"Conservatives Protest Obama's Nefarious Plot to Have Schoolchildren Learn Things in School"

Originally posted by JohnnyQuest18

I could be completely wrong here, but does anyone else find these "for or against" Obama discussions a little too shortsighted? I'm almost certain the PTB are laughing their butts off knowing they're still able to play the American people against each other like this. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but its not going to take an administration change to clean things up. The entire system is corrupt.

Finally someone gets it. Star for you amigo

I don't mind if the POTUS wanted to address the kids. It is the pre-event distributed lesson plan that is ultra creepy.

"Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?"

The POTUS is supposed to work for We the People. He is our employee, not some demigod that has nothing but pearls of wisdom dribble from his mouth. The question should be,"Why is it important that the president listen to the sovereign citizens of the US?" That question would prompt a valuable lesson in Constitutional civics and demonstrate that in this country the power is granted by We the People.

My children are taught to think for themselves and question authority.

I do not want my children talking to/listening to any corrupt politicians.

FWIW I find your definition of "Sheep" to be rather primitive. In my world view, anyone who doesn't see the right/left paradigm as anything other than a control mechanism used to provide the illusion of choice is a "sheep".

The agenda of the banksters continues no matter who the hired help is.

Originally posted by freeman2128
I just received my childrens Obama joker t-shirts and they will proudly display them in school on Tuesday. I guess I am one of the lucky ones in our school district they will not be asking the children the follow up questions. My oldest son (7) asked the teacher if he had to watch the obama video and she replied yes. HMmmmmm gets ya thinkin huh

GOD BLESS AMERICA

(Ab)using your children as a billboard for your political ideas? way to go!

Anyway: A perspective to consider, that i haven't seen posted by others:

Mao Tse Tung was chairman of the communist party from 1943 to 1975. Hitler didn't actually plan to resign in 1945 either.

Now obama will be prez for a maximum of 8 years. *NONE* of these indoctrination victims will ever vote for him because of that. From that perspective you must agree that indoctrinating school children makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

reply to post by Animal


I totally agree with the original post (haven't read the others yet). The backlash right now is ludicrous. I mean, I'm a big conspiracy theorist myself, but for there to be such a nation-wide conservative protest against the president coming out and telling kids to stay in school, that's utterly ridiculous. I have long thought that the president (no matter what party) should get out there and talk to kids about staying in school, working hard, etc... For some kids, that might be the only pep talk they get!

It just shows how divisive our country has become, which scares me. In the past, the wonderful thing about America is that we could all have our own opinions at the end of the day, but during the day, we respected each other and stood behind our country, and got along well together at work, at school, etc...There is no mutual respect anymore, which both scares and saddens me.

I think politics in America has replaced religion. Our liberal/conservative clash is becoming more and more like the jewish/muslim clash in the mideast...or the catholic/protestant clash in Ireland....or any other cultural/religion clash. It shows that we are truly becoming a divided country.

I have to ask myself....is this how our country was before the first civil war? Are we headed towards another civil war in our country? I am beginning to think so, because have never in my life seen our country so divided among political ideologies before....nor express such hatred for the "other side" until the past recent years.

It's crazy. What harm can come from a president, ANY president, getting up and telling the kids to work hard, stay in school, and not drop out?

ESPECIALLY during these hard economic times. Many high school teenagers might be thinking that it would be better for them to drop out and support their family during these hard times. I think it's good for a president to say, "No, stay in school. We need you there right now."




[edit on 4-9-2009 by nikiano]

Originally posted by weedwhacker
Sheesh! Sad to see another victim of the ideological smear machine. I'd think most on ATS would be above that, not as easily swayed by the BS....

Apparently that's not the case. This site has been plagued by ignorant tools. There are alot of things i don't like about obama, but lately i feel like ATS has become like a stormfront site. So much hype and outright racism, if you hillbillies want to keep your kids out of school, fine. It's not like you're going to give them a chance to get a real education anyway. So ridiculous.

I remember watching presidental speaches as a kid in school. And look how well I turned out.

I think we should be more concerned as to what they are getting from Nickelodeon & Disney Chanel...

Why do all of these threads turn into Rep V Dem?
They are one in the same...

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Animal

 

I would also like to add, that Obama's Inaugaration Speech was one of my all-time favorites. AND, that even if his address to the school children gets a little wacko, I know that my kids are intelligent, and that they have good backgrounds, and morals! I encourage them to take all of this in, and draw their own conclusions!

There is no way, that some politician is going to "indoctrinate" my kids with one speech!

Amen, Good parenting and faith in your parenting is what is lacking in our society.

If I could S+F you for being reasonable I would... But alas, a star will have to do.

All you people who calm to be "in the KNOW" have absolutely NO idea about whats going on. All of your presumptions are based in fear. EVERYTHING that you claim "might" happen because of this or that are all just hypothetical propaganda. The fact is that NO ONE knows whats going to happen. You don't know whats going to happen in the next 5 mins, yet you are all consumed by what "might" come to pass. Consumed by your fears and the retelling of your fears to yourself. Consumed by the future. Whats wrong right now? Right this sec as you are reading my words what is the matter in your life? Whatever is going to happen is going to happen regardless if you want it to or not. This is true on the individual level as well as the collective.

Your children are NOT your children. What I mean is that your children come into this world through you but are not YOURS. You don't own them, they are not your possessions. Disagree? Didn't your parents do the same thing to you? Do u see yourself as their possessions? As their property? NO?! Then why should you treat your children so? Your child would rather you provide "the function" of a parent than play "the role" of a parent because when we play roles our interactions are always ingenuion. The role dictates your behavior and actions based on conditioning.

Adults feel as though they should be respected by those younger simply because of their physical age and accumulated knowledge which is only temporary. They are playing the role of an adult. The real reason adults were to be respected in history is because they were in possession of wisdom. Most of the "adults" I've encountered I wouldn't consider wise. What other roles can we play that are determined by the role identity? Lets see, I'll take Republican & Democrat for 100 Alex. lol. Or how about Conservative and Liberal.

Too often parents try to dictate what their child is exposed to or what they can or can't learn in school. Life is about experiences and we all NEED to have our own. This is true for all of us. A need to control the outcome of anything is always rooted in fear. They can only control you while you are afraid. Wake up people, get out of your heads, get out of the future, and see what IS right before your eyes. I could go on and on but I realize that this will most likely not touch the masses for throughout history some have been able to hear and others have been able to listen and not hear a thing.

[edit on 4-9-2009 by InthekNOwla]

The only thing any 1st world country should be doing, is building an ecpandable and updateable e-ducation database, starting with grades 1-12, and funnel the hoards of wasted money into community centres for social growth and positive interaction. Let academics be correspondence, and the cost of social happiness for the young ones though successfull access codes. Let technology take the helm through recycling, and ensure that every family with kids of an enrollment age, has access to a computer and a special internet package, granting those kids free access to the database. After that, anyone could enroll for advanced schooling at a lesser cost, because the overhead would be re-invested.

And don't talk to me about lost jobs, because I'll mention missing money and lost faith. And by the way, did anyone follow up on Cheney's report of umpteen missing billions on Sept 10, 2001?

After thinking about this for a while and being unsure I conclude this level of backlash is
over the top.

I think many people forget the magic of childhood or how solid good parenting
can inoculate the young ones from far worse things than a one off speech.

I also realize WHERE this outrage was sourced, I think the intentions of THIS entity
is a far worse danger.

I honestly don't know how I feel about this presidential address to the kiddies. There are some valid arguments for and against it. I do know that it bothers me when some of the more far-right-wing conservatives are flipping out just because it's a democratic president doing it. I'd bet my (insert something worth a lot to me) that they wouldn't be crying about it if Bush had done this or if, in the years to come, another republican president decided to do something like this.

Hmm...in fact, after doing some searching after stating the above opinion, it looks like they DIDN'T care when a republican prez was doing this exact same thing:

examiner.com

Video: Outrage over Obama school speech was missing during Bush and Reagan school addresses

In my deep memories of elementary school and junior high I had remembered listening to Presidents Reagan and Papa Bush speak to all of us on television. I had recently doubted those faint memories as I told myself that surely those two Presidents must not have spoken to school children. After all if they had attempted to speak to school children their conservative base must have decried the "indoctrination" of school children and threatened to pull their kids out of school in response. It turns out I was wrong on both fronts. Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush did in fact speak to school children in national addresses, and conservatives at the time did not react the same way they are reacting to the Obama school address.

A Fox News video is included after the article. Unfortunately, I'm at work so I can't view it and discuss it here. I'm pretty sure I know what they say but it would be pure speculation.

I think these people just don't want their kids listening to anything a democratic president has to say because their afraid that *gasp* their children might actually take something to heart. I don't like the man at all. I think he's doing just as much damage to this country as Bush did, but I wouldn't prevent my child (if I had one) from seeing an address by either one of them because I want my kid to make up their own mind about politics. I'm not going to shelter them from the views of those who differ from mine.

I WOULD however encourage them to ask me any questions about what they heard and give them my opinion. But it would be only that, an opinion, and I would let them know that.

reply to post by Miraj


ARE YOU KIDDING? I pledge to be a better person...and you are worried about this...omgoodness- the brainwashing line is around the corner to the right

I could be wrong here but didn't Bush Sr. address schools at some point during his presidency? I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time.

reply to post by jibeho


YEAH RIGHT we dont want any of this stuff going on...quoted from your source...
•-Establishes the Education Corps to improve schools, the Healthy Futures Corps to serve unmet health needs within communities, the Clean Energy Corps to work on energy projects, the Veterans Corps to work with veterans and their families, and the Opportunity Corps to work with the economically disadvantaged (Sec. 1302).

brainwashed...

Obama wants to speak to our kids, but I'd prefer speaking to Obama. That way I could tell him:

Lead by example. Start coming up with real solutions to the problems we face today, and not just band aids to hide the problems. Stimulus is a nice way to put off a problem, but it doesn't solve it, it just BUYS you time. It comes at a cost. Show these kids what an education is worth by doing something with it.

Anyone can run up a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit. Hell, anyone could run a mean debt up if they ran government, doesn't take a great education to do that. It DOES that an intelligent and educated person to REDUCE the deficit while still solving the problems of today.

So show our kids the value of education by applying it to solving our countries issues. Show it by applying it to your job. Lead by example, not by speeches or pep talks. Show the country how to solve problems and be responsible, and they will get the lessons you wish them to learn.


That is what I'd like to tell Obama. We don't need your speeches, and we don't need your hope. We need action. We need solutions. We need a leader who acts, not talks.

reply to post by getreadyalready


Sorry, but the message is wrong and the intent is against what the country stands for.

Don't "they" supposedly work for us and not the other way around?


"ask not what your leaders will do for you, but what will be required for you to do for us" seems to be the message----and Obama is no Kennedy.


Numerous school districts have refused to participate, as the boards have not been given the opportunity to review the material and ascertain if it is appropriate------quite a slap in the face for the mostly liberal education system to want to review it first rather than take it on faith.

Just my dos pesos.

An odd thing happened a few weeks ago, when those tapes came in. The principal, a rather enlightened man in his own right decided to leave it up to the parents to decide whether or not to let the kids view the film and partake in the activities. The result? A room full of supposed adults just about coming to blows over this film. One person put it in a perspective that I had an inkling of, but she put it into much better terms than I could. The activities before, and the film, and all that, its not leninism indoctrination, its not nazi indoctrination, hitler youth or any of that. Look at it closely and no, its more like religious indoctrination.

There were some people there that I knew that were patriotic in their own ways. They types that say to their kids, we may not agree with him always, but he is our leader and we should respect him, and so on. Of these people, they were some of the most flat out appalled at what they viewed. Some of the more moderate but conservative actually asked if they could get a copy and would rather watch it at home with their child. (not a bad idea to me). Over all of this though, I noticed something.. the 'left' side were united, and adamant that all teh children have to watch this and the whole nine yards (there were a decent bit of non partisan types there and they had mixed reactions, but generally negative).

That's when I started to realize, it is becoming like a cult. I've been noticing it since the campaigning began. The first thing I see with these types is that certain suppression of self. Obama comes on (tv, in conversation, etc) and they (their psyche/personality, etc) turns off. They so seem brainwashed that it is literally terrifying to watch. I don't scare easily at all... these people scare me. You know that sense you get that there's something just wrong about a person? Like they're shell shocked and just not completely there when they talk to you?not raar raar bite the face off of bunnies wrong, but like suddenly some part is missing and somethign else has been forcefully jammed in its place and it just doesn't seem to fit right? That's the wrong I sense here.

people I've known for years, and more and more, they're turning on anyone who thinks differently than they do, and we were and most are still the types that don't care what 'side' you're on. now, to them, it matters and it matters way more than anything should.

Seeing how this all is playing out is what saddens me.

For the rest, it is my belief that kids aren't really doing any critical thinking until darn near highschool. Until then, they are just sucking up everything they see hear and so on like a sponge, and really, that's the way it should be. Myself, I admittedly see it as confusing and damaging to their development what they are potentially being put through. The simple rhetoric of this topic name speaks volumes.

Like So said in his post.

Sad.

reply to post by Animal


Do you think a Kindergartener or 1st grade student has those critical thinking skills to know the difference between Free Republic Democracy and Marxism, the latter being a self admitted philosophy of the POTUS?

reply to post by merkaba93


why is it important you ask...I thought here on ATS we "deny ignorance" well, educating oneself is part of that. had my parents encouraged me to listen to the pres. when I was young, maybe I wouldnt be trying to cram all this stuff now that I'm almost 40. the president should be an influential person. get 'em learning when their young. open their eyes to the world, so they can start to understand what the world is about...I just dont get all the hype...If you dont agree with what is said, then sit down with your kids and explain why...or will that take away too much of your TV time...just my opinion

reply to post by grimreaper797


I agree with you 100%

But I would still let my kid hear his speech.

My goal is to raise my son armed with as much information as his curly head can handle and let him decide what's right. It's their world next and the last thing I want is another partisan robot who can only think in terms of blue or red.


[edit on 4-9-2009 by xEphon]