Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Passing on PASS

This is really sad. Some people are talking about a Parent Approved Skip Skool day in response to the Presidential address to children PASS.

I wish conservatives understood how reaction is systematically used by the elite to limit freedoms. Skipping school to miss a president's speech, even if it is propaganda, totally undermines the legitimacy of the Conservative movement. The political game of action/reaction often does more harm to society than the policies in question.

A better response is for people who want their children to learn in school (as opposed to simply being indoctrinated) would be for the opposition to write up their own list of questions for students to ask after the speech.

My last post was cynical, but I truly hope that Obama gives a politically neutral speech. Students forced to watch the speech should seek to identify any partisan themes or purely partisan elements in the speech.

If the speech touches on currently political legislation (such as health care, cap and trade, etc.) students should question whether the use of schools is an apropriate venue for such causes. If the speech contains any partisan attacks (such as repeating the theme that Obama inherited only problems); students should question that as well.

Students should be encouraged to identify anything presented as fact in the debate and asked to explore if that fact is in fact a fact or just an attempt to frame debates.

Rather than skipping school, parents should encourage their students to question the message of the speech on a deeper level. Parents should plan on watching the speech and discussing it at the dinner table.

It is difficult to know what questions to ask about the speech before it is given. One should question the study materials.

The biggest of all question I have from the study materials issued from the White House is ift it is apropriate for a president to use the highly partisan education system to encourage students to attack the political beliefs of their parents?

I really hope Obama's address to the students is not part of his reframing the health care issue. I sincerely hope the president avoids positive themes, but when our schools reject the concept of universal truths for the relativistic idea that everything is propaganda, I have a hard time imagining the president negotiating his way through this address without generating controversy.

Although President Obama was able to get through most of his career simply voting present. I sincerely hope that conservatives do not make the blunder of encouraging their students to skip school and that they use the speech as an educational opportunity.

2 comments:

Scott Hinrichs said...

I would prefer that my kids get exposure to the president and his proposals. I want them to see what is being pushed. The last thing I want is for them to have their heads in the sand.

y-intercept said...

The department of education yanked a few of the most objectionable lines from the pre-speech educational materials.

Criticism has not gone unnoticed. So, he will give a good, presidential quality speech.

The truth of the matter is that the schools and partisan teachers have me much more worried than the president. I don't trust progressive professors who I believe use their position for political cause.

I would have trusted the classical liberal teachers of the past to challenge partisan elements of the speech.