Comments on: The Obama Speech

By: marwa

marwa — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:21:32 +0000

agree with your comments. As a teacher I am planning on showing the President’s speech. Our district is allowing us to do so, if we want. I want to. If the President is addressing the children of the US, they should be listening. Show some respect for the highest office in the land, even if you don’t agree with the politics.

By: Katie

Katie — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:09:00 +0000

We also received an email from our superintendent claiming that we were not allowed to show it unless we were doing a follow up activity and had to get it cleared by our principal. The day of the speech, our principal walked around and went into every room to make sure that we were not planning on showing it at all. They said the speech would take away from “valuable teaching time”. Wouldn’t you think that most teachers would show it and use the speech to teach a life skill? Teach our children how to be part of our society and good citizens?? A month later, I still think this was a bad decision.

By: William Schledewitz

William Schledewitz — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 21:36:19 +0000

I was searching blogs to respond to, in requirement of a TE Technology course, and was shocked to realize the President’s planned school speech was not made available in the schools around the country. It would have been very appropriate and informative to provide access to this live broad cast, in all the schools. Certainly in this high tech age our schools are equipped with the technology to make such a learning experience available. In the future, I hope the President’s Administration/Department of Education will make such broadcasts available, as many students and teachers would be receptive to this type of learning event.

By: Michael Kinyoun

Michael Kinyoun — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:33:46 +0000

Personally I thought it was rediculous that people were making a big deal about the speech. He never said anything bad he just want to inspire people.

By: Alysa

Alysa — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:54:41 +0000

I was a student who actually got to watch the speech at school. President Obama is and amazing speaker and I took the speech very seriously as everyone else seemed to. It definitly had some great advice and I hope he made a difference as far as students’ education goes

By: Jayme L

Jayme L — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:33:26 +0000

I completely agree, why wouldn’t school be the perfect place to view the speech and then have a discussion. Where is the trust? Believe it or not teachers do know what they are doing. The problem is like you said, we teachers have been stripped of the right to truly teach. Not to mention the loss of trust that people have in our President. Did they really think that he was going to push his political agenda onto our children? My school made the choice not to show the speech on Tuesday but teachers were allowed to show the speech later once parents were notified first. Even after viewing the speech I was surprised of the amount of parents that still did not allow their children to view the speech at school. Again where is the trust? Students are missing out on wonderful learning opportunities.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:53:44 +0000

I find your “opinion” on the 24/7 cable media format (sort of like the 24/7 internet) as “useless” interesting. As you state, the key is “critical” reviewing habits (cable or internet) and lack of curiosity (is that people who watch FOX or MSNBC?). If this “speaks volumes about that is lacking in the public school system” is it the fault of those “public schools” that we have FOX or MSNBC (or both or…CNN, or ABC, or NBC, or CBS??) Blame it on the public school? Careful, you might find folks who say yes to all accounts…so where does that leave us?

By: Raven

Raven — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:51:48 +0000

I think that we as individual do need to let our children make their own decisions and choices in life, but only certain decisions can be made a certain ages. We need to let our children be kids, yes we need to teach and show them all their options as they grow older, but it seems like over the past twenty years children are having to grow up so quickly and don’t even have a chance to be young.

By: theresa

theresa — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:30:39 +0000

I didn’t acquire an opinion towards Obama yet because he hasn’t been president long enough to make positive changes. Personally, I don’t think that people should have much to comment on if they like or dislike him, because at that point it would not matter what he was saying. Most people would lean towards the better or worse end of it, depending upon their feelings towards him. I think the speech was phenomonal. I think he did a great job getting his message across more like a parent or a friend. When you look at the president, you dont think he goes through what you go through or he “understands” what its like to be average, but this speech gives us comfort in knowing that he’s not just the president, he is human as well. I look at most politics and feel that they shouldn’t even be commenting or being the deciding factor on some educational situations because they’re not in the classroom, their not educators to really know whats going on to speak for us as a whole when they really don’t know, but as far as Obama’s speech, I think the points he was making was valid, the only thing I find hard about this speech is that I know when I was in highschool or younger, I wouldn’t listen to a word anyone was speaking, or wouldn’t really care to know what the president had to say about education, that it really takes adults to sit there, listen to his speech, understand it and agree or disagree to it.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:48:58 +0000

I feel that individual teachers should have, in an ideal world, been able to decide whether or not to show the speech. The problem is that we do not live in the ideal situation where teachers would show the speech and then lead an unbiased discussion about it. Teachers for Obama would lead the discussion that way…teachers against Obama would lead the discussion the other way. Not all teachers are like this, but many of them are not even aware of how biased they are. A friend of mine is a history teacher who claims to be unbiased in the classroom, yet has a punching bag of George Bush right in the room…kids aren’t stupid.

By: Vinny

Vinny — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:36:32 +0000

I agree…What happened to each individual being able to make up their mind based on what that person believes..Each generation that passes brings new thoughts, ideas and feelings…It’s too often that we rely on our parents beliefs when in fact times change and so does the standard of living…Pumping information into someone’s head of what that person believes only results in a robotic puppet when I feel each person is entitled to their own opinion and beliefs.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:34:07 +0000

“It takes a whole village to raise a child” African Proverb.

Therefore it is the impact of important adults in children’s lives that play a part in shaping the child. Of course it is the primary responsibility of parents to decide how they wish their children to grow through the choices they make and the behaviours they model for their children. But learning from others is an important skill, and learning from others does not neccessarily mean taking on board everything that the person says but learning to be discerning, open and possess the ability to solve problems.

By: Dream Come True | Computer Teacher, Teach Thy Self!

Dream Come True | Computer Teacher, Teach Thy Self! — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:52:14 +0000

[...] for one week. So far we have created Netvibes accounts, a twitter account and have subscribed to Weblogg-ed, The Thinking Stick, and The [...]

By: Garreth Heidt

Garreth Heidt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:14:00 +0000

So, Devon, you were a supporter and now you “relize . . . he is nothing but a fraud and a fake” and that “has don’t nothing and i promise that he will not do anything.” Of course you’re entitled to your opinions, but when you fail to support them, they’re mere assertions, and assertion represents the failure of democracy, for you leave us, the readers, as ignorant as you are when it comes to understanding why you hold that opinion. That fails Democracy because at the point that you found your criticism of politicians upon unwarranted opinions, you open yourself to manipulation by media demagogues rather than being moved by rational, intelligent, composed argumentation.

So, perhaps, in some other forum, you’d find it important enough to go into detail as to WHY you feel as you do. Perhaps list the “nothing” you feel he has “don’t” and then go into the “anything” he will not do, according to your promise. I’d be willing to listen.

By: Alie Hempleman

Alie Hempleman — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:31:38 +0000

I also agree. I think that the country needs to wake up! My niece told me that many of the parents in her school wouldn’t let their children watch his speech during school time. It is sad. I feel bad for those children because not only are they missing out on his speech, they are being withheld from valuable information about their education and future.

It is very disappointing.

Alie