Girlfriends' Guide: What Are We Teaching Our Kids About the President, Anyway?
As the author of several books called Girlfriend's Guides covering the motherhood experience from pregnancy up through teenagers (the teen book is still being written at this point) and as the mother of four kids, I'm sickened by the miasma of suspicion and cynicism that is infected so many parents regarding President Obama. I'm not going to begin a diatribe here about the profound and critical need to reform health care (which as the mother of a son diagnosed with cancer two years ago, I have some bitter feelings about,) but let's instead begin with his back-to-school speech.
When I heard that the same parents who fail to go to Open House Night to meet the teachers who spend every day teaching our kids decided that watching the President of the United States address them was something they could not allow, I staggered. I kept reading about it to find some sense to why people were approaching a student-directed speech to their kids (with the contents available on line to parents the night before, for God's sake!)
The reasons ran from the paranoid to the ridiculous. Some parents actually thought President Obama was going to push his "left-wing liberal ideals" into their darlings' little noggin head. Has any of these people ever actually watched their children's teachers in action? Teachers with the most diverse and extravagant ideas hold our kids' attention in class every day. My own kids have been taught by Castro supporters, pot smokers, former military officers and 24 year-olds who barely know the difference between Central and South America. So far, they are as well and as inadequately educated as most American kids.
Even if the very worst imaginable thing were to have transpired during the speech, if the President rallied all students to go on a hunger strike until the health care legislation were passed, it would be a valuable teaching moment in my book. My teenagers have no idea how insurance works or why they will ever need it, let alone how Congress really passes a bill (don't get me started on the phasing out of Civics and Government in school curricula!) And the starving part, well, obesity IS our number one health concern right now...
And that's assuming the kids would be paying attention! On the first day or one of the first days back at school, you think your own child is sitting attentively and swallowing the full content of the speech? Most of them are texting or still finding their locker out in the halls.
The other prevailing concern I gather was a line from the workbook that was available with the speech that invited students to write to the President explaining how they could serve him. One parent interviewed on TV actually said it wasn't fair that her child should be doing the President's work for him. Huh? Every school in the country promotes being of service as a core value and yet serving the country doesn't count? Oh yes, I'm terribly concerned that my children's writing to the President with suggestions or to vow to do something for America might dip into their Facebook time. Who are these people?
So the speech to the students occurred and was, in fact, so much a non-issue as to be almost valueless, at least regarding my kids and their friends. Yeah, yeah, stay in school, do your homework, value education and so on and so on. I don't know if President Obama cut or adjusted his original speech to placate every nincompoop in the country, besides that very nervy request that they help him in any way, but it was as bland as oatmeal. I was ready to move on and get over my dark fears.
Then the President gave his speech to us "grown-ups" and my heart sank again.
When Congressman Joe Wilson yelled out and called our President a liar, it shocked me like a gun going off. It was so violent an intrusion and reaction. It reminded me of the guy who threw his shoe at President Bush and got hustled off to prison. That disregard for the highest office in the country was shown by one of our own elected officials in our most sacred governing house. To me, it should have been a Secret Service moment.
All of us complain about young people not being taught to have respect for things greater, older or more accomplished than they are, and now we have to see an grown elected official acting like the surliest teenager in school.
Worse, though, seems to be the personal assault on Barack Obama. Is this where insidious racism is creeping in, from the rat holes of our country? Why is there such cynicism? Is it truly the policies or is it the man? I pray for this country and its President and especially for this man, who, against all the best reasons to fear this job, actually ran for it and won--and I mean he REALLY won. Now that is a teaching moment.
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Well said!
I don't get what obama has done for folks to fear any messages he would have for our kids? Every speech or interview is thoughtful, resonates one way or another with at least something we've all felt or experienced and can relate to, his general messages give sound advice... If you can get your kid to listen, it would be a wonderful thing to at least just take a way something at a high level even if they didn't fully understand it.
Maybe the fear is that it will click and will expose the flaws in some of the logic (can you call it that?) they're being fed...
These people are teaching their kids to dishonor and discredit this man at the dinner table every night. They were making a statement by denying their kids the opportunity to address students. They wanted to communicate to the world that Obama is not THEIR POTUS and not worthy of their respect or the benefit of any doubts. They were not concerned with the welfare of their kids or the fragility of their impressionable little minds. Just another undercover way to express their racism.
Getting an education is a Left-wing agenda. Facts are for Liberals; the Right is free to just make stuff up.
And to Beleeeeeve.
To all parents who were worried about your children hearing the president of the United States speaking to your children in a classroom with an adult (teacher) present: do you realize that at an earlier age than you want to know, your children will be asked to do drugs, sex, violence, vandalism, and other unwanted acts and there will be no adult present? Do you want to raise children that are sheltered from all ideas except your own? Do you want them to have no experience in listening to something and thinking through it in order to independently act on it with their values and beliefs?
They are going to be exposed to all kinds of things in the world and they need to be able to make decisions that might be counter to what they hear. Having the president tell them to study and work hard is the least of your worries, except that you are teaching them disrespect for the office of the president and democracy, no matter what you think of the person, and that prejudging a person is acceptable. That disrespect could flow right back to you, too.
Part III
So, is the President telling me the truth when he says that I will be able to keep my plan? Yes, at this moment I can. Does he realize that the above scenario is quite possible? Well, if he doesn't then I guess that Ivy League education isn't as good as it's supposed to be.
.So, I ask you - do my opinions make me a racist who wants Obama to fail because he is the first black president, or does it make me someone who has taken the time to read the bill, ask questions, l, and think about what effect it will have on my country and my life? By the way, you comment on :"the personal assualts on Barack Obama", how they are racist and cynical, and directed at a man who "REALLY won" the election. Were you as incensed at the extremely personal attacks on President Bush (who by the way also won his election), his children, Sarah Palin and her children - or is it only insulting when it's directed at someone that you respect and admire (i.e. Democrats).
Just some food for thought from the other side
Part II
As for health-care reform (or rather health-insurance reform since the care is fine). If you read the bill (and I have) there are very important questions that need to be asked. Is it really fair to label anyone who asks them a "loony right-wing conservative"?
Was Joe Wilson wrong to should out "Liar!" - maybe so. But was he off-base? The President claims that no illegal persons will be covered. Really? The bill says anyone "residing" here will be covered - it doesn't say anything about the resident having legal status or not. He claims that I will be able to keep my health care if I like it. Really? If my employer has a choice of paying into a healthcare plan or dropping that plan and paying a much less expensive fine for not providing it, which do you think it will pick? Once they drop my plan, where will I be getting my medical care? You got it, the public plan. Once companies all figure out that it is more cost effective to pay the fines rather than pay into healthcare plans for their employees, the private healthcare industry will slowly disappear. Where will we all end up getting our care? You got it, the public plan.
Here:
H.R. 3200: Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS
Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.
And really, you will only be CHOOSING the public plan because it will be cheaper. If the insurance companies can't compete, that's their problem. You can still choose to pay more for private insurance if your employer drops your health insurance.
I went back and looked at the bill again....it does say that there would be no federal payment for undocumented aliens. However, when I read the bill back in July, it did say that anyone RESIDING in the U.S. would be covered. I went back to the same website, the library of congress where I first read it. It seems to have been changed.
Also, I did a little research. In the Congressional Research Report "Treatment of Non-Citizens in H.R. 3200 " it states that "For federal tax purposes, alien individuals are
classified as resident or nonresident aliens." Resident aliens would be required under HR3200 to have health insurance. How can you tell if someone is a resident alien?
Well, there are two tests. The first is if you possess a green card. The second is if you have been PHYSICALLY PRESENT in the U.S. for at least 31 days during the current year, and 183 days in a 3-year period including the current year and the 2 years prior. Under H.R. 3200, all legal permanent residents (LPRs), nonimmigrants, and unauthorized aliens
who meet the substantial presence test (defined above) would be required to obtain health
insurance. So, even thought it clearly states undocumented aliens are not covered, there is a little twist - an undocumented alien can qualify if they are considered a resident alien.
Also, it is against House rules to call the president a liar. Look it up.
Yes, it is against the rules, and I never said I agreed with what he did. I just said that he might be right.
Also, FYI, on February 3, 2005 during President Bush's State of the Union address, Democrats loudly booed and groaned during his speech. Look it up.
In 2005 Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid called Bush a loser during a civics discussion with a group of high school students. Look it up.
Hypocrisy is not becoming to anyone.
Ms. Iovine, allow me to state an opinion which differs from you and other posters here and I hope that you will all read it with an open mind before dismissing it.
I think it is as ridiculous to call anyone that disagrees with President Obama a racist as much as it was to call anyone who disagreed with George Bush a left-wing, liberal crazy.
Why do you assume that any parent who disagreed with the lesson-plan that accompanied the President's speech never showed up at Open School night to meet their children's teachers. I haven't missed ONE parent-teacher conference, PTA meeting in 8 years and I did disagree with the lesson. The speech itself was not the problem. It's not appropriate for the President to ask children to write an essay about how they can help HIM..Help thier country...Yes. I'm sorry to hear that your children were taught by communist, pot-smoking, 24 year olds who didn't know the difference between Central and South America. I'm sorry that they don't know how a bill passes..My 13 year-old does- he learned in school. I guess I should be happy that my child is getting a public school education rather than an expensive private school education. Public school teachers aren't allowed to talk about political preferences, just teach the facts.
Vicki,
Thank you for writing what so many of us have been feeling and saying. You don't know how many arguments I've had on Facebook and Twitter about this stuff. These folks are not just against President Obama's policies, they are against him personally - and there is no doubt racism at the root of it. Is it a coincidence that the first President heckled while addressing Congress is also the first Black President? I don't think so. Same for his speech to the children. If you look at the people who are attending today's March on Washington, it's looks like a meeting of the KKK. Pictures show all white people with signs calling the President every name in the book. It's disgusting!
I was horrified to learn that parents in the state of Washington were calling the school to tell them that their children were not to listen to the President's speech. What is happening to this great nation? Are we so wedded to our individual agendas and beliefs that we refuse to open our minds. This nation's educational system has done future generations a great disservice. When people don't think and don't listen and don't open their minds to other ideas, they become an incubator for fascism. It won't be the amazing debt that brings down this country and burdens our grandchildren. That is merely money. It will be the ideologues and the fear crippled, narrow mindedness that they will have to suffer from. This type of thinking results in wars and human hardship. Our grandchildren given the talents of this nation can survive any financial burden and most likely invent ways to prosper from it. But they will not survive hatred, fear and ignorance. The grandchildren of China, Germany, Rwanda, Kenya, Sudan, Dafur, South Africa and many other places can tell you the stories of how they have suffered these burdens. If this ignorance, and yes it is bigotry, continues and is pandered to by the media that is what will bring down this great nation. Just ask the Rwandans how the media was used, and in turn abused its nation in the name of news, to incite fear and the death of 1 million innocent people.
Some ignorant parents are teaching their children to be bigots.
When I saw some of those goofball parents on TV saying they didn't want Obama brainwashing thier kids I couldn't help but think of that song from the musical South Pacific.
You've Got to Be Taught :
You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
Are you serious, the guy who yelled you lie was incredibly rude but you want the secret service to haul him off and do what? Put him in prison? And if you don't agree with the President, you must be uneducated and racist. That is a tactic to prevent people from exercising free speech.
You make a very good point. This PC crap has gotten us to the point of being too thin skinned. If you disagree with someone you are demonized or worse. Freedom of speech means just that no matter how repugnant it is (within acceptable limits). Am I an Obama supporter? The short answer is no but I do hope he is a successful president. Did I support Bush? Hell no! Is Bush evil? Don't confuse evil for incompetency. What bothers me the most is the sort of cult status people put on the president (any president) because in the long run the president is a servant of the people.
Wilson should have voiced his opinions after Obama gave his speech. It is ridiculous for a grown man in Congress to behave that way.
I had my kindergarten students watch the speech. It took half an hour MAX--not much considering it's a full day kinder class (7:45 a.m.-2:15 p.m.). They paid attention for the first 5 to 10 minutes--which is about as long as I can hold their attention for. I had them watch it because they are learning about their country (which goes hand in hand with the leader of the country) and because we will be writing a letter to the President (this covers social studies, community workers, and language arts). I thought it was educational.
When I asked the students what the President had talked about the number one response from them was:
-Don't hit other people! (Don't know where they got that from but I hope they take his advice....)
When I asked what his job entailed, they replied:
-Go on the television and talk a lot!
My daughter, age 4, was 2 when I became an Obama supporter in the primaries. She started hearing me talk about him inspiring me to get involved, to take part in our civic responsibility. She became excited about his name, I think she just liked the sound of it, but when I posted a funny video of her trying to say it between bites of applesauce, people accused me of trying to indoctrinate her. It's only because her awareness of my political values has coincided with her awareness that we have a leader at all. I look forward to teaching my children civics - civility in debate - I hope they respect the President no matter who it is.
When she was 3, we went to St.Paul to hear Obama claim victory of the primaries. She went with me as I knocked on doors in our neighborhood and sat nearby while I made phone calls. She came with me to vote and asked me to make a ballot for her on a piece of paper so she could fill in Obama's name. Now she's 4. She watches speeches with me. She knows who Obama is and what he does. She also wants to learn the other President's and has a placemat with every one. When we talk about other President's, we don't try to sway her for or against any of them, some day she'll be wise enough to make those decision's for herself.
Cont'd from above - When we heard Obama is going to be in Minneapolis Saturday morning I thought maybe I would skip it this time to avoid the long lines we bared in St. Paul in June '08...but, on the other hand, I thought maybe I should give my daughter's a chance to see our President, my oldest was in school yet the last time we went. So I asked my children. The response was an enthusiastic "Yes! I want to see Obama!" I wanted her to wear her Flag t-shirt, but she is insisting on wearing a dress..."Mom, I need to dress up to see the President!" ;)
However, I saw on another thread that there are these 9/12 protests going on tomorrow. A quick Google search and I found the plans for tomorrow's event. I was suddenly scared. I'm bringing my daughter and my nephew. Not because I love Obama so much, but because I love this country. I want to impart on them a sense of pride and responsibility for the care of it. Same reasons I suppose that some of us will be there to support the President, while other's are there to protest.
Good for you! Hope you have fun.
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