Vodkapundit: Keep your kid home from school for Obama’s speech

I am a teacher who is a bit unique in that I am certified grades 1-12 in both regular and special education. My secondary certification included history, economics and government. I have taught all but two grades in my career. When I taught my histories, economics and government classes I had an obligation to keep my opinions to myself and my lesson neutral, while maintaining an atmosphere that encouraged and supported discussions of opposing views. I am just thankful that I do not teach economics or government now. I have no idea how I would justify the text with the situation today.
I have read over the “Teaching Moment” lesson plans for k-6 and 7-12. I can tell you that whoever wrote them was good at writing grants and curriculums, but has a lack of classroom experience. They were written to appear to administrators as a good and relevant lesson to go along with the president’s speech, with just enough of a valid lesson plan to hide the real partisan agenda. I can tell you from experience in dealing with administrators that they buy into things that sound or look good without a clue of what they have done or how it works. That observation and yearly prediction has never failed me in 26 years of teaching.
These lesson plans are clearly intent on conveying Obama’s views and socialist objectives onto our children. The younger grades are of the most concern. As an elementary teacher I well understood that most of my students took what I told them as literal fact. More than once I reigned in a noncompliant child with telling them that I was not their mother, I was their teacher. My own daughter, who has grown up to be an elementary teacher herself, would insist that the way her teacher told her to do something was the only right way to do it. I also was very aware that the values I instilled in them while I had them, lasted long after the memory was gone. A previous comment on the quotes of Stalin and Hitler rings clear where young children are concerned.
When I taught histories, government and economics at the high school level I had an obligation to my students to remain neutral in my political opinions and maintain a classroom that allowed free expression and respect of others opinions. School in general is to be places of a neutral atmosphere so that all students can attend without prejudice. That is why there is an exception to the first amendment regarding schools.
The middle and high school lesson allows for more dialog, but based only on the Obama speech, this sets the dialog to favor him and his polices. It would be hard to say which way the individual dialogs would go, but the potential for the creation of a disrupted classroom environment that will extend beyond the lesson plan is a concern. This becomes a greater problem if the teacher is on the liberal socialist side of the argument. The harm that can be done increases as the age of the student decreases.
What I find unsettling in both plans is the creation of visuals that are to be place up on the walls or displayed in other ways in the classrooms. In the younger grades that would reinforce such notions as the president Obama knows what needs to be done and that they should listen to their president and government leaders. In the upper grades, this creates a politically biased classroom that is negative towards students that hold conservative views or do not agree with socialism, even if their class or their teacher has nothing to do with what is on the wall.
This speech and lesson plan also has an unintended consequence, though one Obama will enjoy. Liberal teachers will now have a license to express their opinions and support of Obama, liberalism and socialist policies in their classroom through the extended lessons and visuals that otherwise might not be approved of by their administrator.

Franklyn on September 3, 2009 at 5:19 AM