Busted: Obama's Aides Tweaking "Help the President" Assignments
"Stay away from my kids" update: Fox is reporting that Obama's aides are backpaddling like a flock of scared ducks on those "help-the-president" student assignments.
White House Withdraws Call for Students to 'Help' Obama
Obama's plan to inspire the nation's schoolchildren with a video address next week erupted into controversy.
The Obama administration is rethinking its course recommendations for students ahead of President Obama's address to the the nation's schoolchildren next week, rewriting its suggestions to teachers for student assignments on how to "help the president,"The Washington Times reported Thursday that presidential aides acknowledged they helped the U.S. Education Department write the suggested assignments, which stirred criticism by many who say Obama is trying to indoctrinate the education system.
White House aides said the language was supposed to be a inspirational, pro-education message to America's youths, but its unintended consequences were evident.
Among the activities initially suggested for pre-K to 6th grade students was to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president."
Another assignment for students after hearing the speech was to discuss what "the president wants us to do."
Obama aides claim the furor erupted because the classroom assignment plans were disclosed outside the "context" of the speech itself, which they say carried no political message. Or if it did, it doesn't anymore. Whatever.
The call for suggestions on how to "help the president" that appear on the pre-edit assignments list as well as questions such as "what specific job is he [Obama] asking me to do?" clearly indicate that the original version of Obama's address strayed beyond the limits of challenging "students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning".The idea of adding a lesson plan to the package of materials being sent to
schoolteachers was hatched during meetings between the White House and
officials from the Department of Education.The lessons themselves were developed by educators, White House officials said. But some of the assignments, they later conceded, may appear to be inartfully worded without also knowing the context of the speech.
"Does the speech make you want to do anything?" is one suggested question for
the discussion. " Are we able to do what the president is asking of us?"The packet of activities was sent out electronically with an Aug. 26 electronic letter from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Mr. Duncan encourages school administrators to air the presidential broadcast, which was timed to coincide with the start of school for most of the country.
"The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning," Mr. Duncan says in his letter. Of the activities, Mr. Duncan added: "These are ideas developed by and for teachers to help engage students and stimulate discussion on the importance of education in their lives."
For those students still hankering for ways to help the president, here's a suggestion: teach the Marxist stooge some real American history. Encourage him to create some nice posters about what he has learned. No, he can't have his friend Shepard Fairey help him this time.
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