Thursday, September 3, 2009

A Parent's Right

Do you know about Obama day at school?
Is it happening in your school?
Are you fine with it?
Perhaps it is not a big deal. It might not strike me as bad at all, if it were not for the fact that some schools will not allow the parents to attend. Wierd? A little off?

I think so.

I e-mailed my daughters' principal and their teachers to see if they will be participating. Just something short and simple to find out what's going on:
I am curious if our school will be viewing the message President Obama will be giving to school children on Tuesday, September 8th? If so, can I attend the viewing with my children? Also, what type of work assignments will be given to the children pertaining to the speech and can I view them first?
Thanks,
Shannon Miller

Maybe, if you believe it is a PARENT'S RIGHT to know what schools are teaching your children, you should do something similar.

In response to a friend who asked, "would you care if George W. Bush was doing it?" I said this:

I would be opposed to any president who has, in the months leading up to such a speech, reached his hands in and tried to manipulate so much of my life. Stimulus taxes, cap and trade, healthcare - if these things become law I lose control over my own life. I'm not going to approve of anyone circumventing me to teach my children whatever he/she wants. Parents can watch the puberty videos, or even sit in a reading class if a child is having a hard time - why should a president's speech be any different?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Very well said, and I am proud of you for asking. So many parents are so blinded by the office of president they forget about the message. Many may be fine with his speech, but let's be careful about what we put in our children's minds. It just smacks of indoctrination and it is wrong. It has been almost pushed queitly into schools (my school wasn't even sure about it until the e-mail messages started puring in).
I encourage you to also call your district office, for in some cases they will make the final call.
Good luck.
I hate to think this means I need to consider a change from public schools, but this situation is more than likely the first of a long battle.

Jon said...

Great job!
Everyone should be checking on this.
And don't be dissuaded by people saying the planned message (set goals and work hard) is innocuous. A US president addressing the children of the nation is unprecedented and the federal government has no constitutional business in education. That is a matter reserved to the states.

Scheris said...

Will you please keep me posted? i want to know what the school is planning.

Lynnae said...

In the lesson plan that came from the dep. of Education, all the questions and discussion prompts came from the position of allready agreeing that his words are accepted and he is to be helped. We don't even know the message yet.