Schools forcing kids to view Inauguration & schools that are not (classroom, course)

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Katiana

No, it's not a "black thing", whatever that means. .

Your the one that stated it was the "FIRST African-American".

Originally Posted by cpg35223

If it were a white guy taking the oath of office and your kid's school required watching it, would you complain? I don't think so. Heck, I voted for McCain, but I recognize a historical moment when I see it.

Originally Posted by stormy night

This is a couple hours ONE DAY ONLY. The way some sound here you'd think they were forced to miss a week of school and sit in front of a TV the entire time and worship some evil god.

What kind of problem do you have when they have an assembly for some outside reason?

I'd rather my kids watch the thing on TV during school and know what people are talking about than to be ignorant to it.

I don't think it's being shown at school as a black/white thing, but I DO think that what it is to the OP. If it was a white president being inaugurated, would you have the same problem with it being televised in school?

No, I'd still feel the same if it were a "white guy", white female, black female, hispanic, purple, polka dotted, man, woman, transgender, etc. The color is NOT the issue. Yet one poster said, "the FIRST African-American" and I pointed that out and now I'm getting called to the carpet?!?!?!

With the OTHER things that might happen during the school day that "upset" the natural course of the day be it field trips, assemblies (which we don't have much in the way of those and NO pep rallies at all during the school day either), etc it still is done AROUND LUNCH PERIODS and is not typically done in an ENTIRE STUDENT BODY atmosphere. Anyone getting the picture YET?!?!?!

Oh well........................... guess it is just one of those things that a few get to dictate (hmmm, and I thought we lived in a DEMOCRACY ) what the majority do. LOL!!! As the old saying goes, "the squeky wheel gets the oil".

Food for thought now that some of this has turned the way it has: during the entire primary races time and time again it kept coming up that if Obama were to get elected if ANYTHING or ANYONE did not like the slightest thing he did it would all of a sudden be deemed "racist". Some were trying to say that it would not. While others were being cautious and saying that a few might try to make it that way it would NEVER happen. Hmmm. This is going to be an interesting next few years. Oh, and for the record......... I was a Democratic Delegate from my precinct.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Your the one that stated it was the "FIRST African-American".





No, I'd still feel the same if it were a "white guy", white female, black female, hispanic, purple, polka dotted, man, woman, transgender, etc. The color is NOT the issue. Yet one poster said, "the FIRST African-American" and I pointed that out and now I'm getting called to the carpet?!?!?!

With the OTHER things that might happen during the school day that "upset" the natural course of the day be it field trips, assemblies (which we don't have much in the way of those and NO pep rallies at all during the school day either), etc it still is done AROUND LUNCH PERIODS and is not typically done in an ENTIRE STUDENT BODY atmosphere. Anyone getting the picture YET?!?!?!

Oh well........................... guess it is just one of those things that a few get to dictate (hmmm, and I thought we lived in a DEMOCRACY ) what the majority do. LOL!!! As the old saying goes, "the squeky wheel gets the oil".

Food for thought now that some of this has turned the way it has: during the entire primary races time and time again it kept coming up that if Obama were to get elected if ANYTHING or ANYONE did not like the slightest thing he did it would all of a sudden be deemed "racist". Some were trying to say that it would not. While others were being cautious and saying that a few might try to make it that way it would NEVER happen. Hmmm. This is going to be an interesting next few years. Oh, and for the record......... I was a Democratic Delegate from my precinct.

I said it was history. In this case, the history happens to be the inauguration of the first African-American president. I didn't even use the work "black".

So what if it's a departure from the way things are "typically done". It's being done!

No one is accusing you of being a racist. I don't care if you were a Democratic delegate. I'd bet you didn't support Obama. Then again, I"ve been wrong a few times in my life, lol!

I certainly never heard of a school being run as a democracy. If it were, there'd be 5 hours of recess a day!

[Brian.Pearson]

When I was in school, we had seen John Glenn in his historic trip in space. This was very interesting to us and we had no idea what would happen, whether he would live, crash, or what. When Kennedy was shot, we heard the radio played on the PA system. I never saw an inauguration on TV, though at home we saw or read numerous times, a president being sworn in or giving his speech. It did not have to be shown live on TV in school. Though the poorer families most likely didn't have a television, they also didn't much care one way or the other. I believe we all knew that we had a presidential election periodically -- sometimes four years and sometimes eight -- so I don't understand why the point needs to be made by watching an inauguration.

[delusianne]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Your the one that stated it was the "FIRST African-American".





No, I'd still feel the same if it were a "white guy", white female, black female, hispanic, purple, polka dotted, man, woman, transgender, etc. The color is NOT the issue. Yet one poster said, "the FIRST African-American" and I pointed that out and now I'm getting called to the carpet?!?!?!

With the OTHER things that might happen during the school day that "upset" the natural course of the day be it field trips, assemblies (which we don't have much in the way of those and NO pep rallies at all during the school day either), etc it still is done AROUND LUNCH PERIODS and is not typically done in an ENTIRE STUDENT BODY atmosphere. Anyone getting the picture YET?!?!?!

Oh well........................... guess it is just one of those things that a few get to dictate (hmmm, and I thought we lived in a DEMOCRACY ) what the majority do. LOL!!! As the old saying goes, "the squeky wheel gets the oil".

Food for thought now that some of this has turned the way it has: during the entire primary races time and time again it kept coming up that if Obama were to get elected if ANYTHING or ANYONE did not like the slightest thing he did it would all of a sudden be deemed "racist". Some were trying to say that it would not. While others were being cautious and saying that a few might try to make it that way it would NEVER happen. Hmmm. This is going to be an interesting next few years. Oh, and for the record......... I was a Democratic Delegate from my precinct.

Something else to consider is that children of today know who Barack Obama is. They certainly know of his daughters and they'll recognize Michelle. They didnt know, or care, about GWB, Clinton, Bush I, Reagan et al., though those inaugurations might have been shown at school too, to their older brothers and sisters. Call it pop-culture awareness if you want, but there will be a positive, unified - hmm, nascent patriotic? - feeling that will move children as they watch Obama sworn into office. Sitting together, their teachers there too, watching this happen and cheering it on is something they'll never forget. Small price to pay if you ask me.

You earlier mentioned the No Child Left Behind Test coming up soon - I expect the teachers and the principal have factored this in

[Mrs. P]

you know what's really sad? Sweating over a kid watching something on TV that their school has deemed a requirement. What next? I don't want to : take gym, music, algebra etc.?

With what is going on in this country right now, and many parents really worried about whether they will have a roof over their kids heads, food and utilities, this "concern" seems mighty petty to me.

[stormy night]

I too, wonder why it is an issue. It's a couple hours one day of the year. Even if you think it's a waste of time, have you NEVER wasted two hours in your life? In the bigger scheme of things, two hours seems pretty minimal to me. Why is it a big deal?

[toobusytoday]

Unfortunately, I just realized that our kids have mid-terms this week (and they do this for every grade, every subject) so it's very doubtful that any teacher will be able to show the inaugural. I'm looking forward to Obama's speech.

My daughter (6th grade social studies teacher) said that her kids were extremely interested in the election. In seems natural that they would watch the inauguration live. I also don't get the big fuss. I would rather them watch that then have field day where the athletic kids win all the awards and the other kids are bored or embarrassed. In every school, there's going to be something in the curriculum we don't like, but this is not one of them for me. I'm hoping I can watch it during my lunch half hour at my computer.

[GreenGene]

In an earlier post in this thread, you said:

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

I am NOT saying it is not a "big deal". What has me concerned for SOME students is the FACT that in the next few weeks they are going to be taking the state standardized tests (courtesy of "W" from NCLB ) and it is a BIG DEAL! If they don't pass it they can't go onto the next grade.

As many others have pointed out, the time spent on the inauguration is a drop in the bucket out of the entire school year. I certainly understand your desire to have your children do the best they can on the upcoming standardized tests. But you mention below that the school is talking about two hours devoted to this. That seems a very small amount of time out of the entire school year

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

1. Your saying it IS a "black thing" then. Got it. However, many are trying to say it is not. Would you feel the same way if Hillary was being sworn in? Just curious?

Now you're just being disingenuous - in an earlier post, you said:

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Four years ago, eight years ago, 12 years ago............ class was not canceled for this and kids made to watch. Every student was not shown the inauguration LIVE IN class then. They may have touched on it in history class. But it was not deemed as "HISTORIC" then. Why!?!?!?! Of course I know the answer that some will come back with on that one.

Yes, of course you know the answer. There was nothing especially "historic" about any of the Bush inaugurations, or those of Clinton, Reagan, Carter .... you'd have to go back to Kennedy as the first Roman Catholic President to get close to the historic nature of this year's inauguration of Obama.

Personally, I prefer to think of it not as a "black thing" but rather as a "someone other than a white male" thing ... and that is an extraordinarily historic moment for this country. So yes, I would feel EXACTLY the same way if it was Hillary being sworn in (with Hillary being the first female President of the United States).

[That was the really neat part of this election for me. With the dead weight of Bush pulling down whoever ran on the Republican ticket, we were likely headed for an historic election and inauguration as soon as the Democratic field narrowed to Obama and Clinton.]

And for the record, it's not just Obama's race that makes this inauguration historic. No person has ever assumed the Presidency faced with the combination of a really, really, REALLY bad economy and TWO wars.

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

I'm not against them watching it "live". I'm against the whole hoopla that all of a sudden it is a "big deal" AND the fact it will be to view the ENTIRE pomp and circumstance. The kids don't really need to see all 2 hours of it. Right now as I see it all hint that common sense is alive has flown out the window. Each room has a tv but that is not what A FEW want so to pacify the FEW the kids have to suffer (ask the adults to not eat or drink a single thing during the entire thing). They want the ENTIRE student body stopped and pulled "together" to watch the event "live". If they were left to watch it in their classrooms and lunches went as normal and a large screen setup in the cafeteria that would be MUCH better. I also think that would serve a better audenience to be able to discuss anything that may come up during the event.

So which is it? At first, you were upset with the time being taken away from preparation for the upcoming standardized tests. But here, your main complaint seems to be that they will be watching the inauguration in an assembly rather than in individual classrooms. But they are still missing the prep time for the tests, right?

You also say that having their regular lunchtime schedule remain the same would be better and in fact would enable students and teachers to better "discuss anything that may come up during the event." I agree ... but wouldn't discussion take even more time away from the preparation for the standardized tests?

You started objecting to one thing, and that has morphed into another thing (or things). I wonder - is it really that your children are going to miss two hours of test prep time, or is it something else that has you upset?

[hypocore]

I'm going to ask a possibly silly question to the OP, as I might have missed it in a previous post. Have you personally talked to the admin of the school to understand what the plan is? I can't imagine such passion against an issue that wasn't verified first.

If there is as much as it seems there is that you take issue against with this school, I would hope you are in the process of searching for a new school. Is that in the future for your children?

[KarlaT2]

The only problem I have with forcing them to watch it is why didn't they force them to watch when other Presidents were inaugerated? If they want to watch, that's great, but this acting like this is such a "historical" thing is driving me nuts. He's another President, no more, no less.