K? A lot of fear and fervor that turned out to be much ado about nothing.
What was feared by some to be a speech of left-wing political indoctrination by our president turned out to be nothing more than a good ole “work hard ... stay in school … write your own destiny … make me proud” kind of talking-to that most (well-meaning, good) parents are already saying to their kids year after year.
For those students, hearing the president’s message may have just reinforced what they already know and are already doing.
And according to state statistics that’s just what happened for most Kansas students who were allowed to watch the speech on Tuesday. With a dropout rate of 1.8 percent, according to the Kansas Department of Education, Kansas ranks as one of the nation’s leaders in a country whose national dropout rate averages at 8 percent. Emporia school district is even lower than our state’s average with a dropout rate of 1.3 percent.
That’s something of which to be proud.
What’s not, though, is another lesson of sorts that was missed amidst all the hype. And one that, arguably, has more lifelong implications than even a good academic education: Listening to one another, a lesson most of us learned in kindergarten but have long since considered optional in our relationships.
What America needed last week was one great big time-out. You know, one of those tools a preschool teacher uses to stop a child from doing something they might regret, like hitting a buddy with a baseball bat or saying something mean to a friend? That’s just what we needed. Time to be quiet, and, for a change, to listen to one another.
During that time-out, I would say:
• To President Obama: Given the state of partisanship in our country these days, perhaps it would have been wise to release a copy of your speech more than 24 hours ahead of time to assuage the questions in the minds of some parents, teachers and administrators around the country. (After all, what did you have to lose? Your message would get any school superintendent’s, or parents’, endorsement for the start of a new school year.)
• To Concerned Americans: Perhaps it would have been wise to use the impending speech not as an opportunity to stir fear in our children, but as an opportunity to teach our children about respecting our nation’s leaders and each other — whether we agree with them or not. (After all, there certainly are a lot worse things to expose our children to these days than a speech from the president of the United States of America, for goodness sake.)
It was unfortunate to see the message in our new president’s back-to-school speech eclipsed by media frenzy, partisan politics and fear. It wasn’t fair to our nation and it certainly wasn’t fair to our students.
I hope next time, whether it’s education, health care or the next national initiative, we will do better. Otherwise, I’m afraid it will be us grown-ups who will need a good talking-to.
native_emporia (anonymous) says...
You forgot to address in this article that once all the "hype" started across the nation the original speech that had been planned was changed. I think the best place for this speech would have been on public TV in the evening so parents could view and discuss it with their children. I do not think the "hype" was so much about the speech itself, but about it being shown in schools, leaving the follow up conversations to the teachers.
I applaud the school districts that opted out of showing this speech and decided to stick with the curriculum that schools are suppose to work on. I have watched the speech and it was a great inspirational speech, but it did not need to take time out of the school day and it did not need to be something teachers spent classroom time discussing.
September 11, 2009 at 4:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
deluvly1 (anonymous) says...
Exactly what would the content have been if there HAD NOT been an outcry?
...I think it was a head's up to the Obama team to tread lightly. The real shame is that the president, and more to the point those whom he has chosen to be closest to him, haven't done much to instill a sense of trust in their timing or their ideology.
I for one, am very cautious about things now...these are not JUST politicians, they are CHICAGO POLITICIANS...& already they have been far less than forthright on several issues of concern.
Sorry, but as the old adage says, "You've made your bed...now you must sleep in it."
September 11, 2009 at 4:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Oh, another article on this. Wow, how original. I'm so impressed.
R.
September 11, 2009 at 6:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
b3bill (anonymous) says...
This is cool, no indication of who wrote the article. Was it someone at The Gazette?
September 11, 2009 at 9:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
The thing that concerns me is the attitude of the men who control the great commodity industries, and who propose to run them according to their own judgement and their own morals, do not make a pretty picture for the welfare of the comman man. These international combinations of industrial capital are fierce troglodyte animals with tremendous power and no social brains. They hover like an old silurian reptile about our decent more or less Christian civilization-like great dragons in this modern day when dragons are supposed to be dead. They are stark mad, ruthless, unchecked by God or man, paranoics, in fact, as evil in design as Hitler. They are determined to come out of this war victorious for their own stockholders. [I wish that Mr. Obama would have told the kids that Harry S Truman said, "it was the same with those old birds in Greece and Rome as it is now. The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know."]
September 12, 2009 at 1:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
The previous post by Reddog was written by William Allen White in 1943 on the financial establishment in the context of World War 2. It's right up to date.
September 12, 2009 at 1:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
The Emporia Gazette ought to send Reddog's blog to the Wall Street Journal.
September 12, 2009 at 1:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
reddog- Yup. 'nuff said.
September 12, 2009 at 2:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blulitespecial (anonymous) says...
I think Obama's speech was completely rewritten after the opposition surfaced in the news.So were the questions for schoolchildren.That's why the speech was so generic and watered down.That's all they could come up with."The Great Orator" speaks again?
Hey, Obama, hows about ACORN helpin ' ME buy a cat house?!
September 12, 2009 at 2:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Blue_Dog (anonymous) says...
To my knowledge the only part of speech that was changed was the part where the President asked the children to write to him with ways he could do better. That was changed to writing a letter to themselves about how they could do better.
September 12, 2009 at 7:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Amen, Blue Dog. Perhaps the Gazette should print the context of both speeches to show that only the lesson plan about the letter writing audience was changed. But then again, once those anti-Obama minds are made up, not a damn thing is going to change them, not even the context of the real thing for comparison.
Partisan politics as usual. Don't check for facts, whatever you do.
I don't agree with some of the things Acorn has done, and in fact, they should be on a very short leash. Those in that organization that have indeed tried to do a good job have had their efforts thwarted, nay poisoned, by a few who have been real idiots. Too bad because community organizing can be a powerful tool for both sides of the aisle. Tea parties, although not organized, seem to turn out large numbers, but have also become meeting grounds for Just-Say-No Yahoos who come to the parties just to serve sh** sandwiches.
I think Acorn needs to reorganize entirely and change recruiting methods. It is apparent that they are using some kind of blanket-warm-body-sign-up. I have written to Rahm Emanuel to tell him that the Obama administration needs to not only distance themselves from this organization, but to cut ties once and for all.
September 12, 2009 at 8:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dalelinn (Dale Linn) says...
I have to agree with many of the previous submissions. deluvly1 said it as well as any "Exactly what would the content have been if there HAD NOT been an outcry? Our president has some very radical associations and is very argueably a socialist that appears to be consolidating power in his administration. Smiling and ignoring what our government is doing has led us to a very dangerous time in U.S. history. We need to be watchful. Blue_Dog takes on a lot when he presumes to know what Obama changed in his speech.
September 12, 2009 at 8:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Oh good grief!
Here is the original lesson plan...
This is what started the backlash from parents. This article has the link to the "Teacher lesson plan", which starts off with;
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?
Well, no wonder there's such an uproar. No wonder all the paranoid right wingers are worried about socialism. No wonder they all love Sarah Palin so much. For crying out loud, can't you see the value in this lesson plan? We have to know who is president now because from 2001 to 2009, we thought it was George Bush when all the while it was Dick Cheney.
And whatever you do, don't go looking up the original speech. Any and all originals that have existed on any website anywhere have been whisked away and stored in a secret vault for later indoctrination sessions and tests of cultural literacy.
No wonder that in a real communist takeover, the first ones to go are the academics. The paranoiacs get to stay because they're already controlled by their own fears.
September 12, 2009 at 8:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dalelinn (Dale Linn) says...
create, I like "don't go looking up the original speech". Maybe you believe everything put on the internet, I don't. I have a tendency to believe what I see. For one thing I see an Acorn (community organizer organization that your president came from) that shows corruption out of most of it's pores. Their lastest fiascos should show you what kind of organization Obama came from. create, you can't see the lesson in Acorn's lesson plan? Let's see provide shelter for a brothel of underage illegal girls and give this brothel advice on evading taxes. Now, about your word "paranoiacs", no not "paranoiacs", just people looking at what's going on.
September 12, 2009 at 9:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
I presume everyone is aware that the same thing happened with the ACORN workers again in Washington, just like Baltimore. And 11 more have been arrested for voter fraud in Florida in the past week. Obama HAS tried to distance himself from them - remember, he claimed he was never a trainer for them (even though the organization itself says he was). But, they get alot of federal $$, and all their voter fraud is pro-Democratic, and the Dems are currently in power, so I don't see them losing any $$ or support from the government anytime soon. We need to quit complaining about Iran's election being a fraud when the government supports it here.
I've seen alot of anti-Bush minds made up with not a damn thing able to change them. I guess what goes around comes around...... sad, isn't it? :(
Anyway, as for the speech - again, I think the President ought to give a yearly address to schoolchildren every President's Day. IF he tried to push some political agenda, parents can sit down and explain their views to their children, (not to mention it wouldn't go over very well with the population for his/her popularity/re-election chances). I thought the speech was fine. I have teacher friends who are as anti-Obama as it comes and they thought it was fine. Lesson learned for any future speeches to children or by any future President's. Whether or not the original had an agenda, I think it is clear from here forward if you're going to talk to our kids, keep it straight. Good speech, Mr. President.
September 12, 2009 at 9:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Dido1969 (anonymous) says...
Being neither democrat nor republican but still being something of a political junkie, I try to keep things as clear as I can, at least in my own mind.
I have to say the one thing that comes back to me time and time again are how apologetic people are for just about any issue confronting the president, even as they so often are, when the issues are self-generated. This guy has shot himself in the foot so often he probably wears steel boots.
Why does he just keep promoting people like Van Jones? Is he totally naïve or does he think that Americans won’t mind having a foul-mouthed, bigoted, self-avowed communist in a position of influence? That’s not merely a rookie mistake, it’s just plain foolish.
The “new” administration can’t just keep blaming everything on the previous one. Are we still going to be hearing how such-and-such was Bush’s fault in 3 years?
Obama needs to quit campaigning and start leading. Problem is his sole forte is the campaign…with little or no substance behind the teleprompted words.
In the end, the man is just not experienced enough. Imagine if Peggy Mast, Don Hill or Jim Barnett suddenly found themselves elected president. In the real world, any of them probably have more actual experience than Comrade Barry.
September 12, 2009 at 10:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
I like how create says "amen" when someone praises Obama. It really lets you know that just as there are people who think too lowly of Obama there are people who think way too highly of him also.
R.
September 12, 2009 at 10:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
shoehorn (anonymous) says...
"Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. “
It's not the speech that was a concern. It was the ensuing lesson plans. Some teachers can be quite zealous when it comes to their ideology. These days, most hookers are being trained by the "mainstream media".
September 12, 2009 at 12:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
dalelinn (Dale Linn) says...
Dido1969, I'm suggesting you're insulting Peggy Mast.
September 12, 2009 at 2:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
YY4U
I noticed in that video you linked that they person who made it felt he/she had to put a disclaimer in the info that he/she wasn't a racist. If people aren't throwing around the race card like Obama's worshipers on here seem to suggest why would this person feel the need to add that disclaimer.
R.
The disclaimer on the youtube link
"1 i am not racist
2 i like obama :P "
September 12, 2009 at 2:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
A story from The Onion
White Sufficiency Movement Asserts Whites Right Up There With Other Races
September 7, 2009 | Issue 45•37
EVANSVILLE, KY—Members of the Somewhat Aryan Nation, the country's most outspoken white sufficiency group, held a rally Tuesday night to once again declare that the white race was at least as good as, if not equal to, "a bunch of other pretty decent" races. "We call upon all our white brethren to rise up and show the world that the white race is adequate!" cried Bill Pitzen, the group's vocal leader, before a raucous crowd of 300 supporters. "Blacks, Jews, Latinos, homosexuals—I don't need to tell you that our modest race can hang with even the best of them in a number of diverse areas. Evenly distributed white power!" According to Kentucky residents, Tuesday's rally is the least offensive and controversial since last month's annual meeting of the North American Man/Woman Love Association.
September 12, 2009 at 4:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3_95F...
September 12, 2009 at 6:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sunshine (anonymous) says...
It's frustrating to me that I try to teach my kids to respect those in authority, and to me our President is a person in authority, and other ADULTS out there do not show respect. I don't teach my kids to be clones of everyone else, they need to have their own thoughts and opinions, but it's kind of hard for them to do that when people are making it impossible for them to. When you start throwing temper tantrums about the President talking to our kids...what are you really teaching them? Their opinion really doesn't count, just the opinions of adults count! The kids in high school should at the very least be able to make a judement call for themselves without their parents telling them what to think and shielding them from every little thing. After all, do we really want them to be dependent on us forever?
September 15, 2009 at 7:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
biscuitboy (anonymous) says...
Same crap...different day! It would have made no difference what Obama said...should have said....wanted to say...or didn't say at all...to many on here. What ever he does is wrong to them which says more about them than about him.
September 15, 2009 at 8:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
welcome back biscuitboy!
You are right, but with all the "stuff" going on it is good to laugh once in a while. And those 2 links above had me laughing. It is good to hear both sides even when I don't agree. Sometimes the posts on here get my blood boiling but if they can be posted without hate and innuendo I figure they don't hurt anyone much. Some actually make me think, and that could be considered by some to be extremely dangerous:)
Hope to hear from you on here more often.
September 15, 2009 at 8:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Posted by seriouslyfolks (anonymous) on September 15, 2007 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Same crap...different day! It would have made no difference what Bush said...should have said....wanted to say...or didn't say at all...to many on here. What ever he does is wrong to them which says more about them than about him.
September 15, 2009 at 8:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Posted by leftycigar (anonymous) on September 15, 1997 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Same crap...different day! It would have made no difference what Clinton said...should have said....wanted to say...or didn't say at all...to many on here. What ever he does is wrong to them which says more about them than about him.
September 15, 2009 at 9:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Posted by raygun (anonymous) on September 15, 1987 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Same crap...different day! It would have made no difference what Reagan said...should have said....wanted to say...or didn't say at all...to many on here. What ever he does is wrong to them which says more about them than about him.
September 15, 2009 at 9:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Posted by trueblue (anonymous) on September 15, 1864 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Same manure...different day! It would have made no difference what Lincoln said...should have said....wanted to say...or didn't say at all...to many on here. What ever he does is wrong to them which says more about them than about him.
September 15, 2009 at 9:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
Posted by enui (anonymous) on September 15, 1805 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Le même fumier. ..different jour ! Il aurait fait aucune différence que Napoléon a dit. ..should a dit. ...wanted pour dire. ..or n'a pas dit du tout. ..to beaucoup sur ici. Que jamais il fait a tort à eux qui dit plus d'eux que de lui.
September 15, 2009 at 9:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
now that's funny right there.
September 15, 2009 at 10:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
giggles (anonymous) says...
That's funny right there! I've always loved the onion reports. You crack me up seriously, seriously.
September 15, 2009 at 10:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
biscuitboy (anonymous) says...
Same seriouslyfolks.......different day! lol
September 15, 2009 at 12:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
seriouslyfolks (anonymous) says...
true that
September 15, 2009 at 12:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
We could all use a little wisdom from Calvin & Hobbes:
These are interesting times. We don't trust the government, we don't trust the legal system, we don't trust the media, and we don't trust each other! We've undermined all authority, and with it, the basis for replacing it! It's like a six-year-old's dream come true!
-- Calvin
I'm at peace with the world. I'm completely serene. I've discovered my purpose in life. I know why I was put here and why everything exists... I am here so everybody can do what I want. Once everybody accepts it, they'll be serene too.
-- Calvin
I don't know which is worse... that everyone has his price, or that the price is always so low.
-- Hobbes
It's a lot more fun to blame things than to fix them.
-- Calvin
My behavior is addictive functioning in a disease process of toxic co-dependency. I need holistic healing and wellness before I'll accept any responsibility for my actions.
-- Calvin
A good compromise leaves everybody mad.
-- Calvin
I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in and overpopulated planet, raised to an alarming extent by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak.
-- Calvin
Nobody asks me how things oughta be! I've got tons of ideas!
-- Calvin
Some people are pragmatists, taking things as they come and making the best of the choices available. Some people are idealists, standing for principle and refusing to compromise. And some people just act on any whim that enters their heads. I pragmatically turn my whims into principles!
-- Calvin
If ignorance is bliss, this lesson would appear to be a deliberate attempt on your part to deprive me of happiness, the pursuit of which is my unalienable right according to the declaration of independence. I therefore assert my patriotic prerogative not to know this material. I'll be out in the playground.
-- Calvin
Van Gogh would've sold more than one painting if he put tigers in them.
-- Hobbes
September 15, 2009 at 4:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
"But, they get alot of federal $$, and all their voter fraud is pro-Democratic, and the Dems are currently in power, so I don't see them losing any $$ or support from the government anytime soon."
Their housing funding was cut as as their ties to census, just an fyi
September 15, 2009 at 4:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
But back on topic:
When Reagan spoke to students there was partisanship injected, no one cares about that?
Bush Sr. Told kids to do well in school and not do drugs
Bush Jr. asked kids to donate a buck to displaced war children( arguably supporting his agenda)
and now Obama says do well in school and people freak out.
AMAZING..... as I have said before, what a silly herd we are to be scared of our president telling our kids to do well in school, my god everyone will keel over from a heart attack the next time terrorists hit us. ( and it will happen no matter who is in office and what we do)
September 15, 2009 at 4:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
I saw that - GOOD!
It remains to be seen for how long, and what happens in the future........ should be interesting.
Of couse, many of those right-wing nutjob Nazi's have exposed this for a LONG long time now. But it was mostly on that silly Fox News, and everyone on the left knows that they make everything up. ;-)
September 15, 2009 at 4:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
Yeah, but you gotta remember, despite left-wing sites claiming nobody got upset about those speeches, there actually WAS controversy then, too:
After Bush Sr's speech in 1991:
The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president’s political benefit. “The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props,” the Post reported.
With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. “The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students,” said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. “And the president should be doing more about education than saying, ‘Lights, camera, action.’”
Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush’s appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. “The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC,” Ford began. “As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event.”
Unfortunately for Ford, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly. "The speech itself and the use of the department's funds to support it, including the cost of the production contract, appear to be legal," the GAO wrote in a letter to Chairman Ford. "The speech also does not appear to have violated the restrictions on the use of appropriations for publicity and propaganda."
....The National Education Association denounced the speech, saying it “cannot endorse a president who spends $26,000 of taxpayers’ money on a staged media event at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C. — while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters.”
The Democrats actually held hearings and launched investigations....
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opi...
September 15, 2009 at 5:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
biscuitboy (anonymous) says...
You don't think the birthers and the truthers and all the rest of the wingnuts wouldn,t be launching and endless string of investigations now if they had the political clout to do so. They have demanded an investigation of everything short of Obama's underwear since his election...they just lack the votes to get it done.
September 16, 2009 at 6:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
open_eyes (anonymous) says...
Nope, biscuitboy, I don't doubt it for a second. Whichever party holds the upper hand is the one that launches all the investigations, and denies all the investigations demanded by the minority. Did anyone stop and figure up how much taxpayer money was spent to investigate that $26,000? LOL
September 16, 2009 at 7:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )