Parents and lawmakers speak out against Obama's speech to students
 

Some of the comments (from both sides) are really out there.


Link

I'm upset that he was giving another speech. Poor kids.

if kids do as most kids do, they will tune out any way.

Crazy kids with their video game systems, and their backwards hats, and their rock music...

*shakes fist at youth of America*

You forgot about the droopy pants.

I agree. I think the comments have been taken to a ridiculous/shameful level on both sides.

What's even worse, when reading some of the comments, it seems that some of the writers need to be in class with the kids.

lol yeah!

Yep. This has been bizarre. I think it needed to be planned and thought out a little better before it was introduced since there hasn't been one since 1991.

It seems to me that we're at an intensely polarized point politically, so it wouldn't have been asking too much for the Obama administration to have reflected on the idea of how it would be perceived before they unveiled the plan for the speech AND to have worked more closely with the lesson planners at the DOE so the first set of lesson plans that the talk radio and TV personalities latched onto didn't contain anything that could seem like indoctrination through the schools.

On the other hand, this has been one of the worst topics for misinformation I've ever seen from the usual right wing suspects. The topic of the speech isn't controversial. There is no honorable opposition to the idea that kids should set goals and value their educational opportunities. It shouldn't be fundamentally threatening for the President to address school kids.

On final note as a teacher: the administration really needed to get the word out much earlier than they did. Almost any teacher could have worked some aspect of the speech into his or her curriculum had the teacher been given advanced notice. If you just publicize something the week before though, most teachers will have lessons planned already. Unless they can really justify dropping the instruction planned, you aren't going to get the participation you hope for.

Similarly, noon on the east coast as the time makes it pretty hard logistically for all the kids at any east coast school to watch it since it's going to be right in the middle of lunch, probably. At a small school where everyone eats at the same time, it's easy to move things around or even to have the kids watch while they eat. But anyplace big enough that they have multiple lunch periods, this is going to be really hard.

(And if the solution is to Tivo or record for broadcast later, why did it need to be during the school day anyway? Obama could have sent out tapes or video streaming to make available for teachers to use at their discretion.)

Agreed.

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

As far as recording...who knows...sometimes you just cant beat live.

And in some places it's the first day of school so that in the middle of the rest of the pandemonium that goes along with it...hmmm..

I wonder what percentage of schools start the day after Labor Day?

We go back waaay earlier than that down here. Most Atlanta area schools will have been back for about a month. It never even occurred to me that it was deliberately on the first day; how funny is that? Noon is still kind of a bad time logistically, but it maybe the only time that works to get all the time zones in.

But yeah, I guess it would be great on the first day of school to start the year with an address like this. It's always the message schools are trying to send. And there's no real teaching to mess up.

knowing this takes the thread off course... but what causes one area/region/state to start school in early/mid August, late August, or early September? Are all school systems required to be in session 180 days? (aside from year-round schooling)

I can see in places where summer, weather-wise, can start in late April/early May, and school ending around Memorial day makes sense.

My brother is a junior in high school and they started this past week (the 31st of August). They have off Monday, and the speech is going to be on Tuesday (correct me if I'm wrong?). I was suprised to get a message from the school on our answering machine tonight informing parents of the speech, and stating that they could keep their kids home from school. They also mentioned they will be having a seperate classroom in the school where the speech won't be shown, and you can elect to have your kid go into that room.

Does that seem a LITTLE ridiculous or is it just me? It's a speech from the PRESIDENT of the United States. It's not like it's going to be some highly offensive speech or anything, right? You know, you can't hide your kids from EVERYTHING....I mean really, they are high school students. Just my opinion.

But going back to what I said about the speech not being offensive..I honestly don't really understand why people find this offensive. Am I missing something? Are there subliminal messages that I'm not picking up on?

I'm 99% sure this is correct - 180 days. As for the cause of schools starting at different times, I have no idea. My guess would be just different demographic? Tradition? I dunno.

Just found this gem of a comment:

school is to learn not to listen to the president give a speech. i belive that it is not appropriate for this to be shown in schools. my daughter will not be watching this video. i do not send my daughter to school to watch videos all day long I SEND MY DAUGHTER TO SCHOOL TO LEARN. i belive as some others have stated that pre-k-5th grades should carry on with learning and not this pointless video. it should be the parents encouraging there kids NOT THE PRESIDENT. as one other quoted he isnt payng child support for our kids.(:confused: no...but he runs your government....) i feel as though president obama should get a brain and quit trying to tell our kids what to do. LET OUR KIDS MAKE UP THERE MINDS. LEAVE THE PARENTING OF OUR KIDS TO US. PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS TO WORRY ABOUT HIS OWN DAUGHTERS EDUCATION. PRESIDENT OBAMA OUR KIDS ARE WHO THEY CHOOSE TO BE NOT WHAT YOU MAKE THEM!

So many things wrong with this..the spelling kills me, but has this idiot never heard of a comma or apostrophe? Apparently not, but she still thinks she's smarter than the President of USA. Hmph.