In the midst of all of the “uproar” over the President’s planned speech to school kids on Tuesday, I keep thinking about what all of this says about schools, about what they are for, and about the perception that a lot of people in this country have of them.
It would seem to me that there should be no better place for my children to watch that speech (or any other, for that matter) than in a place where ideas are encouraged, where critical thinking about those ideas is a natural part of the conversation, and where appropriate response and debate can flourish. Where the adults in the room lead my kids to dig deeper, to validate facts, and consider the many levels of context in which every speech and every debate takes place. Where the discussion around it is such that it lays to rest the concern that many seem to have about this particular speech in general, that in some way the President will be able to “indoctrinate” our kids into some socialist mindset. If schools are the fully functioning learning communities that we hope they are, they should be the place where our kids learn to make sense of ideas, not to fear them. That, however, is not the message we are sending.
All of this speaks to the ever narrowing role we as a society have assigned to our schools. And that is truly something to fear. School is the place kids go to learn the stuff they need to pass all of the tests, not the place that they go to engage the diversity and complexity and beauty of the world. If we cannot offer our students wide ranging opportunities to examine the world from many sides and teach them how to do that with rigor and respect, then we subvert the very idea of school.
I keep thinking of how much could be taught in this moment: oratory, research skills, statistics (drop-out rates, etc.), history, media, analysis, debate, composition, social justice, and on and on and on.
I keep thinking of those teachers out there right now who have had a level of confidence and professionalism stripped away by school districts who have ceded to parents wishes to avoid rather than to trust them to teach.
I keep thinking about what kids are learning by the way their schools are reacting, what it says to them about what school is and its value in their lives.
I keep thinking what this says about a public school system that has “educated” the people at the front of all of the screaming and yelling.
My kids both start school on Wednesday, so our schools have avoided all of this. Still, I hope they play the president’s message, regardless of whether it’s a motivational speech to work hard and pursue a love of learning or whether it’s a paean to Stalin, and then engage my kids in conversation about its merits, its flaws and its omissions. And better yet, I hope they take a step back and look at this “controversy” in the context of media analysis, information literacy, political dialogue and debate. Talk about a teachable moment.
But without that, any way you look at it, this is not a great moment for schools.
Will:
I agree. For me it is such a sad statement on where our country is. It really points out how divided we are. What happened to respecting the position regardless of the person? What happened to using disagreements to spark debate instead of hiding from the other side? Are parents worried that their children might make an informed decision for themselves about what the president says instead of just wanting them to be a lemming and follow what their parents believe?
It has been a disappointing week to say the least.
Carey
You can respect the position and not like the person. We are talking about children here. Has nothing to do with banning it from tv. Children are so easily led. A teacher that stands for something you don’t agree with can easily win an argument with a kid and form the kids opinion. So I guess thats better. Wake up people. It used to be okay to be conservative and believe in a God. I used to be okay to teach your kids right and wrong. Now we as parents are supposed to take the back seat and let our teachers dictate their agenda to our kids. Somethings wrong here.
@scott.
Just curious. Who said anything about believing in any God? Is it the word ‘belief’? As the actual speech was about ‘believing’ in hard work, applying yourself and staying in school… I don’t think those are the same kinds of belief.
“It takes a whole village to raise a child” African Proverb.
Therefore it is the impact of important adults in children’s lives that play a part in shaping the child. Of course it is the primary responsibility of parents to decide how they wish their children to grow through the choices they make and the behaviours they model for their children. But learning from others is an important skill, and learning from others does not neccessarily mean taking on board everything that the person says but learning to be discerning, open and possess the ability to solve problems.
Our country was in this state 18 years ago when President Bush spoke to the children and the deomocrats launched an investigation of the Bush administration and interrogated members of his administration. Where was the uproar from liberals then. And where was the Department of Education. The DOE didn’t bother to supply lesson plans for the Bush.
I was not allowed to show my students the speech, but I watched it. The kids really missed out on an opportunity to hear the best advice you could give a youngster. Study, stay in school and take responsibility for your education.
We often bring athletes, business people or law officers into a school to preach about staying off drugs and avoiding gangs. But we shut out the President of the United States???
Someone asked a very important question, “Would this have happened if Obama was white?” Really, doesn’t this look racist?
Students at our school were not allowed to watch the speech either. The day before the speech was to be aired, we received a formal email from our superintendent stating that we were not to show it in class due to parental complaints, but that we could give the websites it could be viewed on so that students could watch it on their own time and then come back to school and discuss. Our social studies teachers were called in to the office to make sure they were not showing the speech. I agree that it is said when some parents rule what is being taught within the school due to fears/dislike surrounding the President. Our staff also discussed your posed question about racism and agreed that it does somewhat seem to be slanted in that direction.
It seems like these days a lot of new ideas/lessons have been censored due to concerns before lessons are even fully explained. For example, lessons involving technology such as blogging are banned because of fears of internet predators even thoush students are often perusing sites on their own time.
On a positive note though, the following day, we also had many parents complaining that the speech was not shown in our classrooms. It was assumed that we had censored it on our own! There are some parents in support of furthering their children’s education.
I feel that individual teachers should have, in an ideal world, been able to decide whether or not to show the speech. The problem is that we do not live in the ideal situation where teachers would show the speech and then lead an unbiased discussion about it. Teachers for Obama would lead the discussion that way…teachers against Obama would lead the discussion the other way. Not all teachers are like this, but many of them are not even aware of how biased they are. A friend of mine is a history teacher who claims to be unbiased in the classroom, yet has a punching bag of George Bush right in the room…kids aren’t stupid.
We also received an email from our superintendent claiming that we were not allowed to show it unless we were doing a follow up activity and had to get it cleared by our principal. The day of the speech, our principal walked around and went into every room to make sure that we were not planning on showing it at all. They said the speech would take away from “valuable teaching time”. Wouldn’t you think that most teachers would show it and use the speech to teach a life skill? Teach our children how to be part of our society and good citizens?? A month later, I still think this was a bad decision.
I also agree. I think that the country needs to wake up! My niece told me that many of the parents in her school wouldn’t let their children watch his speech during school time. It is sad. I feel bad for those children because not only are they missing out on his speech, they are being withheld from valuable information about their education and future.
It is very disappointing.
Alie
I agree…What happened to each individual being able to make up their mind based on what that person believes..Each generation that passes brings new thoughts, ideas and feelings…It’s too often that we rely on our parents beliefs when in fact times change and so does the standard of living…Pumping information into someone’s head of what that person believes only results in a robotic puppet when I feel each person is entitled to their own opinion and beliefs.
I think that Will has summed the matter up completely. I have visions of our students analyzing the President’s speech to let us know in their own words whether all of this hysteria was necessary or grounded in reality. I am hoping to post video clips on our blog with student reactions after the speech. Talk about a teachable moment!
It was a teachable moment. Many teachers could have used this time to let students share their thoughts and ideas. I do not think it had anything to do with teachers “dictating their agendas” onto anyone’s children.
Sadly I feel the same way, and even more sadly we were instructed that the speech was only allowed if it fit in our curriculm. It did not stop there, however, the district mandated and provided a permission form for those teachers who dared to allow American students to witness a speech by an American President. Embarassingly sad commentary on our society.
AMAZING….First ban God from Schools and the right complains, ban the President from schools and the left complains, NEXT what say we ban teachers and students from classrooms and we can have peace ?
Now that was not helpful at all.
Frankly I am saddened and shocked at the parents who kept their kids home or prevented them from seeing our PRESIDENT tell them to work hard.
And a BLACK President, maybe that is the problem that many have, but are just not willing to admit?
I’ve been following your tweets about this and I’m glad to have been able to read your thoughts in more than 140 characters. When I read your tweets about what this said about our schools I was puzzled. I felt this said a lot more about our society than our schools. However, reading this I see your point quite clearly.
For some time now I have felt that we are actually asking more of our schools than we have in the past. As an elementary teacher I feel as though I have the responsibility to teach my students manners and hygiene, assist with counseling, make sure they eat, and more. In addition to preparing them for standardized tests it seems overwhelming.
As a result, your idea that we are limiting the role of schools more and more seemed hard to believe. The more I thought about it, however, the more I agree completely. We are setting very specific boundaries around our schools and tightening them all the time.
I’m sorry that I’m now a first grade teacher and can’t have the same sort of discussion about this issue that I could have with my fourth or fifth graders. I’m glad to know that those discussions will be happening at my school.
As an outsider, I’ve been watching the reaction to the announcement of the speech and the discussion as to whether students would be able to watch or not. I can’t believe that there is any legitimate reason to not include such a valuable moment in a child’s education. I’m thinking of all of the activities that could surround this. Mindmapping the content, structured debate on the message, heck, even analysing a Wordle of the content to determine what was really said.
This has the potential to be a glorious moment in education to empower students with a deeper knowledge of what is and what is to be. All of the wasted time, energy, and resources that have gone into this debate could have been better spent planning an opportunity for all students in your country to dig into the content.
You’ve got to know that it will be archived in bits on YouTube for later review — and if that’s blocked at school, they could conceivably look at it at home in isolation of any attempt to tie it authentically to student educational reality.
For those classrooms that miss out on the opportunity, this is truly an opportunity lost.
I really liked this…
All of this speaks to the ever narrowing role we as a society have assigned to our schools. And that is truly something to fear. School is the place kids go to learn the stuff they need to pass all of the tests, not the place that they go to engage the diversity and complexity and beauty of the world. If we cannot offer our students wide ranging opportunities to examine the world from many sides and teach them how to do that with rigor and respect, then we subvert the very idea of school.
Perhaps something will be learned from all of this on Tuesday. Most likely not. People are too fixated on polarizing your nation right now.
I am looking forward to the speech to see what he says. Thanks for the post and making us think.
And maybe this is why we have such high drop out rates – it’s hard to engage kids over standardized tests.
(just reviewed this comment. should probably just post is as a blog post… but i’ll lleave it in context.)
I’m not a historian of the american public school system, but the change does, in some ways, make sense to me. (however bile inducing) The ‘school for all’ education programs as they first appeared in England were as much a response for the need of a literate workforce as anything else. The school system was, presumably, also a really nice place to instill nationalism, timeliness and a host of other things that served the state. It has been, in its policy, primarily normative. That is, creating norms for society so that we can all live together and so that people can and will work to keep the industries running.
You have, it seems, broken into two separate ideological countries… which started, in my uneducated opinion, with the republican direct mail campaigns of the late sixties. (if not just a cycle on the civil war… but again, I’m speaking beyond my depth) No longer was the normativization for one country, but for two. The country wasn’t being convinced to buy ‘war bonds’ but ‘repulican’ or ‘democrat’ bonds. In all the stuff I read coming out of the current edu/health debate (because they ring awfully similar in their rhetoric) the divide and the fight for dogma is manifest.
That being said, ‘schools’ generally, have never been about teaching. The independence and creativity you imply is being taken out of the school system with words like ‘narrowing’ seems to harken back to a time where schools were these things. They haven’t been. They are militarized, industrial institutions designed to instill basic messages and prepare students to work in industry.
We’ve had some schools that haven’t been like that. Not surprising, many private schools weren’t like that because they were designed to create a different ‘class’ of person. And TEACHING has not necessarily been like that as teachers were often ignored enough to actually get involved in the business of learning.
But i ask you will, look at every part of the curriculum in your mind, think about the things that we ask students to learn ‘institutionally’ and tell me they are about creativity. We have a system built for indoctrination and those people screaming and yelling have been indoctrinated. You and I have been indoctrinated. That’s WHAT A SCHOOL IS.
So. What am i saying. Don’t make a simulacra of the past. There was no ‘good old days’ of the education system. There have been many, many great teachers. there have been good schools… but ‘School’ was not that way. We used to have more respect for a central authority, you were, at one time, more united as a country. (and i desperately hopes this returns for all our sakes, because the american schism is started to be a Historical problem) At one time the indoctrination was more united… but it’s always been indoctrination.
Yes yes yes. See my comment below, which I was writing as you posted yours.
Thanks Dave. You’re right, I know, that I sometimes have this idealistic view of schools seep through. I am a parent, you know. So what, if anything is the answer?
thats a rather large comment you got goin on there buddy
Hello, Will,
In addition to being a sad commentary on the position to which our schools have been relegated, it’s an equally sad commentary on what happens when our mainstream media outlets cede airtime to highlight the views of a fringe segment the US population.
This is a manufactured issue designed to score political points. The arguments against not showing this speech can be eviscerated with critical thought, but that appears to be in short supply in both the media and among some school administrators.
The argument can also be eviscerated by recalling that Ronald Reagan lobbied for lower taxes in a speech that was broadcast to schools, as discussed here: http://mediamatters.org/blog/200909030020
However, the fact that Reagan did it is irrelevant, because Reagan had the right to do that: he was the president. As citizens, we have the right to agree or disagree with our elected leaders. And Will, as you point out, schools should be a place (ie, one of many) where people learn the skills to dissect arguments, and to construct counter-arguments.
So now, we have schools bowing to an “outcry” manufactured by fringe elements of our society, and the media is largely serving to amplify the message because it makes for good ratings. When I look at this situation, I see some of the problems plaguing education as analogous to some of the problems plaguing the media.
There is a whole ‘nother post here, surely, on the total uselessness of the cable media. But ultimately, it’s about the lack of critical viewing habits and general lack of curiosity on the part of those who watch all that crap. And, as I tried to make the point here, it speaks volumes about what’s lacking in the public school system.
Yeah — I’ve been sitting on a post for a few months now about some of the similarities plaguing media and education.
Now if only our development schedule would let up to the point where I could write it… 🙂
Cheers,
Bill
I find your “opinion” on the 24/7 cable media format (sort of like the 24/7 internet) as “useless” interesting. As you state, the key is “critical” reviewing habits (cable or internet) and lack of curiosity (is that people who watch FOX or MSNBC?). If this “speaks volumes about that is lacking in the public school system” is it the fault of those “public schools” that we have FOX or MSNBC (or both or…CNN, or ABC, or NBC, or CBS??) Blame it on the public school? Careful, you might find folks who say yes to all accounts…so where does that leave us?
Will,
Thanks for your thoughts on this issue. I am struck with disappointment over what this has become. Our school district has joined those who will not be showing the speech.
I saw this as an opportunity for our teachers and students to promote conversations and critical thinking. I will be watching it with sadness that our children will have missed the opportunity to listen to the speech first hand.
In the late 70s I did a research project on the school vouchers debate during the Nixon administration. The argument in Congress against vouchers was that they would fragment society: we’d have Buddhist schools, Marxist schools, John Birch Society schools, etc., etc., and the result? —we wouldn’t have Americans anymore. Flip that argument over, and we understand the purpose of public schools: to produce citizens whose beliefs basically all match.
Now if that’s what schools do—indoctrinate—and if I disagree with the President’s beliefs (or what I imagine to be his beliefs), then of course I don’t want my kids indoctrinated by him.
So much for all this talk about critical thinking, etc., etc.
Yes, this is a sad moment for American society, and for American public schools, but it’s nothing very new. Just more overt, and more extreme.
The right-wingers are being pushed and pushed and pushed: immigration, multiculturalism, women’s rights, an African-American President, a shrinking economy, and on and on. White males, especially in the working classes, are being threatened with marginalization. Like fundamentalist Muslims being pushed by liberalization and Western influences, they react with extremism.
Good times ahead, I think. Hold on tight.
Are you seriously arguing that white males are suffering?
Wow.
I heard about this manufactured firestorm from my superintendent, who was called by a few parents and told to not allow the president’s speech to be shown. However, he’s since been called by parents who want it shown just as passionately! I agree with the above sentiments that it’s a sad commentary on the state of affairs in this country, and I also believe that schools have never been the “pursuers of truth” that we would like them to be.
However, the fact there are people willing to stand up for the discussion of ideas encourages me, and helps motivate me to help people learn to think for themselves. It’s not what everyone’s idea of “what a school should be” but it’s an important piece of what we should be doing, even if it’s off curriculum.
Hopefully, whether students are allowed to watch the president’s speech or not, they will be part of the debate that is surrounding the speech (in an age-appropriate manner). That is just as important (maybe even more important at this point) as the speech itself in my opinion. I would love to hear their thoughts – grades K-12.
If I hadn’t just retired in June, this whole issue would be the lead-off topic in my Current Events class. When Eliot Spitzer resigned as governor of New York, my high school students viewed his speech live, then had a follow-up discussion. Their comments were thoughtful and mature, considering ethics, morality, and the nature of public service. Not a single administrator or parent had a problem with the appropriateness of this activity.
What this really is about is racism in the 21st century – Republicans kids can’t hear from Democrats and Democrats kids can’t hear from Republicans. An African American elected president was a huge step forward for one type of racism but unfortunately political party racism takes us 1 step back again. So much for progress.
For all of you who are expressing your disappointment, you need to call and email your local schools and tell them! If you don’t the only voices the schools will hear are those who were organized to disrupt this event.
This was an orchestrated event (everyone’s wording in emails was eerily similar), and as it started unfolding on Wednesday, I started asking questions of my network if anyone else was hearing about it, because as the webmaster for my school district, I seeing it happen firsthand.
No one, and I mean NO ONE in my network on twitter (which includes several educators) or facebook answered my questions, which lead me to believe that no one knew what was happening.
By the time it became “news,” several of the school districts in our area had already bend to the pressure, and my school district had scheduled an early morning meeting for Thursday to discuss what we would be doing. Thankfully, the leaders in my district were all in agreement that we should show it. We are one of the only school districts in the San Antonio area that will show it to students as part of their daily instruction.
The misinformation that is being spread is incredible, and it is amazing to me how little critical thinking these parents are showing. What is even more amazing to me is that no one objected or complained during the inauguration, and that speech was much more political than this one will be. Maybe Rush was on vacation that week?
I wonder if any of these parents who are complaining are thinking about the precedent they’re forcing their schools to set? When the next Republican president gets elected, the schools that have chosen not to show this speech had better not show that president’s inauguration or they will be “promoting one political ideology over another” as one school district in this area said they were not willing to do.
I think it says a lot more about society, and how easily people can be manipulated than it says about the role of our schools.
Sorry for being long winded…
It seems to me that the power play here is being made by a segment of society – conservatives – who are terrified by the direction their nation is taking. They are exercising their First Amendment rights to loudly and decisively state that the schoolroom is no place for political oratory, no matter how seemingly innocent. The secret essence of leadership has always been deception. The most popular students, the most popular leaders, are always the most accomplished liars. Popularity itself is more about the masking of true motivation than personal skills. Teachers have complained for years that parents are not getting involved with the education of their children, so what is their problem here? You cannot have it both ways. When parents get involved, they are going to bring their politics with them. To not have foreseen this controversy is a testament to an insular and naive world view held by too many teachers. Let this be an education for them.
Jim, Jim, Jim.
Perhaps you are too young to remember the scandal caused by the ease with which American soldiers captured during the Korean War were brainwashed by their communist interrogators. If you don’t develop the tools needed to think for yourself, someone else will do your thinking for you.
If you are really afraid that your children will be brainwashed by the President, then you should be demanding that schools teach critical thinking by exposing students to as wide a variety of views as possible and then critiquing all of them with equal scrutiny. That’s their only possible protection from dogma, indoctrination, and propaganda of all kinds.
Good points are being made all around, about missing teachable moments, Americans, not trusting Americans, and that the very goal of education is to teach children critical thinking skills, to be able to engage in the very world that they are entering into with the ability to compare, contrast and discern for themselves. This doesn’t happen in a text book. It would seem that parents are showing their own biases. The depth of the emotion and anger people were showing in reaction was so raw and real, that that becomes the point that scares me, not the original political concern.
Will,
Tim Rutten has a good take on this in the LA Times today.
I find it facinating that the people most upset about the contents of the speech, which according to Secretary Duncan include, “challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.” are those for whom, “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” has been such a mantra!
I think my school district took a measured approach, but discouraged large assemblies. I’ve heard nothing on how my child’s school will handle it.
Minnesota long ago tied the educational system to the prevailing political power. In reality, nationwide, every time school kids say the pledge since 1954, they do so, “under God”, and indoctrinates us against the atheistic communists. It’s ironic, since the author of the pledge was a socialist!!
Will,
Tim Rutten has a good take on this in the LA Times today.
I find it facinating that the people most upset about the contents of the speech, which according to Secretary Duncan include,“challenge students to work hard, set educational goals and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens.” are those for whom, “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” has been such a mantra!
I think my school district took a measured approach, but discouraged large assemblies. I’ve heard nothing on how my child’s school will handle it.
Minnesota long ago tied the educational system to the prevailing political power. In reality, nationwide, every time school kids say the pledge since 1954, they do so, “under God”, and indoctrinates us against the atheistic communists. It’s ironic, since the author of the pledge was a socialist!!
This isn’t a reflection on American society in general, or our view of schools, it is a reflection on the Republicans, who have gone completely nuts, and the media, who play along as if they are sane.
I wonder though, if schools were more places of thinking and reflection, if they would get away with going completely nuts.
Will,
I share your perspective. My district has chosen to show the speech – in spite of some opposition. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The decision was made in the midst of an email server crash and limited communication ability, so my staff is not yet aware of the decision. As I drove home Thursday after all the controversy erupted, I had two thoughts: 1. How has our country become a country full of anger and hostility, where people cannot just disagree and have debate, but must resort to name-calling, personal attacks, and often hatred? 2. Vaclav Havel made an astute observation after 9/11, saying America had a choice in how to respond to the attack (and we did not choose wisely, according to Havel). I believe our choice at that time has put us on our current path – and we are less of a nation because of it. I hope and pray we can turn things around – yet, the response of educational leaders to this latest controversy does not leave me feeling terribly optimistic.
Thanks for the great post, Will.
I haven’t heard from my district on this topic yet, but I did hear that many parent phone calls were received.
In districts that have asked their educators not to show the speech, have there been any plans to organize the parents, students and educators who supported showing the speech? Any fact-based, peaceful, intellectual, non-shouting, protests planned?
Will,
I share your dismay over what this says both about our schools and our culture.
I’ve been wondering though how I would have felt 7 years ago, if Bush had ben planning a similar speech, and what my reaction would have been about my child’s school showing it live.
And then (giving away here my political leanings) I sheepishly realized that I would have been unhappy about it–and maybe even lobbying for people to call their schools about it.
So then humbly I realize that this attitude is a double-edged sword, and having imagined myself on both sides of it changes my perspective in general in terms of how I might respond in the future as well.
You are so right that we should encourage these opportunities for analyzing and reflecting on speeches and political events, and that schools have a really important and hopefully impartial role to play in that.
I also think this speaks to the opportunity to talk about the whole phenomenon of “political correctness” and how that can go awry in terms of our democracy and school as a marketplace of ideas.
The same concern has hit my own city, though I wonder how overinflated it is, since when I talk to people outside of “schools” they seem only mildly interested/concerned.
So again, it does cause one to wonder how extremism(on either side) causes districts to bend instead of supporting what is educationally and democratically sound.
Which perhaps takes more chutzpah, but in the long run, is the right thing to do.
I think whether schools show this or not, it is a prime opportunity for teachers to discuss how media hype and hysteria can transform a simple incident or speech into something “controversial.” To me, that is the real learning opportunity that is still available to all of us when issues like this arise.
Maybe Dave is right above. Maybe “public education” is more about indoctrination and preparation for the workforce. Perhaps what we are lamenting is the desire for a “liberal arts” education that is designed to open our minds to new ideas and to question other ideas and beliefs. Has public k-12 education ever really been about that?
As a superintendent, I’ve been disappointed by some of my colleagues and their responses to the media and parent pressures. We posted the following message on our website:
“I am encouraging all principals and teachers in our district to participate in this event and be engaged with the President in welcoming our students back to school. While we have had some inquiry from parents about opting out of viewing the address, we strongly believe that it is our obligation to teach students to participate effectively in civic life and we consider the president’s address to be part of our regular instructional programming. Although we will not be providing optional activities in lieu of viewing the presentation, parents are always free to dismiss their child prior to the address if they so choose.”
Of course, now we are getting flooded with emails and phone calls from enraged parents but maybe its time to just take a stand. We are supposed to be teachers and the idea that the President telling students to work hard and stay in school is subversive indoctrination is ludicrous. We are not in a particularly conservative community but I’ve been in awe of how vehement some parents have been. I suppose next they’ll want to opt out of any class where an opinion other than theirs may be expressed.
Thanks for posting this, Will. I couldn’t agree more. One of my favorite parts of my Expository Writing class is that we read articles and discuss controversial topics such as racism, GLBT rights, and immigration laws. When students can truly hear and respond to people’s stories that contradict their own value sets and work through their understanding together, it produces some of the most powerful learning in the course. Sometimes, the work reinforces prior ideals when those students are encouraged to provide research about their beliefs and support their opinions in student-led discussions. Sometimes, it forces them to re-evaluate value sets because someone in front of them shares experiences with a problem they had previously brushed off as “in the past.” Either way, students almost always reflect that hearing the other side is a learning experience. As is the case with many schools, my students do not come back until Wednesday, but I still plan on showing the speech and discussing its content as well as its rhetoric with my students. It’s a great opportunity to encourage discussion and promote listening to people with whom you might not agree. I cannot imagine education happening without those elements.
Those who scream the loudest often get their own way.
This isn’t a healthy way to raise children, but it happens anyway.
This isn’t a healthy way for administration to serve the interests of both parents and students, but it happens anyway.
I’m a teacher, so I don’t know what it’s like to be an administrator. Could someone in that role explain to me what prevents school building leaders from engaging parents constructively in situations like this?
I also wonder what would say about this.
Read your blog post and couldn’t agree more.
Parents opting out…interesting. With a sharp focus on rigor and relevance and standards supporting the instruction that should come before and after this viewing at every grade level, I wonder if next we will allow parents to choose to have their child opt out of lessons on the Pythagorean Theorem because they do not want them to play baseball, to construct buildings, to buy televisions, or other real-life applications of these skills.
This post really got me thinking about the other instances where schools have been pressured to censor. This exact scenario played itself out a few years back when schools and teachers wanted to share “An Inconvenient Truth” with students. Policy was written to block the playing of this movie during school hours in many, many schools. What a lost opportunity to have students cross-reference facts from Gore’s thesis and to create reviews and rebuttals. The past couple of years I’ve been a part of a live 24 hour webcast on Earth Day known as ‘Earthcast.’ Last year we had a parent from a participating school who felt that student participation in this project was nothing short of indoctrination. If we can’t discuss and examine multiple perspectives surrounding knotty issues in our schools, then where and when will these conversations happen for students??
In most other states, I find it offensive that parents fear for their children being exposed to “ideas” however in Utah where the LDS church even has students excused during the school day for an hour class on their church teachings, but no other church group has that right, it is not unusual to see parents shreaking, and crying foul, and rushing their kids into the back room to keep them from being exposed to things outside their cult teachings..and of course..our fearless educational leadership,mostly all mormon, are offering “alternative activities” to offset the speech to placate parents who are refusing to even listen…same folks who think sex education should be taught in the home…why we have such large families, sex ed does’nt get taught there either, it become a show and tell exercise…
I would just be curious to know if the schools that are tending to limit the access to this speech, have robust, quality library programs? So very few schools in our nation, do.
AASL Information Literacy Standards:
1) Inquire, think critically and gain knowledge.
2) Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations and create new knowledge.
3) Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
4) Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
I want a school that places a priority on having a great library program –
Where information literacy is taught and practiced and
where school library media specialists join teachers in exploring all that could be done with this speech!
I am worried that this sets a precedent. Can I watch the State of the Union? Can I read George Washington’s Inaugural Speech? Wasn’t I just forced nine months ago to watch Obama with my kids on Inauguration Day? What else will they now censor because it is too politically sensitive…Probably can’t do the Trail of Tears.
But then again, maybe the precedent it sets is that I can opt out of the next superintendent’s speech, doing certain things on my wife’s to-do list, and teaching kids that make me work too hard.
Good point. I do not remember hearing that parents were against having their children watch the inauguration speech.It was thought of as an historical moment, but this same President is not allowed to address these same children? What is wrong with telling children that hard work is one of major factors to a successful life?
Ms. Livingstone, you are my hero. Please stand strong. I sent a very disappointed e-mail to the superintendent of schools in my town (in Bristol Cty, not far from you) over her decision for the schools to “tape” the speech for “later viewing.” The “outrage” is manufactured by a small group of people who want to sow paranoid irrational thinking in American society. Real leaders will reject such attempts to polarize the community and stand by the values of citizenship, democracy, and a civil society.
What all these nervous superintendents should have done is maintained the right to show the speech, to allow parents to respond by taking their kids out of school, and then watch while these people face the embarrassment of realizing that Obama’s speech was totally innocuous.
Wendy, the problem is that parents who are weak minded enough to believe the drivel being fed to them in the first place can’t and won’t see the irony in taking their children out of school during a positive message about doing well in school. Come Tuesday afternoon, Rush and Fox “News” will tell them about all of the hidden messages in the President’s speech, and they’ll feel vindicated in their action because someone told them they were right.
Beautifully said, Will. Thank you!
One of the benefits of working in a Catholic school, is I can show things like this speech in my classroom. More importantly, I get to talk about it with my students, engaging them in a thought-provoking conversation that many might now have at home.
I won’t be able to show this speech live to my kids…they’ll be in math at the time. But will definitely be showing the recording later. I had planned on just discussing their thoughts on the speech itself. Now I know we MUST also talk about the controversy. They need to know that they won’t always have teachers willing or able to share information like this with them. They need to learn how to find ways to always be a part of this conversation.
And to fight for the right to engage in one!
Karen,
As Catholics, it is not only our right, but our responsibility to follow our informed conscience. Thus, although I am opposed, I understand your choice to share it with your students. As a Catholic, it pains me that Obama will take the spotlight in a Catholic classroom. Don’t be surprised if your Catholic parents feel the same way.
Kelli,
I actually live in a largely Democratic community and have always had the support of our parents in the work I do with my middle school students. In seventh grade, we begin talking about the Catholic Social Justice Teachings (many Catholics are unaware that these actually exist). One of the teachings is entitled “Participation” and says, “All people have a right to participate in the economic, political, and cultural life of society.” I have always believed (as I was raised to) that one must be informed of all sides of an issue in order to make a good and proper judgment. And this is what I teach my students. I even tell them, “Don’t believe ME just because I’m your teacher. Go out and do your research, then come back and try to prove me wrong.” It’s a wonderful way to foster discussion, but it’s also incredibly empowering for my students.
Thanks for your comment! This is what it’s all about…the conversation.
Well said. Underneath the outcry, the subtext is this: the schools can’t be trusted, nor can the children to learn critical thinking, nor can their own parenting skills.
Why the fear? What has people persuaded that one tiny speech could corrupt a lifetime of education/values/socialization that they provide at home. And if they’re so concerned, why not simply be present in the classroom, to know how to deprogram after?
This topic has sure sparked some lively conversation in all social medias.
I wonder what kind of parenting skills do these parents have that they don’t feel that they have raised their child to think for his or herself? Do they not trust themselves enough as parents to feel comfortable exposing their child to ideas with which they might not agree? Does their child watch television? If so, then they are forced to filter through biased, ‘brainwashing’ on a minute-by-minute basis every time they watch a commercial.
I agree with those who say that the original purpose of schools was to ‘Americanize’ children–especially during times of high-levels of immigration. Does this mean that this is what schools need to be? Not at all. While schools still serve the purpose of creating a unified and patriotic people, it also serves to create a nation of critical-thinkers and citizens who think for themselves–after all, isn’t that how our Nation was founded in the first place?
Lucky for me, I work in Philadelphia, where Obama was supported by the majority, so we are streaming the address live on Tuesday.
Yes!! Don’t have time to read all the comments, but I had two reactions when I first heard about the hub bub parents were causing 1) If you don’t want other people to teach your children then why do you send them to school and 2) if you get this upset over a speech by our president, what are you going to do when something really serous happens?
I think the problem isn’t so much the speech but rather the discussions guides the Department of Education suggested teachers use. The guides don’t encourage the critical analysis that you talk about in your post. In fact, the Department recently changed one them because of one activity that suggested elementary students “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.†For many, that crossed a line because it went beyond just thinking critically about the speech.
I suspect that if the previous administration did a similar speech with a similar activity, you and many others would have objected.
Larry, I think what you write here is accurate. I don’t want my kids helping the president. I want them helping themselves, helping others, and contributing to the good of society. If any president really wants us to help him, then have him come into the schools, roll up his sleeves, and start throwing the high-stakes assessments out the window. I’m sure many would join in to help!
For example, one the the K-6 lesson/speech extensions it to have students write letters to themselves about their goals. Another is to make personal goals posters. Yet another is to create a schoolwide contest to see who are the winners and achieving their goals. Wooo-Hoooo! Talking about and setting goals is nothing new for teachers and students. I think this trivializes any potential powerful message that the President may deliver. For grades 7-12, the lesson extensions are… guess what… THE SAME!
If anything, it is time that we all take action and stop making posters and fact/note-taking graphic organizers and other “schooly” things. I hope he inspires on that level. I hope teachers can empower their students to critically examine the ideas presented and to take real action toward making a difference. Great speeches come and go. Great teachers have the potential to make great speeches come to life and be living, breathing ideas that can make a difference. I hope those ideas don’t just get doodled on poster board.
I agree with your comments. As a teacher I am planning on showing the President’s speech. Our district is allowing us to do so, if we want. I want to. If the President is addressing the children of the US, they should be listening. Show some respect for the highest office in the land, even if you don’t agree with the politics.
Well said, Will. Not sure I could have been as level-headed about this…the whole thing has been really upsetting and disheartening.
Thankfully my cooperating teacher at the school where I’m starting my student teaching plans to show the address on Tuesday.
A fellow member on a message board I frequent posted this article and said “This wouldn’t happen in Quebec.” It’s about a court decision requiring students to learn about religions other than their own despite parent protests:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1956333
It’s important that our students listen, react and respond to different opinions and thoughts. And you’re right – school is the best place for this.
One thing I’ve noticed is the usual tendency of print and electronic media – including the web – to generalize as to why President Obama’s talk is raising a ruckus in some places. I for one don’t like my district being part of that generalization. In Michigan, we have the problem of not being able to start school before Labor Day thanks to our dubious state legislature and governor, both of which have led this state into financial ruin (both political parties, by the way). As superintendent, I received notice of the president’s plan at 2:30 pm on Thursday. We have no staff or students in school, yet, no way to adequately communicate to parents, and all of our offices closed on Friday through Monday due to the holiday. All of our principals and their teacher leaders prepared detailed plans for the first day of school which includes extensive work orienting the 20% of our student body who will be new to our district.
In addition, noon falls smack dab in the middle of multiple lunch periods in rooms that are not adequately equipped for large group viewing of internet or television broadcasts, unlike our wealthy suburban neighbors. It was logistically impossible to simply drop everything at the last moment and try to make something useful out of the president’s broadcast. However, we continue to be lambasted by your generalizations and insinuations because to actually find out the reason why a school district like mine isn’t planning to watch it would take too much of your own precious time.
Perhaps the president and his education czar (the new fad) could have had the courtesy of waiting until everyone was back at school and settled down for the year? Is that asking too much? Oh, and by the way, I have a standing invitation to the president and his education secretary to drop by and chat with our kids, anytime (after the opening day). We’re not too far from Chicago so it should be easy for them to get here. I’ll send a map.
David – I wouldn’t be opposed if the president had waited until next week, but really there is no need to. He obviously felt it important to have his “pep talk” coincide with the traditional school year start up… I believe as a symbolic gesture. My school started a week ago and some of our year around schools started in June. The point is the speech is not time critical. There is nothing about it that has to be seen live to have impact. My class will be entering just as the speech begins and then we leave for another activity. The speech will be archived on the whitehouse.gov site and I’m sure many other sites. It can be seen whenever it is convenient for the viewers, or not shown at all. This is really not an issue. If I show it to my class, it may not be until next week. We viewed the presidents election night speech and a launch of the Space Shuttle last year days afterwards and several other historical or noteworthy events days and even years later and they still were appreciated by my students.
Brian
Will,
I couldn’t agree more with you. As a result, I felt the need to write my own post about taking it to the next level. Consider this an opportunity, a teachable moment, reach out to your PLN and debate the issues.
Thanks for the inspiration: Don’t waste a crisis-the Obama Speech http://tinyurl.com/nenf7l
President Obama has delivered some wonderful, pivotal speeches charged with hope and vibrancy for Americans and global citizens. As a Canadian I hope that his tenure is long and productive. If my Prime Minister of Canada were to ask for air time to speak to all students across the nation, I as a teacher would have mixed feelings. I would feel more comfortable with the script, a selection of the video, and analysis of the speech by journalists. Then I would assemble these artifacts for my students, introduce a discussion, and perhaps assign a report documenting their reactions by engaging their critical thinking. For the whole nation to sit and watch the speech together is reminiscent of earlier eras.
I am 86 years old and have no kids in any school. My 7 year old grandson has a rabid Republican family and he too will probably not benefit from the President’s speech.But I remember hearing President Franklin Roosevelt on the radio talking to the students of our Nation. What a thrill that was. And I enjoyed a bigger thrill when I sent him a letter and drew a picture of him which I enclosed. I received an answer…from HIM!
I cherished that letter whbuich I cherished; my Mother lost it while I was away at war.
But the letter and his talk formed my opinions about great men that has lasted to this day. And I consider our President to be one of the greatest, as will be shown after all this character asassination finally blows up in the faces of our sick opponents.
Will, thank you for your thoughts and continued conversations on this controversy. I read through the many responses which clearly have the same reoccurring theme. That our students deserve a curriculum that empowers them, creates critical thinking and conversations, motivates them to question what they read and see. It truely breaks my heart that so many educators and parents are censoring the content – of the president. I wonder if people are afraid that the president will come across as doing his job.
I will be not only be showing the speach on Tuesday, but I will be Skyping a variety of classrooms across North America to discuss their thoughts about it, their goals and vision of education. I want to empower my students to learn and take charge of their learning. I look forward to having my students blog and podcast about the controversy that this has caused. Since I don’t understand it, I’m sure they won’t, but at least it will produce conversation and thinking.
Hi Will –
Thanks articulating yourself so well. I wholeheartedly agree that this exemplifies some serious problems with American education. This is an opportunity for educators to examine how we incorporate civil discourse into classrooms. If anyone is interested in this topic, please consider joining a Facebook group that I started: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=132563757482&ref=mf
Lucy Gray
Fortunately or unfortunately Mr. Obama is an excellent orator when faithfully reading from his teleprompter – I’m not certain that developing minds led by classroom teachers with views varying from capitalist to socialist in an authoritarian role will be free to or encouraged to debate the merits of whatever it is that Mr. O might say…
When did we become afraid of our president? I remember being proud if my country and listening when the president spoke. The EF Houghton effect. The pres no matter his party is our leader and we need to listen!! I really agree with this posting and everyones replies. AMEN brothers and sisters.
It’s OK for a Republican president to addressed a national audience of students and toot his horn and push his political agenda but it’s not ok for Obama to tell students to stay in school?
That’s called DOUBLE STANDARD
On November 14, 1988, President Reagan addressed and took questions from students from four area middle schools in the Old Executive Office Building. The speech was broadcast live and rebroadcast by C-Span, and Instructional Television Network fed the program “to schools nationwide on three different days.â€
In his speech to students and the question and answer session following Reagan
1. stressed the importance of low taxes and free trade.
2. stressed the importance of religion in our nation.
3 touted the economic achievements of his administration ,
4.put in a plug for the line item veto,
5. told the students that lowering taxes increases revenue
6. boasted of his administrations aid to Negro colleges
7. and told students that if guns were banned, burglars would be “celebrating forevermoreâ€
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/111488c.htm
Two years before that Reagan again spoke to the children of America on nationwide TV .
He spends the bulk of his address touting the wonderful accomplishments of his administration in fixing the economy, restoring America’s military, bolstering foreign policy. (Gee, isn’t it suppose to be about the kids??)
Then he goes on to exhort the students to help make America strong by
1. studying hard (good)
2. being good citizens (wonderful)
3. staying away from drugs. (excellent)
4. and lowering the tax rates (Huh???)
Why he just couldn’t help himself slip his political agenda in there again.
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/51386d.htm
I can’t help but wonder how differently things would have been if our “you’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists” president had wanted to make such a rallying address directly to the young people of America.
Really… this all just makes me sigh quite deeply.
Thank you for such a eloquent commentary. I was both saddened and enraged when we were told teachers in our district were not to show the speech without several time-consuming requirements. Unfortunately, I believe this is another example of the “minority opinion” having too much control. I think most people are rational and view President Obama encouraging children to get an education and set goals for themselves as a positive thing.
I’m looking forward to Tuesday. My backwoods rural West Tennessee town has some naysayers but our superintendent has responded that it will be during the lunch hour and teachers are not required to watch. My only problem is getting the channel to come in since I’m sure digital access will be slow. My 2nd graders (the Class of 2020 – perfect visiont) will enjoy their personal message from the President of the United States of America! Boo ya!
Will, I read this much earlier just when you posted, but was moved to reply to the independent school listserv instead just a short while ago. Please allow me to simul-post here. I must add that it was a terrific privilege to visit the Obama homestead while I was in Kenya a few weeks ago and equally a privilege to hear the Kenyans express their deep admiration and appreciation of Barack Obama.
This is what I posted to the ISED-L listserv:
I cannot but help but reply as a Canadian and as a team member with Teachers Without Borders (Canada) who recently spent a second stint in Africa in the past number of weeks.
The world watches. I have been in contact with African educators who admire Obama and the democratic nation of the United States. The Americans have the rich opportunity to watch their nation’s leader (indeed, perhaps the most powerful man on the globe) address their students. Education is an empowering force. How many other nations’ leaders have so earmarked their time to do so? And yet there is such resistance to this attempt at so many levels.
This is an important event in history. To deny students the opportunity to witness this address is a blow to education itself, regardless of one’s stance on American politics.
Much more is at stake here than just 20 minutes of our students’ class time. Let’s let our American students know that their responses are important, not just for their own cultural generation, but for the millions of us who are not Americans, who cannot vote in America, and yet who are affected by the decisions and lifestyle choices of Americans.
Most sincerely,
Sharon Peters
ICT Team Leader TWB-C to Africa (South Africa and Kenya)
Director of Technology, Hebrew Academy, Montreal
NAIS Teacher of the Future 2009
I sure hope that the speech does not disrupt the playing of Disney films or the recitation of the gum rules.
Seriously, President Obama’s educational policies are making schools less thoughtful, more mechanistic and less effective. It should come as no surprise fanatics see an opening when the President has demonstrated a willingness to fight for health care or brilliant colleagues like Dr. Henry Louis Gates or Van Jones. His weakness does not empower students, but rather his enemies.
When mayoral control of schools is supported, leaving parents even more detached from governance, and unions are weakened by the administration, a handful of nutjobs can hold the process hostage.
Parents don’t trust school leaders who have been systematically and repeatedly demonized by NCLB and the side-effects of the standardized testing psychosis coming from Washington. That lack of trust fuels fake controversies like the current one.
All of this makes for a combustible mix.
Read my recent Huffington Post article on the subject – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-stager/a-sneak-peek-at-obamas-sp_b_276366.html
“Parents don’t trust school leaders who have been systematically and repeatedly demonized by NCLB and the side-effects of the standardized testing psychosis coming from Washington.”
This quote just went into my stickies file. I hadn’t thought of that effect. Duh. I think you are likely quite right on this one with many of the more typically involved parents.
Sean
I believe that the statement made by Gary above is totally true and something should be done.
When I first read about the right-wing outcry in reaction to the President’s planned speech to the nation’s schoolchildren, the latest in the lengthening list of moral outrages President Obama has committed against us fair people of this here land, my first feeling was disgust. Here we go again, more fear-mongering, more hypocrisy and smear.
For some reason a childhood memory came to mind. I couldn’t make the connection at first, but I thought about it and it became crystal clear. It was around 1967, I was seven-years-old and I was, as always, trying to hang out with my older brother’s friends by our favorite swimming hole on the Rappahannock River in what was then the small town of Fredericksburg, VA.
My brother’s friends were making a big fuss about something they had heard their parents talking about. The house across the street from my own had just been bought by, of all people, a black family. Comments like, “There goes the neighborhood” were being tossed around. I listened with great interest, which they picked up on and then proceeded to kill a piece of innocence my parents had intentionally nurtured.
Mind you, I was a pretty standard kid, fishing, swimming, catching snakes. I had no awareness of the civil-rights battle that going on in many parts of the country. Race was not a big discussion topic in our house. To mom and dad, people were just that, people. Skin color was just icing on the cake. Honestly, I didn’t know that there were different races. It’s not that I had not seen people of different races, I had, but everybody looks different in different ways and their skin color just fell into the category of one of the ways they looked different.
I’m not sure if what the older kids did then was motivated by fledgling racism or just from the perverse fun of torturing a little kid, but smelling fresh meat, they told all the terrible things this new family and people like them would do to little white kids. They would beat me and they would eat me and they would throw me in a pot. They scared me half to death. About then my mom came down looking for me. She heard what they were saying and told them to stop, and told me to ignore what they had said, but the damage was already done. They had created a boogeyman.
I later repeated these same stories to my playmates Tupper and his little sister, filling their heads with the same garbage the older boys had told me. We were so convinced of the truth of this hate that we would duck down and run as fast as we could whenever we walked the sidewalk in front of their house. Tupper’s mom saw us doing that and asked why. I told her and remember that she immediately went to talk to my mom, and we all got a talking to, about how we were being silly and to stop. But it took a while to stop.
Eventually the family moved in, and they turned out to be great neighbors and friends. They had two sons, and their youngest boy and my older brother were inseparable for many years. All the fear, all the hate, turned out to be nothing but ignorance. I learned a lot of lessons from the incident on that sunny morning as we played on the banks of the river. It, pardon the phrase, colored my thinking for a long time. Some of those lessons had to be overcome; others made me a better person.
So what’s the connection to Obama’s speech? There are parents in this country that are keeping their kids home from school, school districts that are refusing to show the speech, a speech on academic responsibility from the President of the United States on the traditional start of the school year. In previous administrations speeches like this have barely rated a headline, and there have been numerous speeches like this, but the fear-mongers have escalated this to a national controversy. What right, they scream, does he have to talk to my children? Every right, and in fact a responsibility, as every President is charged with keeping the national welfare. Education is part of that national welfare.
The children of these parents, some who like me that day will be too young to understand, will only know that their mom and dad, their natural care providers, have deemed the President’s words as a threat to them. They won’t know why, and the parents won’t be able to honestly explain their paranoid actions to their innocent babies. These parents might not even be able to explain their actions to themselves, but they will have created a boogeyman for their kids. Remember that song from the musical South Pacific “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taughtâ€?
You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear You’ve got to be taught from year to year, It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made And people whose skin is a different shade You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate You’ve got to be carefully taught.
Am I saying that racism, either consciously or subconsciously, is the root of the controversy surrounding this speech? You bet I am. What else is different about this speech and all those delivered by past presidents?
I was talking to my mom about my old childhood memory before I wrote this. Mom is a simple lady, growing up on a farm in Kentucky. She raised her four boys well and loves her husband and family to this day. She speaks plainly and sometimes delivers great pearls of wisdom. She said, “God doesn’t see color, I don’t know why we think we’re so smartâ€.
I find it a good move that the White House has released the transcript of the speech a day early so that educators can prepare an effective lesson for their students on Tuesday. http://quoteflections.blogspot.com/2009/09/obamas-back-to-school-speech-090809.html
I have read the President’s speech and I agree with his comments. I am a conservative republican and I did not find any problem with what the President will say in his speech to the students. There is no brainwashing or indoctrination in his comments. We have problems in our schools and that needs to change.
Are we becoming so stupid in this country that commonsense has disappeared? There are too many people that are blindly following people who have their own agenda.
There are too many checks and balances in place in our system of government to protect us against some of the ridiculous statements such as Obama wants to become a dictator and our government will turn into the communist government. If we allow that happens, we the people have failed.
Yes, I have problems with some of his policies but I will not listen to this craziness that has been put forward lately. We are spending too much time on these petty side issues, than getting down to the business of making this country better.
Thank God, a sensible conservative republican. I don’t live in America and I can say that the opinions offered by conservative republicans are coming over as the views of illiterate bigots. I am glad to know that there are sensible ones who may be embarassed by the utterances of others.
I agree. You have very eloquently written and echoed some of my own thoughts on my blog. The state of affairs of trust in our teachers is at an all time low. I find it extremely disheartening, as a former teacher. I was dedicated, beyond dedicated to everything that you wrote here, as were many of my colleagues. This is a teachable moment to be sure. In fact, much of the problem has been with the wording of the lesson plan. I promise you, NOT ONE TEACHER worth anything would take that lesson plan and allow it to be the be all and end all of the discussion. Teachers adapt, teachers reach, teachers extend. It is what we do. It is our job.
I left the teaching profession to raise my children. I had to in order to meet my standards as a teacher. I would spend AT LEAST two hours each evening after school just working (often MUCH more). Each week, my science students had to write a 2 page paper to discuss an issue related to the topic which we were learning. With 110 students, that was 220 pages of writing I graded per week, making damn sure each student got comments intended to improve their writing, and questions to further their thought processes. That was in addition to lab reports, tests, and lesson planning to make my students develop higher level thinking skills. I took my job very seriously. I was a professional. I was rarely treated like one by members of the community.
It is a sad state of affairs. Teachers are professional. I know that there are bad teachers out there, just like there are in any profession, but to treat teachers without trust and without treating them as professionals, we drive down the whole system.
Wonderful post. Thanks for sharing.
a case of boxed ed if ever. and kids get it. no biggie to them. they are used to waiting till after school hours for rich learning. (not that their isn’t great teaching – but it’s teaching – pouring in a head – not a kid exploring/learning through inquiry and passion – unboxed.)
and it’s true – ed has always been this way – but it worked before – because it was a time of knowledge acquisition – so we can deem that the good ole days. memorizing or getting the teacher’s/state’s agenda – no longer works because it’s no longer what’s needed.
i love this post will. it’s not idealistic. this is an incredible time for ed. if we can just use our resources to create a voice of change. godin blogged today on researching clout. let’s do that. let’s find our clout and get the job done.
we think it’s idealistic or not possible because we’re used to linear thinking. the web brings differentiation to infinity for the student. and it brings an exponentially clouting network to provide the voice of your words above.
gosh – i hope we don’t miss it.
The parents that won’t let their children watch the speech are teaching hate and the practice of being closed minded.
Children learn more from what we do than what we say.
The post is well written, however, it is missing a crucial element. The major problem is parents don’t trust the school to teach both sides of an issue. When President Obama was elected and students were not happy that he was the one that was elected, students were sent to the principal’s office if they spoke out in class (this happened in my child’s classroom). The children are not being taught to look at an argument critically and to disagree with their elected leaders. My daughter had no idea that we lived in a country where the government is “by the people and for the people” and doesn’t know she CAN disagree with elected officials. Schools need to teach critical thinking skills and open debate and teach students how to think for themselves, then I think parents would embrace their student’s watching the speech. I am not an Obama supporter but my children (2nd and 4th grade) will be watching speech because I want them to form their own opinions and I want to teach them to research what was in the speech and see if it is factual or a biased opinion. If schools would take that approach I don’t think you would see such an uproar over the speech. In my own classroom we are not watching the speech because I just don’t have an hour to give up academic time and I have heard from many parents that they don’t want their children watching. And as I write that, I think as educators we complain that parents aren’t involved and then when parents get involved we complain that they are involved. I guess we can’t have it both ways.
Robin, you wrote: “students were sent to the principal’s office if they spoke out in class (this happened in my child’s classroom).”
Honestly? I do not believe you. I believe you believe it, but right-wing critics of teachers are full of these stories of children being oppressed for expressing conservative views, and I find them very hard to believe. I live in Massachusetts, for goodness sake, and kids were 50-50 in my kids’ classrooms when mock elections were held.
Have we heard from the teacher? Maybe there is another reason why the child was sent from the room. Based on the immature and inappropriate behavior of right-wing critics of this speech, maybe as parents they are teaching their children to be just as immature and inappropriate in the classroom.
I printed Obama’s speech last night and read it through. The speech is being given at a school and its contents urge children to stay in school, to learn, and to try even if other issues may be causing them problems. The fact that President Obama uses his own life as an example of being able to achieve despite adversity can speak to many students in similar situations. As a teacher, I do not see any better role model than our president urging children to learn and to achieve.
I read the comments about the speech with great interest. I’ll give anything if our South African president would give a speech like that – and I will do whatever I can to get every child in the country to listen to it!
Can you believe we had three Boston news channels come in to our auditorium during the speech just because we allowed kids to watch it? What am I missing?
You’re only missing the fact that the 24 hour news networks want to make this a story, thus it’s a story.
Direct quote from my superintendent’s e-mail to school principals:
“The OXXXXX City School District will not be participating in President Obama’s webcast next week. If you have a student or teacher that expresses interest in the program tell them that they can view the program on-line after school at their own convenience. We will not be taking away valuable teaching and learning time from our school day to broadcast this event.
I have received numerous phone calls from parent throughout the district in opposition of this event. Regardless of any political party affiliation, I do not feel this is an appropriate use of school time.”
Not an appropriate use of school time, while last week, we spent 30 minutes in an assembly convincing the kids to sell enough magazines so they could spend a school day at a water park. Never before have I been afraid of the road we are on as educators.
Now that is truly scary.
I wanted to come back to this and read all the comments that had been posted since the original post. As an educator, supporter of public education, a building administrator, and an ed leadership student work on a dissertation about school district leaders – I must say THIS is the most distressing comment of all. “Inappropriate use of school time” – yes – assemblies for selling magazines (we have them too), assemblies to motivate students to do well on state tests or to “just say no” – those are all ok, but listening to the President of our country who was elected to that office talk about the importance of taking advantage of the opportunity for an education – that is a waste of time. I am wondering how often your superintendent is in the schools monitoring how time is spent each day? To me, that seems like a political stance taken by a person whose own job security is a priority. I am saddened by the degree to which education leadership has become politicized and thankful the leadership in my district – in a collaborative fashion – decided to allow us to “waste” that 18 minutes!! Our teachers were very positive about the speech and the opportunity to show it!
I’m not sure why so many of the folks on this BLOG are in an uproar about not allowing this speech to be shown “live” in the classroom. I can understand why many would be upset if a school said that they wouldn’t allow the speech to be shown at all, ever. I understand that some schools have done this at the superintendent level or principal level, and I agree that is a mistake.
I think it is extremely reasonable, however, that a school district decide to wait, watch the video, then make a decision as to where it fits in to the curriculum, or does not fit, as the case may be. Why is this such a big deal?
One of the major benefits of today’s technology is that students can watch the video any time they please, so long as they can get to some sort of Internet access from some where. Putting politics aside, one of the very valid reasons why many districts are opting not to allow a live showing of the speech is that they have gotten rid of cable in every classroom due to cost, and would rather not see their district-wide Internet connection bite the dust because every teacher is simultaneously streaming the video to their desktops to show in the classroom. This wasn’t a problem that existed when Bush 1 and Reagan did their previous speeches to students. Think about it.
We live in a vastly different time technology-wise than we did just 10 years ago. Now, if a kid really wanted to watch that speech, they don’t have to rely on school to feed it to them, so why on Earth are we getting so upset if a school decides NOT to feed it to them? Hey kid, go to your local electronics store and pull that puppy up using a demo computer! Or your cell phone! Or listen to it on your MP3 player! ETC, ETC, ETC
On another point, I think it is VERY realistic to consider that the speech that Obama gave today was definitely not age-appropriate for, say, grades K – 3. Come on, people, serious snores-ville. Those kids would would be like caged animals by the end of the 20 minutes. So, does it make sense, in retrospect, to have an assembly and have EVERYONE in the school watch it? Please – what a waste of instructional time.
For older kids, yeah, good speech. Show that thing, but show it when it makes sense for the teacher in their classroom. That’s the beauty of video streaming – it is ON DEMAND.
Our district did NOT show the speech live, but after it was uploaded to You-Tube, we linked it on our district website so parents were encouraged to check it out. As soon as the HD quality version came out on WhiteHouse.gov, we downloaded it and put it on our internal video streaming server, so teachers could review it and consider when, if ever, they might show it in their classroom.
Because we decided to wait and take this route, we were shown in our local newspapers as more conservative than we should be, and that we had something against President Obama. Think about that, people. We have not kept anything from our students, we’ve just decided to review for appropriateness before we take the time in our classrooms, just like we do everything else in our curriculum. From the standpoint of a Technology Director, we also protected our Internet bandwidth so that all school district required activities could continue through the day.
I think this particular issue is WAY more complicated than just the politics involved, and not many folks answering this particular post have recognized that. Also, I think this speech is going to get WAY more play with students in the long run BECAUSE of all the controversy than it would have, had we made them all watch it in school. Reverse psychology, anyone?
It is a sad reflection on society today
I agree; it was sad to be in school and see all the students whose parents wouldn’t allow them to watch. What about teaching civics, critical thinking, and genuine debate? When were we supposed to not teach these skills?
Also disturbing is the fact that I teach high school students, and most of my student are seniors who either are or are very near voting age. When will their parents decide they are old enough to consider political decisions that they are now legally allowed (and encouraged) to make?
Finally, it’s disappointing that parents have so little faith in their children that they assume their children will be “brainwashed” by a 10 minute speech. I know I have more faith in their intelligence than that.
Will,
I wish I had seen this post on the fifth. When my district and building told us at the end of the day on Thursday that the president would be speaking and we would not be watching it in school (but that it would be burned on DVDs for those classes with curricular tie-ins), I spent the better part of my weekend thinking about this and formulating a letter to my superintendent, principals and local papers. Your posting would have been a helpful read. I’ll know better next time.
If you or anyone is interested in reading my thoughts to the local papers and a sampling of what I sent to my administrators, you can read it at my blog, “Only Connect.” (See the url above.
Will,
You summed up and articulated what I think about the Obama education speech but could not verbalize. I believe regardless of who is the President of the United States, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, a formal address on public education should provide a forum for ideas to be discussed openly and fully, and not censored because of fears of indoctrination. Even if Obama was intentionally using his position as President to brainwash innocent, nieve young minds to ascribe to a certain political dogma (which he clearly did not), the teacher has a responsiblity to help students question and evaluate the merits of that position and consider the alternatives. Parents and pundits who vehemetely opposed this speech are overreacting to the winds of political change in this country. Instead of demonizing the other side, they should try to understand it for themselves, and help their children understand it too, before making a judgement.
If our students/sons/daughters shouldn’t be listening to a speech from the president during the school day, then what SHOULD they be listening to? And even more scary…what ARE they listening too and watching at school? Who better than the leader of our country to attempt to motivate students and instill a sense of pride and responsibility in them? Like others have said- it’s the position, not the person that matters here. My school showed the speech (High School), but my son’s grammar school did not- a big dissappointment to me. I’d be curious to see the logistics on the schools that showed it- grade level, public vs. private, etc. Think some data like that exists?
I agree. One of the main argument of the people opposed to showing the speech was that it would take away from valuable curriculum instructional time. But honestly, in schools, particularly public schools, if the President of the United States (position) wants to address the nation’s school children to inspire them, there can be no better use of instructional time. Especially if the students are inspired by the speech!
I agree, Heather, it would be interested to see the logistics of which schools showed it and which did not. I wonder if it would fall along the blue states/red states division or not.
On a positive note, I had one senior who told me that if we had not shown the speech in school, her parents were going to make her stay home so that she could watch it. Her parents told her that, since she is 18, it’s time that she started paying attention since she’ll be voting in the next election.
Hallelujah!
I can identify with those who do not want the President visiting their children at school. Not appropriate, those children have no voting privledges and their parents may have strong political views. I would have said the same if Bush were still in office. During a time of political uncertainty it is necessary to be more critical of everything the politicians are doing, fancy title or not. I am far more interrested in the political side than educational. The children may or may not even remember what was said depending on the age group. It is safer to visit grade schoolers now rather than college aged students who can ask tougher questions, then get tased for asking them. It may be possible Obama was just thinking safety.
Politicians and diapers both should be changed often and for the same reason. This is nothing more than a scheduled media opportunity. Hopefully by time those kids are voting age these empire builders dem. and repub. are stil in Guantanamo Bay busting rocks. Try Cheney, like the Bush administration should have, if they had any accountability for their collective actions.
I think ,bri, above is right. Actually that guy is always right. Bri for pres.
Acceptable uses of class time in many of our schools
Fund raising assembly to motivate students to sell candy to their relatives and friends, even though it contradicts the “healthy choices†program in the school.
Daily school announcements reminding students to sell, sell. sell.
Follow-up assembly to award prizes won by students during the fund raiser.
Watch movie which includes numerous product placements for unhealthy foods as well as some dubious behavior as part of class Christmas party.
Assembly used to motivate students to do their best during upcoming tests and test preparation activities, including promise by principal to have a pie thrown in their face by each student that passes the test, and an ice cream party.
Follow-up assembly where principal gets pies in face and ice cream is served.
Assembly where local sports hero who was arrested for drugs and beating his wife while living with his mistress, explains to students not to be like him and that they should avoid drugs because they might get in trouble like him. Local news stations film assembly for evening news including shots of sports hero leaving in his custom Hummer emblazoned with ads for shoes and a sports drink.
School assembly kicking off Homecoming week, including teaching student body the “Butt Kick’n Dance†they’ll do after each score by the home team.
Watch, analyze, and discuss context of:
Speech by Adolph Hitler explaining why Germans are the master race and Jews should be exterminated, to learn more about the causes and effects of WW2.
Speech by Osama Bin Laden to learn about radical religions and world view that lead to current world tensions.
Unacceptable use of class time in many of our schools
Watch, analyze, and discuss context of:
16 minute speech by President of the United States motivating students to do their best, value their education, and that they need to take responsibility for their lives so they can be successful in life, good citizens and contributing members of society.
I didn’t acquire an opinion towards Obama yet because he hasn’t been president long enough to make positive changes. Personally, I don’t think that people should have much to comment on if they like or dislike him, because at that point it would not matter what he was saying. Most people would lean towards the better or worse end of it, depending upon their feelings towards him. I think the speech was phenomonal. I think he did a great job getting his message across more like a parent or a friend. When you look at the president, you dont think he goes through what you go through or he “understands” what its like to be average, but this speech gives us comfort in knowing that he’s not just the president, he is human as well. I look at most politics and feel that they shouldn’t even be commenting or being the deciding factor on some educational situations because they’re not in the classroom, their not educators to really know whats going on to speak for us as a whole when they really don’t know, but as far as Obama’s speech, I think the points he was making was valid, the only thing I find hard about this speech is that I know when I was in highschool or younger, I wouldn’t listen to a word anyone was speaking, or wouldn’t really care to know what the president had to say about education, that it really takes adults to sit there, listen to his speech, understand it and agree or disagree to it.
I think that we as individual do need to let our children make their own decisions and choices in life, but only certain decisions can be made a certain ages. We need to let our children be kids, yes we need to teach and show them all their options as they grow older, but it seems like over the past twenty years children are having to grow up so quickly and don’t even have a chance to be young.
I completely agree, why wouldn’t school be the perfect place to view the speech and then have a discussion. Where is the trust? Believe it or not teachers do know what they are doing. The problem is like you said, we teachers have been stripped of the right to truly teach. Not to mention the loss of trust that people have in our President. Did they really think that he was going to push his political agenda onto our children? My school made the choice not to show the speech on Tuesday but teachers were allowed to show the speech later once parents were notified first. Even after viewing the speech I was surprised of the amount of parents that still did not allow their children to view the speech at school. Again where is the trust? Students are missing out on wonderful learning opportunities.
I was a student who actually got to watch the speech at school. President Obama is and amazing speaker and I took the speech very seriously as everyone else seemed to. It definitly had some great advice and I hope he made a difference as far as students’ education goes
Personally I thought it was rediculous that people were making a big deal about the speech. He never said anything bad he just want to inspire people.
I was searching blogs to respond to, in requirement of a TE Technology course, and was shocked to realize the President’s planned school speech was not made available in the schools around the country. It would have been very appropriate and informative to provide access to this live broad cast, in all the schools. Certainly in this high tech age our schools are equipped with the technology to make such a learning experience available. In the future, I hope the President’s Administration/Department of Education will make such broadcasts available, as many students and teachers would be receptive to this type of learning event.
agree with your comments. As a teacher I am planning on showing the President’s speech. Our district is allowing us to do so, if we want. I want to. If the President is addressing the children of the US, they should be listening. Show some respect for the highest office in the land, even if you don’t agree with the politics.