On Thursday I opened up an email from VIP Consulting informing us that there will be a historic speech given by President Obama on Tuesday, Sept. 8th, during the school day, and suggested we have all our student's watch the 20 minute broadcast.
There are a number of issues with the request including the expectation that we can just drop what we are doing, change our schedules at such short notice, and expect everyone to want to hear what President Obama has to say. In addition, the school would not have time to inform parents and board members. The assumption that schools could manage to do this is...well...you know what assume(ing) does.
Finally, I would never want to hinder anyone's free speech rights, including a student's right to watch the speech or their right to choose. Therefore, I decided that I will post a link to the speech on our web site so that students, parents, or staff can watch it if they so choose.
Oh, and another bit of information on this speech...the US Dept. of Education is inviting all students age 13 and older to make a 2-minute video called "I Am What I Learn". There is prize money involved for the winning videos so if you are interested in making your own video and submit it to the White House go to:
www.ed.gov/iamwhatilearn
www.ed.gov/iamwhatilearn
I, for one, am interested in just what kind of message President Obama wants to convey to our country's youth...however, I would feel better if they (and their parents) could choose whether to watch his "historic" speech....or not.
After the President of the United States speaks to school children about the value of education, Republicans will make opposing comments extolling ignorance.
ReplyDeleteSee:
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/obamas-dangerous-message-to-our-children/