\nGood afternoon, [schoolname] parents! As so many questions about plans to view the education speech by President Obama have been circulating through various communities, [regular principal] and I want to let you know what [school]’s plans are for this event.<\/p>\n
Our approach will include recording the speech so that staff may preview it and determine its fit with our curriculum and priorities. This is a practice which we use when considering any of a variety of media to use in the classroom. If there is good alignment with the message of the speech focused on education and the importance of learning, then teachers may want to show the speech to students at an appropriate instructional time. One example might be later in September when, through our school-wide Positive Behavior Support program, we have a theme of honoring and respecting learning.<\/p>\n
If after previewing the speech a teacher should want to include the video as part of a future lesson, we will notify you in advance so that you have the opportunity to determine your comfort with your child’s participation.<\/p>\n
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to call our office at [phone].<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
So I’m really torn.<\/p>\n
On the one hand, I appreciate that they’re being sensitive to the subject, doing a recording\/review of the material would (in a vacuum) make a lot of sense, and so forth. Given that our school generally does a great job, I treat their approach from a starting point of respect.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, this has almost become a matter of principle. By taking this approach, it seems to me that the school is legitimating the paranoia and hyperbole that surround this perfectly legitimate and normal and laudable effort by the president to encourage kids to work hard in school. In a sense, it reminds me of the worst of the Democratic search for bipartisan support — compromise becomes not a strength, but a sign of weakness that will be crowed over and exploited. Next time something comes up that’s the least bit controversial, this provides a further precedent for parents to expect their individual foibles to be catered to and their particular spin on political affairs to trump the pedagogical mission of the school.<\/p>\n
Put another way, what other educational material will now arguably be subject to pre-announcement to parents so that they can decide their “comfort with their child’s participation.” Sex Ed is usual, but maybe we want to tread carefully around biology lessons, or anything that talks about fossils and evolution, or geology or astronomy lessons that imply anything other than a “Young Earth” origin of the world. How about discussions of history, civil rights, or anything else that has turned out to be the least bit controversial in some quarters?<\/p>\n
I understand the desire to keep people informed and to get parents involved in the educational process. But there’s a difference between that and truckling appeasement of folks scared that President Obama is going to “indoctrinate” their kids with sort of Kenyan Socialistic Atheist Islamist Atheist Gay-Loving Communist agenda.<\/p>\n
(I’m also mildly perturbed by the subject line of the message being “A Message from Principal Miller regarding the upcoming O’Bama speach” <\/em>thus both misspelling the President’s name and the word “speech.”)<\/p>\nI think an email (if not a call) to the principal to express my concerns (and disappointment) is probably in order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just got this email from Kitten’s elementary school’s interim principal: Good afternoon, [schoolname] parents! As so many questions about plans to view the education speech by President Obama have been circulating through various communities, [regular principal] and I want to let you know what [school]’s plans are for this event. Our approach will include recording … Continue reading “Evil Presidential Speechifying Strikes Home!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law","category-school-daze"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28296,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/06\/15\/because-democracy-is-clearly-not-about-equal-protection.html","url_meta":{"origin":15713,"position":0},"title":"Because "democracy" is clearly not about equal protection","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 15-Jun-12 8:25am","format":false,"excerpt":".. or free speechIf you're going to give kids an assignment to write a speech on \"democracy\" and there are topic areas you want them to steer clear of -- like, for example, controversial topics, or topics that some parents might get into a tizzy over, even if they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28588,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/public-pensions-and-political-speech.html","url_meta":{"origin":15713,"position":1},"title":"Public Pensions and Political Speech","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-Jul-12 11:35am","format":false,"excerpt":"The GOP continually lambastes unions for collecting dues from employee members and then using them for political purposes without those union members having a say. \u00a0But Citizens United means that public pension plans, paid into by public employees and invested into corporations, are providing significant money to let corporations \"speak\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11515,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/08\/09\/an_upcoming_season_of_cha.html","url_meta":{"origin":15713,"position":2},"title":"An upcoming season of changes","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Aug-07 10:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Kitten enters second grade in just a couple of weeks.\u00a0 Hard to believe. It's going to be a bit different of a school.\u00a0 Her first grade teacher is no longer...","rel":"","context":"In "School Daze"","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5522,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/02\/26\/some_speech_is.html","url_meta":{"origin":15713,"position":3},"title":"Some speech is more equal than others","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 26-Feb-04 1:03pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After receiving complaints from teachers, the principal of Marshall High School in Portland, Oregon, emptied out the display case used by the Chess Club to advertise its presence to the...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134986,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/07\/political-speech-cannot-compelled-state.html","url_meta":{"origin":15713,"position":4},"title":"Political speech cannot be compelled by the state","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 7-Oct-17 5:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And that includes some publc school districts levying punishment to student athletes who take a knee during the national anthem. You cannot force someone by law or other threat of state punishment to express (or not express) political sentiment. That includes patriotic displays. It would be as wrong (and illegal)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/unnamed-6.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26762,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/29\/its-like-these-guys-take-pride-in-being-ignorant.html","url_meta":{"origin":15713,"position":5},"title":""It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-Feb-12 2:02pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant.\"By (a) focusing on one sentence in a lengthy energy policy speech full of actions and proposals and (b) making fun of an energy alternative that GOP congressfolk themselves have pushed for in the past. #ddtb Embedded Link From tire gauges to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}