Which should be more considered brainwashing: the President speaking to American children about staying in school, or parents wanting to filter what their children hear in order to try to limit their opinions?
The funny thing is that they don't really care that what he's trying to say is good, they simply don't like it because it will make Obama look good to their kids.
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Re: Obama to brainwash youths of America
I wouldn't call it brainwashing, but I kind of agree with the folks who believe that the post-speech discussion, seems to be pushing the agenda in a more positive light no matter what he says.
I think its great to encourage discussion, but it should be up to the teacher or the school on how to held it.
I wouldn't call it brainwashing, but I kind of agree with the folks who believe that the post-speech discussion, seems to be pushing the agenda in a more positive light no matter what he says.
I think its great to encourage discussion, but it should be up to the teacher or the school on how to held it.
It is up to the teacher to show it or not.
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It would have been a nice touch if he handed out the information in little red books or pamphlets.
I've always felt that the government should push for education, but as a very passive player. I feel that school should primarily be about education and promoting a positive learning environment; it should be unbiased and it should be honest. I think Obama's intentions are good if not grand (the man is from Chicago, he knows the train wreck that is Chicago Public Schools) so I support the administration's decision to be active in promoting education. Do I agree with this delivery method? Morally...no. On the other hand, what's the better alternative? American schools are slipping. We used to be number 1 now a whole bunch of countries have us beat. So if Obama can get kids to take an active interest in school, I say go-Obama!
I think the delivery method is perfect. The President is one of the few people that can say something, and everyone will listen, be inspired, and actually act on it. Especially kids.
I didn't complain (and I don't remember anyone complaining) whenever Bush gave his anti-drug speech to America's youth. Most kids don't care about politics at this point.
The thing is he isn't promoting himself or his administration at all. The people who are against it are only against it because it puts him in a good light. It's like they are admitting he is doing something good, and they don't want their kids to know he is worth looking up to.
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The thing is he isn't promoting himself or his administration at all.
This is not accurate, and the administration even changed their original "curriculum" they sent out for the speech in recognition of this. I don't think people mind the idea of President Obama speaking to a nation of students. Many presidents have done this in the past, usually about the importance of school and/or drug abuse, etc.
What people are/were upset about is the orchestration of continued "Obama-centric" curriculum before and after the speech, such as essays about how they can help President Obama and the like. I believe one of the recommendations was to advise students to read his books, but I'm not certain. The materials have since been changed since the whole hubbub started.
The point is that the discussion should be about the topic President Obama is speaking on, not President Obama himself. It's this type of continued personal campaigning and politics of the individual that are inspiring so many to overreact and make claims that he is a fascist, socialist, megalomaniac, etc.
And now we hear that President Obama wants yet another prime time speech to talk about healthcare, and odds are the ratings are going to fall even farther than they did for the last one. He is quickly talking himself into obscurity. It has been my contention since his election that President Obama is great at campaigning for President, but he doesn't seem to know how to do much more than continually campaign, and I think he's is exhausting a lot of the good will with which he started his presidency.
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Last edited by Professor S : 09-03-2009 at 10:16 PM.
American adults act like children and can't be reasoned with, so why not talk to the only ones who are acting their age. Makes sense. Might raise the intelligence level of this country in a generation or two.
That didn't sit well with Sherry Melby, a teacher in the school district and mother of a band member. Yesterday Melby told the Sedalia Democrat: "I was disappointed with the image on the shirt." Melby said. "I don't think evolution should be associated with our school."
If that's a teacher's viewpoint, kids are going to have to learn to educate themselves.
American adults act like children and can't be reasoned with, so why not talk to the only ones who are acting their age. Makes sense. Might raise the intelligence level of this country in a generation or two.
Well, that seems to be the attitude this adminstration has regarding their constituency, I hope they continue. It's this type of arrogant dismissiveness that loses elections.
Quote:
If that's a teacher's viewpoint, kids are going to have to learn to educate themselves.
This isn't a new challenge by any means, and definitely not one this or any other administration will fix. Culture and social/religious norms are best left to evolve by themselves. Government can't "fix" a society, it can only reflect it, and when they attempt the former horrible things tend to happen.
How does one fix a society? I can't get over how backwards our country is in the sciences when compared to every other Western country.
If it makes you feel any better, our country kicks the rest of the world's ass (for the most part) with college. So we have really really smart college kids.
And as I am learning in my Psychological Testing class, the United State's college student does better/has a higher IQ/scores better on tests than the majority of the world.
So what we lack in Primary and Secondary education, students QUICKLY catch up when they go to college. So, yay!
Problems in Primary and Secondary education both involve poor curriculum, lack of strict testing, lack of enforced standards, No Child Left Behind, problematic financial situations (CPSs), and this bullshit positive stuff we feed kids: "everyone can go to college!"
NO. Some people are just dumb. We need to bring back schools that don't put down jobs in construction and encourage Johnny Low-GPA/IQ/Test Scores to do something he can apply himself in.
Last edited by KillerGremlin : 09-04-2009 at 12:23 AM.
"One" doesn't and can't. One person can influence a society, but change cannot be imposed open an unwilling populace. The old cliche is that "transformative change takes place in small steps over time", and that is as true as any statement ever made.
We've seen significant steps forward in many cultural issues over the last century, but most of them were generational shifts, taking decades in total, not moments. It's best that way, because a long process is generally a thoughtful one, and a society can avoid many of the unintended consequences of immediate/rash action.
Haha, I always love seeing the culture differences between America and Europe. When's the last time we cared what our prime minister said? We only like to chuckle about him because he looks like an adult Harry Potter.
Also another interesting thing I noticed... American presidents always tell people to pray when something bad happened (Colombine shootings etc.). If our political leaders told people to pray, I think they would get sued or something.
So why is there a huge discussion on whether evolution should be taught in schools, and whether the president can encourage kids to go to school.. but not about whether the president can ask people to pray?
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This is not accurate, and the administration even changed their original "curriculum" they sent out for the speech in recognition of this. I don't think people mind the idea of President Obama speaking to a nation of students. Many presidents have done this in the past, usually about the importance of school and/or drug abuse, etc.
What people are/were upset about is the orchestration of continued "Obama-centric" curriculum before and after the speech, such as essays about how they can help President Obama and the like. I believe one of the recommendations was to advise students to read his books, but I'm not certain. The materials have since been changed since the whole hubbub started.
The point is that the discussion should be about the topic President Obama is speaking on, not President Obama himself. It's this type of continued personal campaigning and politics of the individual that are inspiring so many to overreact and make claims that he is a fascist, socialist, megalomaniac, etc.
And now we hear that President Obama wants yet another prime time speech to talk about healthcare, and odds are the ratings are going to fall even farther than they did for the last one. He is quickly talking himself into obscurity. It has been my contention since his election that President Obama is great at campaigning for President, but he doesn't seem to know how to do much more than continually campaign, and I think he's is exhausting a lot of the good will with which he started his presidency.
I've heard about the essay, which was promptly changed, but even that seems alright since it was in the context of getting the kids to work hard on their education. If it had asked something like "How can you help President Obama make abortion legal" or "How can you help Obama remove the Republican party", then that would have been a bigger deal.
You're mistaken about the book, though. The suggested activity actually states for the students to read books about presidents and Barack Obama, and goes on to ask why listening to all elected officials, including mayors, senators, and members of congress is important.
I look back to whenever Bush gave his anti-drug speech, and if the kids had been asked to write an essay "How can I help Mr. Bush", in the context of helping them work towards not doing drugs, then I would have also been okay with that. If the prompt had included "and make gay marriage illegal", then that would have crossed a line. But it didn't, these presidential speeches and their curriculum have all been based on things we can universally accept as good.
But if having some Obama centered things in the curriculum (which there are none) was the big deal here, why haven't people/politicians been voicing out against that? The only thing I've seen splashed across the conservative media and peoples Facebook updates is that they are angry the president is going to "talk directly to the kids."
For example, here's a link to the Republican Party of Florida and their chairman's statement:
No mention of a curriculum centered around Obama. He seems to think that the speech is going to be about government run health care and banks. He's also upset that teacher's can't teach about the "sanctity of human life" or "traditional marriage", and that they can't have prayer in school. He also refers to Obama as "Pied Piper Obama". These are the sorts of things that real people and parents will read and reiterate to their kids.
I ask again: which one is brainwashing?
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I have to assume these are the sort of folks that are against Obama talking to their kids. No matter what he does they'll be against it. Which really makes the whole argument null.......and very very scary.
Obama to brainwash youths of America
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