President's Speech to School Kids

[anon31651765]

See, aside from the shit about the President’s speech, you and I agree on the basics here regarding education.

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

Have you read any of the links above re: Cost of Education? The problem is that most of the money that goes to “Education” goes to administrative costs, new construction, teacher salary/benefits increases, and retirement- NOT to the classroom.
[/quote]

Exactly. Most of it, about 3/4, sometimes more depending on the district, goes to salaries and benefits, pension costs and the like.

Even construction- not necessarily. Most times, at least in NJ, if you want to do a big project, you have to go out to referendum. In this state, the government put a cap on the amount that a school can hold over for the next year, limiting it to 4 percent. So in effect, there is no legal way for schools to build up what one might call a savings account- anything over that 4 percent has to go back to the taxpayers in the form of “tax relief.”

These referendums, of course, drive up the taxes higher with their debt service as well.

I think even FightinIrish might concede that the Teacher’s Union is largely responsible for sucking up most of the money and creating many of the roadblocks in government education. Little is put into real motivation for teacher improvement or accountability.

Of all the dollars that go into ‘education’, a relatively small percentage goes into the classrooms. Even when my wife was teaching, I was paying out-of-pocket for classroom materials (ie not tax dollars).

I absolutely despise the teachers’ union with all my heart. I hate them more than Sarah Palin. They are sucking the country dry every single day, and they don’t give two fucks. They are overpaid for working ten months while still getting 4 percent raises every year while also not paying ANYTHING towards their benefits.

As soon as they’re told that they want to renegotiate, or that they might have to pay towards their insurance, they come out with their fucking pins and flags and scream, “BUT IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN!” Oh, and they can NEVER get fired after tenure.

They are destroying this state, and they sincerely don’t give a rats ass. That’s one union that I would either disband or completely bust if they went on strike. Far too much power.

Up here (and nation wide) in more rural areas, school consolidation (ie administrative consolidation) is being fought over. We have districts that have a few hundred kids with a fully paid superintendant staff (in the 6-figure salaries) that are paid the same as those in the bigger cities (where the salary is more warranted). What that does is add millions to the cost of education for literally just a handful of administrators and few hundred kids. Multiply that waste over so many districts in the country and you’re talking huge (billions) overhead, none of which makes it to the kids’ classroom.

We are having the same problem here. NJ has 566 municipalities with more nearly 600 school districts. There are plenty of districts that have NO reason to have their own shit, but NJ is the strongest “Home Rule” state in the country… getting people to consolidate or share services on anything is damn near impossible in this state.

I won’t even go into ‘inclusion’ laws that government schools have that waste resources (ie time/money) at the expense of other kids’ education. Because being “P.C.” is more important than “learning”.

If by this you mean the absolutely obscene amounts of money spend on special education kids that are never going to contribute to society at the expense of the smartest, than yes, I agree with you.

[tom63]

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
I have to laugh at you guys (especially the Europeans, Kiwis, and non-parents that think their opinions matter) that think that parents’ opinions and involvement matter LESS than the Government’s.

Enough parents called in and complained nationally that The Chosen One pulled the speech. If the administration didn’t think they were crossing a line, they wouldn’t have pulled it. This is about parental control of their government schools.

This is a beautiful example of parents pushing back at a bloated, failing institution.

10 months ago, “The President’s” involvement in government education was evil (ie. Bush enacting Teddy Kennedy’s No Child Left Behind). Now that Prez wants to address them personally, it’s fine. Maybe since he has so much time on his hands, Prez could personally write some lesson plans.

I love how people scoff at parents who want guide their children’s education. God forbid they want to review the class curriculum and lesson plan. No, you’d rather have unaccountable anonymous bureaucrats in DC dictate your children’s learning from cradle to grave.

JEATON makes great points above.

JFit-- Wankers? You gotta be kidding. Go walk your dog. You probably complain when parents don’t control their kids in public, but if they want some control of their kids’ education, they’re wankers that need to grow up. Un-fucking-real.[/quote]

Exactly.

[tom63]

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
pushharder wrote:
Sloth wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
But oh, what about the children!! What will they think when the evil black socialist…

As silly as I think the noise over this is, what’s with the black comment? Don’t you think you’re exploiting his race? I’m starting to see this ALOT, lately. Here, and otherwise. I’m serious, you start getting into a disagreement about Obama with someone, and they’ll slip in that he’s black. Sometimes timed perfectly, so you don’t cath their implication until later. But usually, awkardly, like here. You can only cry wolf so many times, before people stop caring.

I caught that too. Folks like Irish have no problem interjecting the race status of our (HALF black) president when it is completely irrelevant because it modus operandi for liberals. Get out the Louisville Slugger with “race” written on it in permanent marker and beat whitey to death at every single opportunity.

When I stop hearing people refer to him as “the nigger president,” “President Nig nog,” or simply, “That Fucking Nigger”, then I’ll stop pulling it. How bout that?[/quote]

When have we said that? We’ve said, commie, pinko, socialist, racist etc., but I do not recall any racial slurs. Push is right, you can’t win, call them a racist. The ten poorest cities in this country have been run by democrats for over 90% of the last 100 years and they are crap holes. but it’s always white racism that is the problem, not we have no clue what we’re doing but like the power and perks, so fuck it, we’ll blame whitie.

[tom63]

[quote]Makavali wrote:
malonetd wrote:
Makavali wrote:
“I’m going to be making a big speech to young people all across the country about the importance of education; about the importance of staying in school; [b]how we want to improve our education system[/b] and why itÃ??Ã?¢??s so important for the country. So I hope everybody tunes in.”

My only concern is with the highlighted section above. I’m sure we have very different ideas on how to “fix” education. Mine involves parenting and I’m sure his involves more money.

If it stays a simple stay-in-school speech, I’m OK with it. My kid would probably be thinking about Batman the whole time anyway. I guess, if they really want to reach the kids, have Bruce Wayne start giving speeches at schools.

More funding for education is a bad thing? I hear gross exaggerations of students using 1970’s textbooks, but I assume those statements are founded in some level of truth - wouldn’t more allocating more money be a wise idea? I’m not entirely sure how your government gives money to schools, here it’s here a bunch of cash for purpose, spend it on only that or we’ll fire you.[/quote]

Not really parental involvement is probably the best way. More money seems to not get into teaching kids. It’s easy to cry a lack of funding, but what do you really need money for? Textbooks, sure. computers, maybe.

People confuse whiz bang new stuff and the aquisition of technology with the understanding and the smarts it takes to develop the technology. You need math, English, and other basics.
After that more advanced stuff cab be utilized, but it is not necessary.

Joe Paterno never used a computer in school but could read the Iliad and Odyssey in Latin. Thomas Jefferson didn’t have on. Or Ben Franklin. All of this modernization does not necessarily make smarter kids, but it sure costs a lot of money.

[Ghost22]

Are people so politically polarized that they’re really freaking out over this?

It’s like, “OMG HE’S GOING TO EAT TEH CHILDRENZ!!!11”

[apbt55]

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Those against it, do you pre-approve all the text books your kids read?

[/quote]

I would go through it with them and point out the inconsistencies with fact, history or therum depending on the given subject.

[anonym]

[quote]MikeyKBiatch wrote:
"The lesson plans â?? one plan for pre-K-6 students and another plan for students in grades 7-12 â?? provided specific activities and assignments for children to do before, during, and after the presidentâ??s speech. The pre-k-6 plan instructs teachers to ask children â??Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officialsâ?¦â?? It further directs teachers to have children consider the following while listening to Obamaâ??s speech:

â??What is the President trying to tell me?â??
â??What is the President asking me to do?â??
â??What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?â??
The plan continues, â??Students can record important parts of the speech where the President is asking them to do something. Students might think about: What specific job is he asking me to doâ?¦Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?â??"

Oh and for 7-12 kids:

“The plan asks students, â??What resonated with you from President Obamaâ??s speech? What lines/phrases do you remember? Is he challenging you to do anything?â??”

You really think this is just to help kids stay in school? Obama loves to hear his own voice, you really think he is not going to use this as an opportunity to push his agenda?[/quote]

Once again, you are setting aside common sense and context in order to get riled up over the way these activities are phrased.

What is the President trying to tell me?

That education is extremely important.

What is the President asking me to do?

Study hard and stay in school.

What resonated with you from President Obama’s speech?

That you don’t have to be a dork in order to take academics seriously.

What specific job is he asking me to do?

Work hard, study for my tests and complete all my assignments to the best of my abilities and in a timely manner.

Et cetera, et cetera… see how completely non-threatening these questions are when you think, “how would I answer these if I just heard a ‘Be Cool, Stay in School!’ speech?”

If you want to bitch about the speech then wait until it is released the day before he gives to the children. At least then you may have something substantial to complain about that actually lies within the realm of reason, and not, “well he will probably do this!” or, “do you really think he won’t try that!”

That way, you will be able to base your complaints on reason as opposed to paranoia.

[Sloth]

[quote]anonym wrote:

Once again, you are setting aside common sense and context in order to get riled up over the way these activities are phrased.

What is the President trying to tell me?
That education is extremely important.
What is the President asking me to do?
Study hard and stay in school.
What resonated with you from President Obama’s speech?
That you don’t have to be a dork in order to take academics seriously.
What specific job is he asking me to do?
Work hard, study for my tests and complete all my assignments to the best of my abilities and in a timely manner.

Et cetera, et cetera… see how completely non-threatening these questions are when you think, “how would I answer these if I just heard a ‘Be Cool, Stay in School!’ speech?”
.[/quote]

I do hate it when those of us on the right make ourselves such easy targets. Perhaps some of this is spurred on by thoughts of “payback?” Because I’m dang sure not overlooking that the Democrats sink this low, too. Still, this is just silly and see through. Had McCain won, this same action would be used as proof that republicans care about education.

[SteelyD]

[quote]ephrem wrote:

- YouTube

…i don’t know who this guy is, a CNN reporter i guess. He says like it is though, some of you may not like it…[/quote]

LMAO! “Who this guy is” is Bill Clinton’s campaign advisor and far, far, far left Democrat strategist. This guy makes (the now deceased) Lee Atwater look like the poster child of innocence.

Throw all the whacked ideology of the far left into an alien’s body and you have James Carville.

Incidentally, he’s married to Mary Matlin (sp?) a well known and sought after Republican advisor…

[K2000]

[quote]MikeyKBiatch wrote:
You really think this is just to help kids stay in school? Obama loves to hear his own voice, you really think he is not going to use this as an opportunity to push his agenda?[/quote]

IT’S OBVIOUSLY A PLOY TO ENCOURAGE THE CHILDREN TO BECOME COMMUNISTS.

GOOD CATCH, WOLVERINES!!!

ONLY COMMUNISTS DO THEIR HOMEWORK!!!1!!!

[SteelyD]

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
Those against it, do you pre-approve all the text books your kids read?

[/quote]

This implies that the two are mutually exclusive. Why do you only care if “those who are against it” pre-approve textbooks? What about those who didn’t care about the speech either way?

Textbooks, namely “History” texts, are atrocious. This is a whole thread in and of itself (and an interesting one0.

Tell you what, rather than totally derail this thread, start a thread with this as the premise and expand on your question as to what you really are looking to discuss with that leading question.

[Sloth]

Seems to be rather uneventful. Now, I know some will say, “Well, of course. We scared him off of getting political! He knew we were watching closely!” I’d like to present an alternative view…

1. Announce speech to be made to children, about education.
2. Watch segments of the right rail against “indoctrination.”
3. Then, then, make the speech. A harmless, neutral speech about working hard in school.
4. Watch as the unfullfilled indoctrination charges are basically attributed to all of us on the right.
5. Watch as the next time the right REALLY has something important to say, something to REALLY caution against, the fence sitters basically say “Pfft, yeah, I remember the last round of accusations not becoming reality.”

Give a man enough rope, and he’ll what?

Edit: To be clear, this is if he sticks to script. Which I can’t imagine he won’t.

[Rockscar]

Judge for yourself

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

[Sloth]

[quote]Rockscar wrote:
Judge for yourself

http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/

[/quote]

There’s absolutely nothing that won’t be forgotten after one boring talk radio day. Alot of wasted energy, and alot of wasted credibility. Well played, Obama. Well played. And of course, the media and blogs will imply that all of us on the right came out fools.

[MikeyKBiatch]

Very well written, does not change any feelings I have regarding his policies. And even IN CONTEXT the way those lesson plans were written sound creepy to me.

[apbt55]

Should just have your child print out a copy of the constitution and a note saying please read this.

[SteelyD]

[quote]MikeyKBiatch wrote:
Very well written, does not change any feelings I have regarding his policies. And even IN CONTEXT the way those lesson plans were written sound creepy to me. [/quote]

I agree, not bad at all. It’s a nice speech (I could nit-pick a few things, but I won’t). The problem is that it was published after the fact. Too little too late, perhaps scrubbed, perhaps not.

If it weren’t such an ‘amateur hour’ in the White House, they would have anticipated this kind of backlash, especially when kids are involved.

In Land Surveying there is a saying: “People are funny about their kids and their property lines.”

[jehovasfitness]

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
MikeyKBiatch wrote:
Very well written, does not change any feelings I have regarding his policies. And even IN CONTEXT the way those lesson plans were written sound creepy to me.

[/i][/quote]

Great attitude you got.

I happen to think it’s a GREAT speech, one that could resonate for a while, assuming he can deliver it properly.

[jehovasfitness]

quoted the wrong part “I agree, not bad at all. It’s a nice speech (I could nit-pick a few things, but I won’t). The problem is that it was published after the fact. Too little too late, perhaps scrubbed, perhaps not.”