Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Presidential address to students

Today my school viewed the Presidential address to students. Well when I say my school.... some of my students participated. It was amazing to me how many parents had an issue with their students hearing a "stay in school" message from the President of the United States. I even had a student tell me their parent thought about keeping them home from school today so they did not take part. How is this providing the best education for that child?? A parent really wanted to keep their child home for a half hour speech?? I may just be open minded but he is the President whether people voted for him or not andwhether they agree with his policies or beliefs  or not. Does anyone else find this totally absurd?

3 comments:

  1. I suppose these parents want to protect their children from having to hear political opinions by eliminating all speeches and other original sources from history and civics classes altogether. Lincoln, Churchill, Douglass, Truth... way too political for school.
    In my school, the parents were outraged that their students did not get to hear the speech. They didn't bring the televisions from the old building when we moved, so our "technologically advanced" campus has no televisions. We'd watch on YouTube, if it weren't blocked. I sigh.

    Douglas Gauld

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  2. Our school opted out of showing the speech. Our superintendent said we needed to send home an opt out form if a parent did not want their child to view the speech. Since our building is a Pre-K-2nd grade we chose to not show it since their was so much contoversy.

    I agree, he is our president and wheter you voted for him or not this is a great way to let students see who the president is, what he does, etc. This world has become so politically correct that anything can upset anyone.

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  3. Our school was not open yet when our president spoke. However, I would have used the speech as a teachable moment. I teach in a very Republican town. It would have been interesting to see how my students reacted to his speech. Our school theme this year is Character Counts. After viewing Obama's speech, I would have an open discussion blog allowing the students to analyze the speech to see how his words reflected the six pillars of character.

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