Public Schools begin the Indoctrination of our Children

**mkreyssig** · Moderator Posts: 206 Join date: 2009-01-27 Age: 31

Maybe we can find an exception for George Washington, but I cannot think of any time that I have ever heard school children singing praises to an American President in a Public School, or at any other time for that matter.

When I expressed my concern about my child participating in the President's speech to the children, this type of activity is exactly what I was afraid of.

I don't now where the school is that the video was taken, nor do I know what class this was being taught in. However I can think of no context in which it is okay to teach any child to worship a politician.

What's worse, they are using the melody of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Wendy · Singing on Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:21 am Wendy

What's wrong about them singing to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic?

Do you know what school it is? Are you sure it's a school and not a community center?

**mkreyssig**

This was filmed around June 19, 2009 at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ.

**mkreyssig**

Here are the lyrics:

Song 1: (Sung to the tune of "Jesus loved the little children)
Mm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama

Song 2: (Sung to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic)
Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!
For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say "hooray!"

Hooray, Mr. President! You're number one!
The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans
To make this country's economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we're really proud of you!
And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue ---- Mr. President we know you'll do the trick
So here's a hearty hip-hooray ----

Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!
Hip, hip hooray!

seek2mend

I watched part of a documentary on PBS this past weekend. It is called "The Principal Story". If you want to know the direction this country is heading with public education, you can start by watching this program at PBS.org and check out the available lesson plans at the website.

Keep in mind, the Sec of Ed, Arne Duncan was the CEO for the Chicago Public Schools.

I haven't gone back to watch the entire program. The segment I did see was distrubing enough that I have to build up some courage.

Wendy

mkreyssig wrote:

This was filmed around June 19, 2009 at the B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, NJ.

And you didn't know that when you first posted the video. In fact, you still don't know an awful lot about it except that the right wing press has told you it's bad! (I went to the same sources you're getting info from to find out about it. Yes, I know about the alleged classmate of Obama's behind it. I don't know why I don't get credit for Eric Lichtblau's Pulitzer if simply being a classmate of someone makes you responsible for their actions. But that's just sour grapes, I guess.)

Meanwhile, a census worker has been murdered, and the word FED written on his chest. This after months of right wing demagogues like Michelle Bachman using violent rhetoric to talk about the census. *That* is potentially (we don't know the full story yet) far more dangerous than a bunch of schoolkids being taught a positive song about the president of the United States, who deserves our respect as our democratically elected leader.

**mkreyssig**

I have to say Wendy I would expect a better argument from you. Besides the fact that I have no idea what half of the stuff is you are ranting about in your first paragraph, CBS and FOX are both reporting on it last time I checked, so it's not like I was dredging the darkest corners of the internet to get info on it. I said I didn't know much about it when I posted, but as details unfolded I posted them.

I have no idea who Michelle Bachman is or what any of this has to do with a census working found hanging in the woods, that last time I checked on the story, had no leads and no details. But naturally since it said "fed" on the body it was a republican?!

Please, if that is your argument let's go write some GW songs and get recording....

Oh...and the schools excuse....That video recording was not authorized.

Now, if you want to discuss the video further, feel free. I will ignore any attempt to redirect and start talking about random murders that have no relevance to this discussion.

**mkreyssig**

I think this guy says it best....

Quote:

One of the strongest arguments for a republic is that it promotes loyalty to a system rather than blind loyalty to a leader. Even a wildly popular leader needs to be humbled by the knowledge that he must follow a constitution.

At least as critical as the role of the republic is the role of schools. One of the first things I learned as a child in school was that not everyone shared my parent's opinions. It was back in the 1960's when Republican John Volpe was running against Democrat Francis X Bellotti. I was the only kid whose parents supported Bellotti. My only knowledge of the issues was the fact that a local Republican campaign headquarters let us take bumper stickers and buttons for free on our way to the candy store. The discussion in class was as intellectually deep as it would be if it had revolved around baseball. Our teacher was a nun of the old school who would not even hint at her personal opinion. In matters of politics, according to her, you do not raise your hands. When we asked her who she was voting for, she was like a sphinx.

When I was in high school in Italy, I had a teacher who voted communist and a classmate whose father was an ardent admirer of Benito Mussolini. The fact that I liked both the teacher and my classmate forced me in a memorable way to separate my feelings about individuals from my feelings about their political convictions.

When I saw a video of some public school children being taught songs of praise for President Obama, I was appalled. The children were even younger than I was when I went to school at the age of nine with a lapel full of free campaign buttons and knowledge of my parent's gubernatorial choice. A better lesson in civics would have been the one that I got as a child, that we all have opinions that differ and we all have to live together. This is basic civic literacy. Its loss is no less tragic than the manner in which standards of literacy have fallen and deteriorated.

School is supposed to be a safe haven in which children are exposed for the first time to diversity of opinion and thought. It takes special skill to explain social issues in a way that a child can understand them. Any teacher who respects their own mission should be loathe to let education deteriorate into indoctrination. I had a teacher in high school who required that I participate in a World War I peace conference as a representative of Austria Hungary. I wanted to be a representative of the newly victorious Bolshevik government, but she wouldn't budge. She made it clear that I had to put myself in the shoes and mindset of an ideological opponent.

Lessons from my childhood took years to blossom and take root. They have served me well as marriage and work has put me in close contact with people of different persuasions than my own.

It did not bother me to see children singing praises of Obama . If they had done so at recess, it would have reminded me of my childhood. What bothered me was that the song was being taught during school hours in what looked like a school auditorium. When I was a kid, we went to the school auditorium to sing America The Beautiful, Home On The Range and Kumbaya. These songs and others were the common ground upon which Americans meet. It was with time and maturity that I learned their value as common denominators. The auditorium was a place where you were supposed to be on best behavior.

Millions of Americans hail Obama as a standard bearer of ideas that they hold dear. Millions of others oppose him. Our constitution and social traditions provide the common ground to meet as our fleeting loyalties shift in the sands of time. It is critical for children to learn that there are others in the world with opinions that may seem strange to them, and that there is decency and goodness in those who differ.

Teachers should be teaching children how to think, along with the basic rules and values of a civil society. Teaching songs of praise for Obama does nothing to advance this goal. At a time when there is heated debate about our nation's future we should be demanding better from our teachers and our schools.

Source/Rantrave.com

Wendy

mkreyssig wrote:

I have to say Wendy I would expect a better argument from you. Besides the fact that I have no idea what half of the stuff is you are ranting about in your first paragraph, CBS and FOX are both reporting on it last time I checked, so it's not like I was dredging the darkest corners of the internet to get info on it. I said I didn't know much about it when I posted, but as details unfolded I posted them.

At the time you posted about it, you knew NOTHING about it, but were happy to follow the right-wing extremist bloggers' outrage over it. Mike, I read the net. I checked the news. I know the timeline. I know who unearthed the "truth." I'm very good at one thing in particular, and it's internet research. Before youpost *anything*, you had better be damned sure what it is and where it came from because I will find out, and you don't want egg on your face.

But congratulations! Thanks to the work of right-wing extremists, the school from the video is getting death threats! People like Malkin and the other right-wing extremists are domestic terrorists, because if superintendents and principals like Mrs. Meyer and Mr. Madden have to be afraid of doing normal things like showing a speech from the president to school children or singing a song mentioning Obama during Black History Month because of a fear that right-wing extremists across the country will call the school with death threats, then it is terrorism. It's making people afraid to act in perfectly acceptable normal ways.

**mkreyssig**

You know what Wendy, I typed a big response to you reply, and then just deleted it. I'm not going to sink to your level.

I'm not the one here with "egg on my face". You used to be an engaging debater. Now you come off sounding like a desperate fool.

Carry on....we're done here.

Wendy

mkreyssig wrote:

You know what Wendy, I typed a big response to you reply, and then just deleted it. I'm not going to sink to your level.

I'm not the one here with "egg on my face". You used to be an engaging debater. Now you come off sounding like a desperate fool.

Carry on....we're done here.

You may be done, but I'm not.

You and others (seem to) believe in local control over the schools. Do you REALLY want to live in a world where extremists from all over the world can create fear in our school administrators because someone like Glenn Beck or Michelle Malkin has riled them up?

When you posted about this, you had NO IDEA what the parents of these kids felt about the situation. You knew nothing about it other than that it had happened because there was video evidence. But it was upsetting to a bunch of people who tracked down the school, tracked down the teacher, and then started making death threats and calls.

What if the tables were turned and something like that happened in Seekonk 7 months ago? How would you feel if Seekonk parents had that happen, dealt with it either by not caring or by taking some other approach to dea with it, and 7 months later, Mrs. Meyer, Mr. Madden, and our own Dave Abbott and other members of the SC started getting death threats?

What happened at that school was the business of the people of THAT town. They knew about it. Kids don't come home keeping quiet the song about Obama they sang. No one thought it was a big secret or else someone wouldn't have videotaped it. The community was okay with what happened, and if they weren't, they brought it up to the principal, which is the way to should be handled. Now people OUTSIDE the community are interfering and trying to scare and terrorize the members of that community and tell them how to run their own school.

I can't believe there is anyone here on this forum who thinks that it's ok to tell the people of that community how to deal with what happens in their own schools.

**mkreyssig**

You are putting a lot of effort into not discussing whether or not kids should be singing praises to Obama or any other president in a public school.

If you want to discuss the merits and implications of citizen journalism, start a new thread.

seek2mend

I agree, Mike.

It seems Wendy wants to shoot the messenger. If these teachers believe "what happens in school should stay in school", perhaps they should ban all recording devices.

As an aside, I once had a college professor who did just that. The jerk rambled on and on. No one could keep track of the point he was trying to make. It was virtually impossible to keep organized notes. Tape recorders were banned by the professor. The students complained to the administration and was told it was the professors call.

Thankfully, the professor was not a very tough grader, or I am sure most of us would have flunked. But the sad thing is I don't think we learned very much.

**mkreyssig**

Wendy wrote:

Meanwhile, a census worker has been murdered, and the word FED written on his chest. This after months of right wing demagogues like Michelle Bachman using violent rhetoric to talk about the census. *That* is potentially (we don't know the full story yet) far more dangerous than a bunch of schoolkids being taught a positive song about the president of the United States, who deserves our respect as our democratically elected leader.

FRANKFORT — A part-time U.S. Census worker found dead near a secluded Clay County cemetery killed himself but tried to make the death look like a murder, authorities have concluded.
Bill Sparkman, 51, of London, apparently was trying to preserve payments under life insurance policies he had taken out, one as recently as May, which paid benefits if he died as a result of murder or accident, but not suicide or natural causes, police said.

UPDATED: Census worker killed himself, officials say

Public Schools begin the Indoctrination of our Children

Public Schools begin the Indoctrination of our Children :: Comments

Public Schools begin the Indoctrination of our Children