September 7, 2009
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The Decline and Fall of American Civilization, Part I
This week’s post comes courtesy of the ill-founded furor over President Obama’s planned address to the schoolchildren of America on Tuesday…
We struggle to teach kids the importance of history, and deny them the chance to participate in it as it happens.
It’s not political. It’s the President addressing the children of the United States. When I was their age, it would have been Reagan… and there’s no way there would have been such furor. I doubt there would have been significant opposition.
What have we come to in this country when EVERYTHING is perceived as having a political agenda? When we are completely polarized, left and right, even though in fact, the majority of Americans are more or less in the middle.
The President wants to tell kids to stay in school and work hard, that they are responsible for their own education and ultimately their own success. If anything it’s a CONSERVATIVE message!
Yes, I voted for Obama and yes, I almost always lean Democrat. But had this been one year ago and President George W. Bush was giving this address, I would have been 100% for showing it then as well. Party doesn’t matter, it’s the PRESIDENT. Is there no respect for the office left?
I understand if parents want to opt-out. I think they’re playing ostrich– I think it’s shameful that, wow, we might actually allow our children to be exposed to an opinion that differs from ours. We might actually have to let them know that not everyone in the world thinks the same way their parents do. There’s a real world out there they’re going to have to grow up and join one day, but let’s not prepare them for that…
But all that being said, I understand the need for the opt-out. But as a teacher, my hands are more tied than that. After my principal went through three days of hell fielding nonstop e-mails and phone calls, he decided on a policy that left it up to individual teachers, with two conditions: 1) we would have to send home a permission slip, offering both opt-in and opt-out– not such a big deal; and 2) we had to tie the address directly to the current unit we’re teaching– which is all but impossible.
I just don’t have the energy to play parlor tricks to create a justification for allowing The President of our nation, The Leader of the Free World to speak to my students. Apparently, it’s no big deal that during their two years of middle school, they will listen to speeches by both MLK Jr. and Hitler; they will see man’s inhumanity to man from the Holocaust to the atrocities of slavery and Indian “removal” here in our own country; but they can’t listen to their current President telling them the value of education.
I mean, god forbid some mention of government-run health care might slip in, because, you know, that’s would be so much more horrible and “indoctrinating” that learning about the Nazis’ rationale for the Final Solution.
So, Mr. Teach, you will smile and nod and play the game, and then go home and shed a tear for the next generation.
Comments (5)
Honestly, unless he’s going to preach, I don’t think there’s any reasonable prohibition against watching it in school. There’s nothing in the constitution that requires “political correctness”, on the other hand, that is a problem in schools.
For example, if you want to talk about Lincoln, you’d better have the acceptable favorable position. I learned more about Lincoln, surprising facts (later verified) that I never remember learning in school during a historical walking tour in Charlston with a history buff (for example that the emancipation proclamation specifically excluded northern slave states). It was very interesting, and y’know what, I was free to disagree with some of my tour guide’s conclusions.
One of my favorite teachers (in college) would make an inflamatory comment and then start a debate. She welcomed the debate, and she didn’t down grade anyone for disagreeing with her. Who knows if she even truly believed what she was saying, it could have been to stimulate thought.
I personally think teachers should be free to express their opinions, and they should encourage their students to, too, and should challenge their students to back up their positions with facts and arguments, and then grade, not for their opinion, but perhaps for their handling of the process. The problem with this is that stupid parents don’t like it when their arguments (in the hands of their kids), turn out to be flawed. But are we to give up the responsibility to teach logic, because some illogical parent doesn’t like it?
I think parents who complain about that should consider private school, where it is oh so common to play ostrich (especially if it’s a religious based school).
Jason… I agree 110% with you and with Andy as well.
Hi … it’s Kelly … in my third incarnation.
My class will be watching. I pre-read the speech tonight, and there is absolutely nothing that I can imagine any parent not wanting his or her child to hear. This whole outrage thing is ridiculous. I voted for Obama, so perhaps I’m biased … but, I think it’s fantastic that he wants to make kids feel like they are an important part of this country and have responsibilities as citizens. Yay for personal accountability, I say. For once, someone is putting the responsibility for learning back on the learner.
Great post, Jason.
Agreed. I heard that Reagan DID do this when we were kids (I don’t remember), and he actually did talk foreign policy and taxes… huh?
What I don’t get is the difference between agree and respect. It is disrespectful for schools to ban the president’s speech, in my mind. Put it this way: I hate 99% of dubya’s policies and voted against him twice, but if he walked up to me right now, I would shake his hand, and say, “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.” I never wanted him to die or ever thought he was a Nazi. It’s the FREAKEN President!!! Doesn’t that mean anything? Just because you don’t like positions, can’t you respect him or her?
I too am completely boggled by this as you well know. I just think it’s so sad that the kids today don’t have ANY say in their education or wants/needs therein.