Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Obama: Indoctrinator in Chief?

On Sept. 8th, Obama is going to be making a speech that will be broadcast nationally and directed to students from K through 12. According to Obama, the speech will be "about the importance of education, the importance of staying in school, how we want to improve our education system, and why it's so important for the country." That sounds innocent enough, but then I read that the Dept. of Education has prepared a handy "teaching guide" to prepare Pre-K through 6th grade students for the speech and guide subsequent discussion. Sample questions:

Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor?

What is the President trying to tell me?

What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?

What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
I'd be willing to bet that not a single kid walks out of a classroom that goes through the whole drill (speech, discussion, questions) without believing everything he or she has heard from the Prez. The key thing, of course, will be whether he wants to turn schoolkids into "lobbyists" for his agenda.

Michelle Malkin has some interesting observations on the whole thing.

UPDATE: I should have thought of this before, but I'm pretty sure a lot of schools are still closed the day after Labor Day.

UPDATE: As this article in The Washington Examiner notes, when George H.W. Bush in 1991 gave a similar speech, Democrats "investigated and held hearings" in protest.

13 comments:

  1. Next thing is the "O" channel. This is too much like Mao, Stalin and Chavez. Marching orders for children.
    I know this guy believes in teaching moments, but does he every engage in learning moments?

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  2. Those kids have nothing to learn from Cook County community organizer thug.

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  3. These are kids who are watching MTV reality shows (B.S.) on tv. They can either become civic-minded zombies or TV zombies. Either way, they are being indoctrinated. I appreciate that he's not asking the evangelical church to take on the education role.

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  4. How long before we get the North American version of "Halo, Presidente"? Planted questions, the White House creating it's own news broadcasts, govt infomercials on ABC...and worst of all, an unquestioning media.

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  5. Oh no you DIDN'T refer people to notorious kook Michelle Malkin?!?

    Why not also refer them to Michelle Bachmann's assertions that Obama plans to send everybody to forced re-education camps that the National Guard is building out in the deserts?

    Good grief Scott - I would hate to see your insightful blog become yet another hangout for right-wing kooks.

    Think about it. The president (ANY president) plans to challenge kids to take their education seriously and to learn to think for themselves. This is bad, why?

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  6. Let's see what he has to say in his speech. The whole thing gives me the creeps, however.

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  7. txsaddletramp,

    Would you please define what you mean by the used of the word "kook" regarding Michelle Malkin and provide some specifics?

    Thanks

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  8. A US Department of Education memo that can be found at www.ed.gov re the president’s planned speech was sent to all public school principals. This memo includes recommended “Classroom Activities,” aka a Teacher’s Guide, which, if followed, preps teachers to prep students to positively accept the president’s speech prior to, during and after the event.
    Written into these student feel good prep instructions and questions is also a question for the teachers: ”Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?” Why would the secretary of the US DoE ask such a rhetorical question of public school teachers in a guide written to prep students in advance of a speech? Truth be told, the teachers need to be asking the secretary of the DoE: Why don’t the president, the mayor, the senator, member of congress or the governor listen to us, our students, their parents? Isn’t what we say important?
    The memo also states in part, “Since taking office, the President has repeatedly focused on education, even as the country faces two wars, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and major challenges on issues like energy and health care. . . .”
    The mask is off. The US DoE is as much about politics as it is education. No wonder the US public school system is in shambles.

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  9. cdlic,

    If you are unfamiliar with Malkin's body of "work", your request is certainly fair enough - I certainly dislike ad hominem attacks myself.

    Her examples of "kook-itude" are so numerous it's hard to pick just a couple of examples, bout how about:
    1) Her attack on Michelle Obama's FATHER,see the link:
    http://mediamatters.org/research/200908010006

    or 2) Posing for a happy picture with an "Obama is a Nazi" nitwit.
    An example link is really long, but google "Malkin swastika" and you will get there.

    Now, hopefully, back to the economy.

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  10. Scott,

    If I were a better person I would resist the urge to "tweak" you on this, but this YouTube video literally had me laughing out loud.

    It's entitled "Hitler Finds out Obama will Address Schoolchildren" - I hope it gives you a chuckle even though you and I are clearly on different sides of the political spectrum.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adiLJxayfg8&feature=player_embedded

    Best, txsaddletramp

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  11. txsaddletramp,

    I kind of enjoyed the following video as a follow up to the clever one you sent. It is entitled "Barack Obama Hitler youth comparison". I hope it gives readers more than a chuckle.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87s1hN3fsqc

    Best,

    CDLIC

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  12. cdlic,

    Eek. OK, I started it. I'm bowing out of the "Hitler humor" competition. I probably found the video I mentioned humorous because I'm so sick of the unbelievable conflation between "Obama, the guy who wants to reform health care" and Hitler, "the biggest mass murderer in history."

    Anyway, I'll do my part by not further feeding that argument!

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