We reported earlier that President Obama intends to address every possible student this coming Tuesday, September 9th and that the White House has provided a worksheet of suggested activities, assignments, and questions for discussion to guide teachers on what should be covered as follow-up to his address.
Consider these suggested questions for 7-12 students: Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us? How will he challenge us?"
Implicit in this line of questioning is that students should find Barack Obama inspiring and challenging and if the questions are presented in this manner it is also a clear student should find his presentation inspiring and challenging. In this context, this is a not so subtle attempt to indoctrinate students to buy into whatever Obama presents. For students in the early years of this range, this is the time in life young people start to truly understand the political process and begin to develop legitimate informed political opinions. Young teens are also quite impressionable and subject to peer influences. How is the student who has developed doubts about the President or comes from a family background with conservative parents filter this? For students closer to graduation, some will be old enough to vote before they graduate. Some might not just find Obama uninspiring and do not welcome his attempts to challenge them, but they might already be politically involved working for political outcomes completely different from the President's ideology.
How about tasks like, "Explain why you agree or disagree with the main points President Obama made in his address." "Cite examples from the President's address where he attempted to sway you to agree with certain positions or beliefs. What are your beliefs on those issues? Explain how your beliefs conform or vary from the Presidents."
Critical times demand critical thinking.
The following article from Fox News presents some concerns critics have raised so far.
Surely, as the upcoming address and how schools are supposed to frame it become better known, many educators, parents, and those who find Obama's ideology and methodology repugnant will add their voices to the opposition of this unwarranted intrusion into the instructional process at community public schools across the nation. Neal McCluskey, associate director of Cato Institute's Center for Educational Freedom is one authority cited in this article who argues effectively about why Obama's efforts step over the line in the President nosing into public school instruction.
Concerned parents should address their grievances with their local schools, ask if their kids can be excluded from the broadcast and whether any of the activities related to it will count towards a student's grade for the subject in which it is presented. Maybe it would be a good day for parents to protest by keeping their children home as a powerful display of disagreement with the President who increasingly finds more ways to get way too involved with our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment