Read an update to this post below the fold
"Let me leave you with a simple message: Every time you walk through that classroom door, make it your mission to get a good education. Don't do it just because your parents, or even the President, tells you. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your future. And while you're at it, help a little brother or sister to learn, or maybe even Mom or Dad. Let me know how you're doing. Write me a letter -- and I'm serious about this one - write me a letter about ways you can help ups achieve our goals. I think you know the address."
Pres. George H.W. Bush Oct. 1, 1991 in a nationally televised address to students.
You might have thought in reading the above paragraph that I was providing an excerpt of President Barack Obama's upcoming speech to school children next week. No, in fact it is an excerpt of a similar speech that former President George H.W. Bush gave in 1991 to classrooms across America with a similar theme Obama is planning in his speech---the importance of education and staying in school. I remember hearing the above speech as I sat in Mr. Townsend's classroom at North Euless Elementary School almost 18 years ago. It was a good message to hear then, and it is an even more important message that school children should hear now.
Who would have thought that a pro-education, pro-graduation, pro-stay in school message would turn into, as Republicans are framing it, a "socialist indoctrination" of Texas school children? Oh yeah, I forgot, we are talking about my home state in which Rick Perry is running for President of Texas and Kay Bailey Hutchison wants to use the governor's mansion as her retirement home.
Ladies and gentlemen we are in a very, very sad place in politics today. WBAP's Mark Davis, a syndicated Right-Wing radio host in the DFW market, pleaded with his listeners to:
"...turn your kids into absentees. Do your kids need to be at school for this crap?"
Yes, of course. Allowing your children to stay home and avoid hearing "crap" such as stay in school, or the importance of a high school diploma, or perhaps overachieving in the classroom is worth taking a moral stand over, don't you think? How about moral responsibility here folks.
More below the fold |
| I just got off the phone with the H-E-B school district, from which I graduated from Trinity High School in Euless. I asked the woman on the phone if the school district had made a decision on whether or not to allow students to hear the president's pro-education, pro-stay in school message, and she said, the school district was in deliberation now deciding on what action they will take. We will have a decision later this afternoon."
Are you kidding me? What decision is their to make here? I can't believe a school district is in "deliberation" on whether or not to allow students to hear a pro-education, pro-graduation, pro-stay in school message from the President of the United States. I want to know if the H-E-B school district went through similar "deliberation" when President George H.W. Bush addressed school children. I heard the president's message loud and clear during Mr. Townsend's class. Obviously the decision was to allow students to hear from their president. Why "deliberate" today whether or not our students, when Texas ranks as one of the worst states in America on high school drop outs, should hear a pro-education, pro-graduation, pro-stay in school message from President Obama?
According to the Alliance for Education, Nearly 133,200 students did not graduate from Texas' high schools in 2009, with lost lifetime earnings in Texas for that class of dropouts alone totaling more than $34.6 billion. These statistics are among the worst in the nation. Mark Davis and his Right-Wing ilk would rather we continue with these standards versus demanding higher standards.
I want to know if it is only appropriate for school children to hear a pro-graduation, pro-education, pro-stay in school message from their president when they are Republican and not when they are a Democrat. I want to know if the moral standard that Right-Wing ilk would have our nation live up to is removing children from school, and demeaning the authority of our leaders, all to score political points against the president.
I traditionally have proudly boasted the fact that I am a product of the H-E-B public school district. I will be even more proud if the district stands up to Mark Davis and his ilk and say we set higher standards for education than being at the bottom in this district. We want our children to hear from their president. If they succumb to Mark Davis and his Right-Wing ilk I will be ashamed of the H-E-B school district, the superintendent, and its board for putting politics above a pro-education, pro-graduation, pro-stay in school message from the President of the United States that Texas children desperately need to hear.
Update: The H-E-B school district contacted me back and informed me that they made the decision not to show the president's message live, but instead will record the message and add it to their website. They are instructing their social studies teachers to incorporate the message into their lesson plans for the day if they wish to. The decision on whether or not children in H-E-B schools will hear the president's message will be left in the hands of the teacher.
The lesson here? Extreme fanatics win, Texas school children lose. This is a pathetic indictment of the state of politics today. |
