President Obama to indoctrinate (I mean speak) to students

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While I will concede that a typical student will likely not find the speech inspirational, I think it is safe to assume generally positive reactions, if the topics to be covered are what is proposed. Who is going to have a negative reaction of a president urging kids to stay in school, work hard, get good grades, etc? Now, if the words "health care" leave his mouth, that's a whole 'nother story.

 

That's pretty standard - in the UK any response to a given piece of work in a lesson has to pretty much be positive. Even if you don't agree with it you have to be able to eloquently establish what it is about a piece that is inspiring/motivating/fandabbydozy whether or not the pupils or teachers agree with it is inconsequential. Could be a speech from the a homeless man and you'd have to answer how he had inspired you to tidy your room every thursday.

It's just easier to mark work that is all in one direction than it is to allow a teachers opinion cloud marking if they see wording they disagree with and mark it as 'wrong'

 

No Captain Antagonist, you need to read it again. It read as follows:

"Brainstorm or Concept Web: Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? ​

How will he inspire us? How will he challenge us? What might he say?​

"Brainstorm or Concept Web: What other historic moments do you remember when the ​

President spoke to the nation? What was the impact? Students could create a Cause/Effect graphic organizer.

Etc.... with much more about recognizing goals and overcoming them.

The whole exercise is about kids/teens learning how to develop comprehension. It doesn't put words or thoughts into their heads. It asks them to talk about what they think of Obama's speech. It asks them what dilemas we face today and what they think it will take to face them. This type of educational exercise is an excellent way to get our youth involved in the world and away from the tube. ​

 

I think this whole episode only shows that some conservatives will read bad intentions into just about anything Obama tries to do. There's little point in arguing against it. Obama could hold a press conference tomorrow to announce that he likes pie and a million keyboard commandos would find some way to explain that it's proof of his communist/socialist/fascist/muslim/whatever agenda.

The failing of the Obama administration in this instance is not that they're trying to have the president speak to students for a measly 15 minutes on a teevee box and turn it into an educational social-studies exercise for the kids. That is a good thing. The failing is that they're now backpeddling and changing their plans because a bunch of low-information wingnuts freaked out over nothing and are threatening to pull their kids out of school. If the last 6 months are any indication, a constant barrage of this type of nonsense is what the rest of us have to look forward to for the next few years. I am so sick of this. Do people have nothing better to do or to concern themselves with that they have to manufacture outrage every week?

/end cranky, pessimistic pre-vacation vent.

 

Like it or not, Obama is the President of the country. I think that having him address the nation's children is a good thing. As 8People mentioned, most assignments, particularily those for the younger crowd, tend to encourage or assume a positive reaction.

I also know that if Bush had addressed the nation's children, left wing whackadoos would be pummelling him for everything under the sun. Just like the right wing ones are doing now. It's the old "I've got nothing substantial to complain about, so I'll manufacture something just to keep myself in the public eye." That is certainly a trait shared by extremists in both camps.

Maybe the lesson plan isn't worded so that 100% of the population will love it 100% -- can you think of any document in the history of the world that can live up to that standard?

 

It's tempting to think so, but that's just not the case. During the last administration, Bush's Dept. of Education started an initiative for kids called USA Freedom Corps promoting, among other things, the terming of Bush's foreign policy his "freedom agenda," which, yes, was encouraged to be taught in schools. This included supplemental materials for teachers to tie current American efforts to "spread freedom" in with other significant points in U.S. history. Is that not indoctrination? Did the left flip out about that? No. Go further back to Reagan. In 1988 Ronald Reagan had a televised address on CSPAN where he talked directly to students about gun control, Just Say No and other issues, which was broadcast in schools all over the country. Is that indoctrination? IMO, no. Did the left flip out then either? Again, no.

This current batch of silly appears to be a fairly recent phenomenon. The rules have radically changed, it seems. A few years ago, the President promoting his "Freedom Agenda" through the public school system was just another boring part of a kid's school day. Today, the President telling kids to "stay in school" is socialist indoctrination. It's hard to keep up.

 

Umm, students? Seriously, most of them aren't exactly excited about work, school, or responsability.

I'll agree that that kind of thing is present in the lesson plan, but it doesn't seem to be more than 50% of it, and definitely not the 'whole exercise'.

They didn't when I was in school. I'll admit that was a little while ago, but not that long ago. We'd see questions like:
What were the main themes of the message? How were they delivered? How did it impact you? Do you think it could have been done better and, if so, how?

Several of the questions in the lesson plan were leading questions, the likes of which we would have scoffed at and put ridiculous BS answers down for if we saw them.

I'll agree that Obama speaking to them is a good idea, though. He's obviously someone who's succeeded, if nothing else.

Actually, DR, I looked at that sight and didn't see anything about distribution to schools, nor did I ever hear any of it, even from friends who were years younger than me (and thus still in public school recently). It looked like it was all stuff offered to the public to download if they wanted.

Anyway, I'll agree it's all a bunch of BS.

 

You must have missed the link* in the lower-right corner that says "Teachers Guide."

* Woops, it was on the History Timeline page, so you would have missed it had you gone only to the page I linked to above.

 

Yeah, that's not worship Tal. They weren't praying to him, they were praying over him. Huge difference. Unless, of course, you consider burning someone in effigy to be worship as well.

And that last bit at the end, with the kid... Wtf does that have to do with politics or Bush? He didn't say 'liberal' or 'Democrat', he said 'non-Christian'. Now, I don't know about all non-Christians making his 'spirit feel yucky', but I'll definitly say there are a few that have made my skin crawl (and a few 'christians', too, for that matter).

 

Wow, that was a disturbing video. However, and I may be mistaken, that appears to be something that is being done at some sort of "Jesus Camp". There is light years of difference between that and a public school.

Have you seen this yet, I think this is even more disturbing



---------- Added 0 hours, 3 minutes and 38 seconds later... ----------

I am not familiar with the Washington Times. Is it not a legitimate newspaper or does it slant to the right and therefore is to be scorned and belittled? The article I read seemed to be a decent piece of reporting. I don't remember any opinion being expressed at all. Although I could be wrong.

 

The times does a bit more than slant to the right. It is the far-right foil to the moderate (and much more successful and respected) Washington Post.

 

Tal, my church held similar (ok, not so kooky, but similar in general nature at least) prayer rallies for Clinton several times. The fact is, he is (or was) the leader of our nation. That means he needs (from a Christian perspective) prayer, regardless of his position. I don't think that was indoctrination. At least, if it was, it was no more than indoctrination to support the office of President.

Who mentioned public schools? Sorry, I'm confused.

Lmao, yes, because smiling more is on par with feeding the hungry and curing cancer. And kissing his muscles as he pledges to Obama?

They seem to put the Washington Times on par with Fox News. I don't know if it's warranted or not.

 

The Washington Times is owned by the family of Reverend Sun Myung Moon (founder of the Unification Church i.e. Moon sect; according to their doctrine he is the messiah). Like Moon, the Times has been staunchly Republican. Moon took full-page ads in major newspapers defending President Richard M. Nixon at the height of the Watergate controversy, when nobody else wanted to touch him with a ten foot pole.

Moon founded the Times for a simple reason, his son said in an address to a Unification Church leadership conference:

Amusing side note, not too long ago Moon was crowned in Washington. Perhaps, if you ask him, he is the king of America?

​

 

I agree - that's why I said that they would not likely find the speech to be inspirational. However, why then do you assume that they would naturally have a negative reaction to it? I doubt the average high schooler is going to listen to that speech and say, "Jeez - Obama wants us to do well in school and not become drop outs - what an a-hole." I think the average high schooler realizes that dropping out of school is not a good life choice. While I doubt that hearing it from Obama is going to have any more impact than hearing it from a teacher, parent, or friend, I think it is quite the leap to say that they are going to react negatively to the statement itself.

But even if it was at a Jesus Camp, is that appropriate? Doesn't one of the 10 Commandments forbid idolatry?

I'm not sure it's more disturbing, but it's definitely more cheesy. I don't really think it's indoctrinating either, as Obama himself is not the focus of the video. In fact, if you omit the first and last 20 seconds or so of the video, you may not even realize that they were talking about pledging specifically to Obama at all. So I don't find it disturbing - just stupid.

 

Well, I suspect 'common' may be a relative term, but they're hardly on every corner here. A local church, if it's large or connected, may be involved in one every year or two, or maybe three or four. Of course, spread that nationally, and you've got quite a few, but I still wouldn't call them 'very common'.

I'll agree, in that neither one is indoctrination. The conservatives are making a big deal out of what I see as, at best, a joke lesson that no one will take seriously and, at worst, just more propaganda, this time aimed at kids (unlike all the other propaganda out there).

 

The full text of Obama's "indoctrination" speech. Hide your children!

Spoiler

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.
I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.
I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."
So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.
Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.
I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.
I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.
Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.
Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.
Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.
But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.
Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.
Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.
I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.
And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.
Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.
That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.
Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn’t mean you’re a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.
No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.
So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

Wow. A 15-minute speech encouraging personal responsibility, the striving of the individual to accomplish their own success, the importance of education in all walks of life, and the freedom of American youth to fail or succeed on their own merits in a free-market society. Karl Marx would be proud.

In a just world, the right-wingers who promoted this stupid "indoctrination" hysteria would be ashamed of themselves right about now. As would the rubes who fell for it.

There really are no more sharks left for some people to jump.

 

Oh, I'm not assuming they'd all have a natural negative response, just that there are some (actually, probably many) who would have a negative response to anyone telling them to work harder and be more responsible. More than that, though, I'd guess the general reaction will be (or was) one single resounding 'BLLLLEEEEEHHHHH' so massive as to circle the Earth 5 times. Did you hear it? Remember, there's more than just positive and negative. There's sleep, chatting with your friend, doodling on the notes, and more.


Just a few notes (edit: ok, one) from his speach:

Really? When did this happen? Still, points for complimenting us.

Other than that, though, it's very good. The real life examples, both from his own life and others, resonate and draw attention, and while he doesn't belittle hardship, he doesn't excuse it either. All in all, his speachwriter did an excellent job. I still doubt most students payed any serious attention to it, though.