How? Why? What? I am so flustered I can't even speak. I can barely type because I am seething with anger or maybe I am just laughing too hard at some of the moronic and ridiculous posts about this.
Some of you have become completely unhinged and have lost what little grasp you have upon reality. Apparently your critical reasoning and logical analysis skills are being overtaxed by other issues.
Before we go any farther let's take a moment to define what the issue here is.
Excuse me while I roll my eyes and sigh deeply. I find this to be ridiculous on multiple levels. Let's start with the parenting angle. Kids, er, parents, your children are indoctrinated with all sorts of nifty messages every day.(CNN) -- The White House found itself on the defensive Friday over what would ordinarily be considered the most uncontroversial of events: a back-to-school speech to the nation's children.The White House said the address, set for Tuesday, and accompanying suggested lesson plans are simply meant to encourage students to study hard and stay in school.
Many conservative parents aren't buying it. They're convinced the president is going to use the opportunity to press a partisan political agenda on impressionable young minds.
"Thinking about my kids in school having to listen to that just really upsets me," suburban Colorado mother Shanneen Barron told CNN Denver affiliate KMGH. "I'm an American. They are Americans, and I don't feel that's OK. I feel very scared to be in this country with our leadership right now."
Every time they recite the pledge of allegiance or engage in any number of lessons in school they are indoctrinated with a point of view about the world and our place in it. That is reality. You might not like it and that is ok.
Your job as a parent is to monitor these things and to help your children understand them. That is where you take the time to explain why capitalism/socialism/communism is the best way to live. That is where you teach them what ideology they should follow and what they should avoid.
Obama's speech is a perfect teaching moment. Don't be a dolt. Take advantage of this. Opportunity is kicking you in the ass and smacking you on the forehead.
In a perfect world you wouldn't have to worry about this. In a perfect world school teachers would take a neutral position and simply provide the facts, but that is not how it goes. I remember teachers who railed on about how bad the Vietnam war was and others who took the opposite position.
Is it confusing? Sure, it can be. But be a parent and teach your children. Take a moment to sit down, explain and discuss.
Ok, I am off to lecture more people about why I think political partisanship is killing our country. Stay tuned for another episode of "Have Soapbox, will travel."
10 comments:
The marginalized Religious Right is now reduced to grasping at straws.
The real reason they don't want Obama to be hear by their kids is that they have painted Obama as someone more evil than the devil. A message of staying in school that is the same message most people tell their kids will put Obama on the same level as the parents of the kiddies, and then the RR is going to have to come up with creative excuses why Obama's message isn't really the same as theirs.
They don't want to have to delve deeper into the mindless rhetoric they have been spewing about Obama.
I'm so with you on this, Jack. It's just ridiculous.
They don't want to have to delve deeper into the mindless rhetoric they have been spewing about Obama.
It is a pretty sad thing. There are a lot of things that they can offer legitimate criticism about. But when they pull this crap...
TD,
I am going to refer some of them to your office for much needed help.
I think you need to get your head out of your ass and put aside the fact that OUR president is Black.....
I do so enjoy arguing with a crackhead who hasn't the common sense to offer a real response.
His skin color is immaterial. It has nothing to do with the post. But let me help you out on a few things.
I disagree with his foreign policy. I think that his healthcare plan is a nice idea, but am not convinced that it is affordable or easily executed.
In short, I don't agree with everything he said and had there been a better candidate would have been happier.
But there wasn't and here we are. If you want to abdicate your responsibility as a parent, that is your choice. I am not doing it. Kids and I will talk about whatever he says and why it is true, false or somewhere in between.
It isn't the speech itself, its the weird "Educational Materials" that are supposed to go with it. Those are out-of-bounds.
Great post and great response to your *ahem* comments :)
FANTASTIC post. I came here to thank you for your comment on JN and now you've got me hooked. Your comment re indoctrination is spot on.
That this is even a topic for discussion shows the sad state of our union. The chances of getting anything accomplished will be difficult at best and watered down to worthlessness.
My two cents, I could not think of a better candidate and sadly I think he may be too smart for most people to relate to or to understand his long-term goals. We are a nation of dumbed-down individuals, of course excluding "Random Thought" readers.
Loved this...well said, Jack!
its the weird "Educational Materials" that are supposed to go with it. Those are out-of-bounds.
Hi Benning,
I hear you, I really do. But to me this still comes back to the parents. If we don't do our job then it doesn't matter.
Wink,
Thanks.
JN,
Indoctrination is a "funny" thing. It really depends what side of the fence you stand upon.
M,
Hey there. It is an odd time in our history. As you know, I am really not a big fan of Obama, but that is ok. People seem to live in a world that is either/or and that isn't right.
The hysteria here is ridiculous.
Hi Janet,
Thanks.
Very inspirational speech I loved how he aimed for our kids of today to plan for tomorrow, its not giving them political empowerment or guiding them in the wrong direction as the media portrayed but its giving them hope that through all the struggles and storms you may cross you will come out the hero In the end way to go Mr. President.
Post a Comment