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I think the inauguration of any president, of any color or gender, in the US should be watched by as many people as possible- including children. It's significant that we have an orderly, constitutional transfer of power. I voted and campaigned for Obama, but I would have watched if McCain won- my kids watched the past 2 Bush inaugurations, as did I, and I attended the elder Bush inauguration. It's not partisan.
I was telling my daughter, now 21, about this thread and she replied that she remembers watching Clinton's first inauguration when she was 5 and in kindergarten! Kids remember these things.
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Originally Posted by mimimomx3
...so, the people who watched in offices where working and listening to it in the background??? Puh-leese.
Well, we just watched between patients at our office!
for young children, no, I don't think it's a big deal. I'll watch it myself, and then if I think my 7 year old would have been impacted by it, I'll come back here and retract that statement. but no. at the moment I don't think so.
I think election night would have had more of an impact on children than the inaugural address. There were many more lessons available to be learned there. How voting works, watching how votes add up to eventually lead a state to go one way or another, seeing the result, which this time was historic, the first black president elected, or the first woman VP elected, McCains wonderful speech, watching the tallies, seeing the process etc...... More of a lesson that a speech.
I don't ever recall watching an inauguration speech in school. I don't object to it, but really what are young children going to get out of it?
Why don't you answer that, how does a 7 year old benefit from watching the inauguration? Enlighten me and I just might change my mind.
Well, I watched it at noon the other day. There is no way that more than the first 15 or 20 minutes would in any way have an impact on my 7 year old, and I am not even sure the first 15-20 minutes would. It wouldn't hurt, but I just don't expect he'd view it the same as older kids and adults. Frankly, I still am not sure if he saw it or not. I asked him if he saw it, and he said no. Then he mentioned it later and said he did see it. I'll have to ask him again, and describe Obama holding his hand up and other hand on a book. Maybe I'll get a sure answer out of the kid then.
Will he remember it? Maybe. If he does, will he remember it as being monumental? I don't know. He will KNOW it was monumental, but will he remember it as such, not sure. I think if he remembers it, he'll just remember it as the day Obama became president.
I don't think he, as a 7 year old, would have benefited from watching that for an hour. Better to watch the first few minutes, and then spend the time talking about Obama and why it was such a historic moment, because watching it on TV will not make it obvious to a young child why it was so historic. He did come home with a couple of workbooks on Obama, with a lot of information. He was able to tell me a little about Obama, which was good too.
Older kids, yes I'd say watch it. Definitely, and who cares about what they'd miss, there would be nothing more important going on at that moment than the inauguration. (I understand the concern about exams but really I don't think those two periods would make much of a difference in the child's performance on an exam--if they don't have it by a few days before the exam, chances are they are not going to get it in two periods) But younger kids, its a toss up. No worries there about wasting time, because I think the younger the kid the more flexibility they have with their class time.
My son is cute though, now whenever he wants to say somethign about Obama, he starts out "Barack Obama...." and then corrects himself to say "President Barack Obama".
My kids are both in middle school, and were told that they had to watch the "historical event" when they got to class today. IMO it should have been mandatory to get parental permission, just as we have to give permission for sex ed and AIDS classes.
As expected, the teachers did not like that my son, and one other student, did not want to watch it, and didn't like that they have their own opinions on Obama. They were told that they needed to be quiet and watch. I don't care that this is a "historical event" and I don't care what color he is. If a white guy had been elected, it would have been yet another school day, and kids would not have been forced to watch. That is what makes me mad.
If a parent would like their kids to see this stuff, then they can record it and watch it on their own time. If the teacher was to show snipets of it in a history class, that would be different, but to take up a few hours of school time, no way. If I had known that it was going to be forced on my kids, then I would have kept them home from school.
I am sure there are lots of assignments your son doesn't want to do. My son isn't crazy about doing pages of math problems but he has to do them. I wouldn't dream of telling his math teacher that he had to ask me permission to assign math problems.
Kids don't get to choose their assignments. Parents do not get to choose their kids assignments. The inauguration of a president is NOT a controversial assignment that should require parental consent. The only assignments my kids teachers seek approval for are things like showing a move rated PG13 in elementary school (it was an historical movie) or an R rated movie in middle school (also historical) or sex ed. Those things are somewhat controversial, but the inauguration of a president is simply an illustration of how our government works.
There is no reason for a child not to view this. Mr. Obama is the president now. He is the president of all the people, not just the ones who voted for him.
I was not an Obama supporter during the campaign, but I can still see the significance of the FIRST TIME something happens. Anything, not just the first black president but the first of anything is special.
...so, the people who watched in offices where working and listening to it in the background??? Puh-leese.
We tried to watch it at the library where I work and put it on a couple of the public computers but I guess the web was overwhelmed with everyone trying to stream it - everything crashed around the time Obama was taking the oath of office. It was definitely watched by more then just the teachers. I was just envious that they had tv's to watch it directly.
Two days past the election now. I would be curious about all the people that were opposed to their kids watching - what happened?
Turns out all of my kids got to see it. My oldest son watched it a college, my daughter (MS Social studies teacher) showed it in her classroom, and my youngest streamed it through his computer at home. He had a half day due to mid-terms so was home at noon. Being the techy that he is, whatever channel he watched it on stayed up!
Okay, so I was going to ask my middle schooler when she came home today if they were going to be watching it. This is because on the news another area school district had a huge showing of parents all up in arms that they were NOT going to be showing it on Tuesday. The school board relented and now they are making ALL of their students watch it. So my daughter comes home and says they are making EVERYONE gather in the gym to watch it.
What do you think?
What are the schools in your area doing?
With the way we are nowadays it can be recorded and viewed later?
Kids can watch bits of it that are important in history class and discuss it?
Most adults are going to be working and won't be able to watch it, so why not view it together as a family that night on tivo or whatever?
The one "issue" I'm having is that the kids are going to be missing 2 class periods of instruction in order to view it when the day before they were out for a Federal holiday. This means that a 4 day instructional week has now been cut down to practicially 3 in at least 2 subjects. I'd personally MUCH RATHER watch it as a family TOGETHER. I know I'm not going to be able to see it myself "live" as I'm already scheduled for medical appointments that are not going to be canceled.
My sons Middle School made them watch it too. They missed most of the school day to gather together to see as much of it as they could. He said he missed 3 classes because of it - that's half the school day right there. He said that it was annoying because the computer all the kids were watching it on kept locking up, so it was a total waste of time. I feel that my kids should watch things like this with the family. That way they can ask us any questions they may have without consequences. We just recorded it & watched it later.
It's bad enough the school teachers are pushing their political views on the kids and that they get into trouble if they question anything. We tell our kids the truth and to question everything - especially when they know something is wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I do want my kids to see the inaugruration of the president but I still think that the teachers should NOT push their political views on our children. When my son questioned one of his teachers, he was automatically given a failed grade because it was not by his standards.
I'm seriously thinking of homeschooling. At least they would be brainwashed by the system & what the government wants them to learn!
My sons Middle School made them watch it too. They missed most of the school day to gather together to see as much of it as they could. He said he missed 3 classes because of it - that's half the school day right there. He said that it was annoying because the computer all the kids were watching it on kept locking up, so it was a total waste of time. I feel that my kids should watch things like this with the family. That way they can ask us any questions they may have without consequences. We just recorded it & watched it later.
It's bad enough the school teachers are pushing their political views on the kids and that they get into trouble if they question anything. We tell our kids the truth and to question everything - especially when they know something is wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I do want my kids to see the inaugruration of the president but I still think that the teachers should NOT push their political views on our children. When my son questioned one of his teachers, he was automatically given a failed grade because it was not by his standards.
I'm seriously thinking of homeschooling. At least they would be brainwashed by the system & what the government wants them to learn!
Are you assuming that ALL teachers believe differently then you, that they are all foisting their beliefs intentionally on your child and grading that subjectively??
My daughter has told me that she finds herself constantly biting her tongue and giving her best effort to give an objective lesson on what happened in history, and what's going on today. She has said that it's important to give kids the facts and not her impressions but that it's hard to do especially if the parents have been telling the kids their impressions and not the facts.
As we all know, we can each read the same news story and come up with different interpretations. I think it's important for teachers and parents to teach kids how to comprehend the information and think for themselves.
1. I feel that my kids should watch things like this with the family. That way they can ask us any questions they may have without consequences. We just recorded it & watched it later.
2. It's bad enough the school teachers are pushing their political views on the kids and that they get into trouble if they question anything. We tell our kids the truth and to question everything - especially when they know something is wrong.
3. Don't get me wrong, I do want my kids to see the inaugruration of the president but I still think that the teachers should NOT push their political views on our children. When my son questioned one of his teachers, he was automatically given a failed grade because it was not by his standards.
4. I'm seriously thinking of homeschooling. At least they would be brainwashed by the system & what the government wants them to learn!
1. I'm confused as to what kind of consequences a child might face for asking a question. Maybe the consequece of learning?
2. Too bad teachers are expected to teach. And ah, the 'TRUTH'. The 'TRUTH' as YOU see it, or the 'TRUTH' as someone else may see it?
3. I agree with the first part, that teachers should not push their political beliefs on children. Heaven forbid children learn people differ in opinion. As for your son 'automatically given a failed grade' for asking a question, c'mon, do you expect any of us to believe that?
4. By all means, homeschool. At least that way your children will be brainwashed by only you and no one else.
4th grader - watched it on the computer in their class and on the computer in music. She said no one could hear anything as the sound from the stream was bad. One of the teachers tried a different site and it wasn't any better sound wise.
8th grader - watched it in the gym w/ the entire student body. Her words, "boring" because no one could hear what they were saying. The sound quality was bad from the feed which is the complaint I've heard from most everyone. AND, what they could hear everytime anyone during it said, "Obama" and when he started to speak about a half dozen people screamed at the top of their lungs so loud and for so long no one could hear him speak. She said that most kids were getting annoyed at the hoopsters screaming so much.
Me and Hubby - neither of us saw it live. I was out of the house/office for a good chunk of it and even could not listen to it on the car radio as my phone was ringing off the hook (too many projects going on right at the moment) and sitting in reception areas - it is either SOOOOO loud you can't hear it or no volume at all - IF they even have a tv in the reception area. Hubby was as he said, "busy running a business" with customers calling and coming in and other things that had to get done that day.
Did anyone watch him live YESTERDAY taking the oath AGAIN? Correctly that is.
My sons Middle School made them watch it too. They missed most of the school day to gather together to see as much of it as they could. He said he missed 3 classes because of it - that's half the school day right there.
OMG! What are you going to do on Track and Field Day? My kids missed more school for music, sports, etc than they ever did watching current events on TV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by momof2dfw
Yes, both of my kids watched it at school.
4th grader - watched it on the computer in their class and on the computer in music. She said no one could hear anything as the sound from the stream was bad. One of the teachers tried a different site and it wasn't any better sound wise.
8th grader - watched it in the gym w/ the entire student body. Her words, "boring" because no one could hear what they were saying. The sound quality was bad from the feed which is the complaint I've heard from most everyone. AND, what they could hear everytime anyone during it said, "Obama" and when he started to speak about a half dozen people screamed at the top of their lungs so loud and for so long no one could hear him speak. She said that most kids were getting annoyed at the hoopsters screaming so much.
Me and Hubby - neither of us saw it live. I was out of the house/office for a good chunk of it and even could not listen to it on the car radio as my phone was ringing off the hook (too many projects going on right at the moment) and sitting in reception areas - it is either SOOOOO loud you can't hear it or no volume at all - IF they even have a tv in the reception area. Hubby was as he said, "busy running a business" with customers calling and coming in and other things that had to get done that day.
Did anyone watch him live YESTERDAY taking the oath AGAIN? Correctly that is.
That was John Robers' fault, not Obama's.
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