After all the ridiculous flap about the president's upcoming address to schoolchildren, I took the opportunity to go to Husband's school and watch the address along with the students. I thought I'd share my reflections here.The school had offered an opt-out to parents who took issue with their children watching the address; they had to send a note with their child if they wanted them to "participate in a different learning activity." As I recall, nine students had been opted out, from the 310 or so total enrolled.
The children filed into the Commons just prior to the start of the address. The younger ones sat on the floor in rows; the older ones brought their chairs with them and sat at the back. About a dozen parents showed up to watch with their children.
I had read the text of the speech at the White House website the day before. I wasn't prepared for the way it would come alive when delivered by Barack Obama and responded to by the students. When the president said, "Many of you are starting school today," our kids groaned or expressed surprise as they talked back to him about their calendar. They were in their third week of school already. When he said they might have preferred to sleep in, several responded with a cheer. When he said he'd had to get up at 4:30 a.m. when he was a kid to study at the kitchen table with his mother before she went to work, there were audible groans of sympathy on his behalf.
As is typical for K-2 kids, their attention was pretty much gone by the 5-minute mark, and they were poking each other and getting gestures from the "come here finger" of their teacher to receive their admonitions to sit still. They did stay rather quiet, despite their wiggles. The older students were much more interested and attentive all the way through, and I could see the import of the words sinking in with them.
Will the words make a difference for the students? Will they turn the non-focused kids into scholars? Who can tell? I think the key is repetition. The president needed to say these things. Parents need to say these things. Teachers need to say these things. We all need to say these things.
The nature of an echo is that the sound hits more surfaces, more times, bouncing with different facets, and that amplifies the effect. That's how these things work.
That's why I'm such a believer in Christian schooling; it's yet one more place to keep the most important echoes repeating.
These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deut. 6:6-9
Hi Ginger, appreciate your Bird's eye view observation. There is more than meets the eye in all this....all I can say is just keep Separation of Church and State in the back of your mind. I am not so concerned about the content, I am more concerned about what is not said, I am more concerned about who this President becomes in the minds of the People...when he becomes the center of everything, then that changes the focus towards him and we do not see what else is happening around us. "he will come like a thief in the night" is what resonnates in my head. I understand the positive theory in all this, but I am not keeping a blind eye to what we cannot see. Take into consideration how he was raised in a Muslim School and how they are taught to "pay hommage" to their Muslim Authorities and how those Religious Authorities are presented through the school systems, this reminds me of that. But what I am convinced of is that God DOES have his hand in all this for a much greater Good and we must trust but not be blind. So I Praise God for what is happening but pray for protection for all of us. Love you and respect you!
ReplyDeleteHi, Ginger, I loved reading about your observations. Working at the largest high school in Virginia, just ten miles away from the White House, our parents are very politically savvy. Our principal had tons and tons of phone calls on Friday, the week before the speech. Many parents insisted that he allow their children to watch the speech aired at 12:00 p.m. and many were fearful that he WOULD let their child see it. So, he videotaped it and is allowing the students whose parents want them to see it to come watch it during their study hall. But, I love your conclusion. It isn't really about that, but about so much MORE! As parents, Garry and I emphasized and re-emphasized certain key points to our two daughters throughout their childhood. We enrolled them in high quality Christian schools (not perfect ones, of course, but good schools that taught them the same central truths, work ethic, health emphasis, and service concepts. As a adults, they now at least have this foundation. What they choose, of course, is now up to them. I miss teaching in Christian schools a lot, but I try to promote the same ideas by modeling as a Christian teacher in a public school. Anyway, thanks so much for this blog. Suzanne
ReplyDeleteGreat observations Ginger. It is a pity that some can't get beyond the politics and hear the message. When Republican Presidents do and say the same thing, Republicans embrace it. When Democrats like Kennedy and Obama speak, they are Catholic or Muslim, and are bringing on the end of time. It would be insightful for those who lived in the early 1960s to compare the reaction to JFK by some Adventists with this type of reaction today.The quicker we realize how politics ideologically drive our reaction (rather than religion and true biblical interpretation and belief), the more honest we will be with ourselves.
ReplyDeleteblessings