Monday, September 07, 2009

"Uh...What Did He Say?"

"A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five." ~ Groucho Marx

Tomorrow is the big day, when Barack Hussein Obama beams his big speech into the schools across America.

I have heard that he intends to make this an Obama worship indoctrination opportunity, and I have also heard that the original speech will not be presented as originally planned due to various concerns and objections from the parents and sometimes, even the teachers and school administrators themselves.

I have not the time nor the inclination to do research on whether either is true.

And, frankly, it doesn't matter in either case.

I'm really not worried that Obama will profoundly influence the children of America into doing (or not doing) any kind of nefarious or righteous deed in the name of Obama.

If Obama thinks he's going to recruit these children into his Socialist church, he doesn't know kids very well.

After all, we're talking about schoolchildren here.

I have five kids. They are all grown now. But I still remember how difficult it was to get them to listen to anything that anyone of authority had to say. My kids are still making stupid decisions that they wouldn't have made if they had simply listened to me when they were "impressionable".

Children of school age, until they are into their twenties, have an attention span of about a minute and a half, if that long.

It would take the faith of Abraham to believe children with that short of an attention span will sit in rapt attention to a speaker who will "uh", "um", "ah", stutter, and stumble his way through a boring monotone speech talking about subjects in which they aren't the least bit interested.

So, while Obama's smiling image is being beamed across the country in High Definition living color to millions of children from Kindergarten to twelth grade, the children he's talking to will be fidgeting, fighting, talking, laughing, crying, flirting, etc.

Anything but listening.

17 comments:

Lone Ranger said...

The Hitler Youth were children. The Red Guard were children. To those who say it can't happen here, I ask, why not?

Mark said...

Possibly. But, the Red Guard and the Hitler youth were not brought up in times as permissible as these. Children today are spoiled and undisciplined.

I think getting modern American children to listen to more than a minute of an Obama speech will be like pulling teeth.

Always On Watch said...

I still remember how difficult it was to get them to listen to anything that anyone of authority had to say. My kids are still making stupid decisions that they wouldn't have made if they had simply listened to me when they were "impressionable".

Children of school age, until they are into their twenties, have an attention span of about a minute and a half, if that long.


LOL!

You've got an excellent point there.

The time of the Red Guard was different. Children back then had longer attention spans and were more respectful of authority.

The liberals in America has spend decades undercutting authority. Well, that little tactic has come back to bite them in the ass! Children today do not sit in awe of the Office of President.

ADD played a part in getting BHO elected. ADD will also play a part in getting him out of office.

Joe said...

I donno, Mark, he has a pretty big smile!

Jim said...

Well, here it is. The President's speech.

I read it and I think I've figured it out:

Just take the 11th paragraph, omit every other word, and replace it with one of the opposite meaning, read backwards, and you have a new socialist manifesto!

Most Rev. Gregori said...

Mark, kids with short attention spans who attend public schools today are simply pumped full of Ritalin.

LL said...

It's not so much what Dear Leader says as how the teachers follow up with it. If the speech ends and the teacher turns the television off and says, "RECESS!"

...the'll forget what Dear Leader said. If it becomes a study guide that is continually reinforced, they way it was originally intended to be presented it's a different matter.

Mark said...

Yes, LL that's how I would respond to Jim's obvious attempt at sarcasm.

Not once in this post did I say anything about what Obama was going to talk about. Michelle Malkin said the speech would likely be innocuous. She said that days before Obama released the speech.

All I said was kids won't listen to it, because listening to some old guy (old to them) droning on in a monotone as Obama does, is boring. They will do anything BUT listen.

No, Jim I don't have a problem with the content of Obama's speech. I am more concerned with the lesson plan accompanying the speech. What we have seen so far in the lesson plan is a call for allegiance to Obama, not an allegiance to the country.

It appears to be much like the indoctrination of the Hitler Youth or the Red Guard, which LR alluded to in the first comment.

Perhaps Obama originally planned the speech to be just such a call for allegiance. And, perhaps it was the objections brought up by conservative politicians, parents, teachers, and school administrators that caused him to radically change the message.

Alas, we may never know.

Jim said...

Perhaps the President was asking teachers to continue the "innocuous" message beyond the 10 minutes it takes to deliver it. And maybe he wanted kids to participate in activities that would reinforce the message of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, you know, Conservative First Commandment? And perhaps the President wants these children to succeed in life for their own betterment and the future of their country.

And perhaps you're all paranoid delusional Beckaroos.

Joe said...

Jim: Or maybe some of us read what HAD been posted as the text of the speech over at www.whitehouse.gov, caused a bit of a stir, caused a spokesperson to have been brought to the fore who proclaimed that the speech had been "...inartfully worded...," and caused an emergency re-write so as not to make it sound indoctrinaire.

Maybe?

Jim said...

There was only one speech posted at Whitehouse.gov and he delivered it today. What imaginary speech are you talking about, Joe?

Joe said...

Jim: In advance of the address, the Department of Education offered educators "classroom activities" to coincide with Obama's message.

As a prelude to, and in conjunction with the speech, the speech, www.whitehouse.gov posted the "classroom activities."

Students in grades pre-K-6, for example, are encouraged to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals."

Teachers are also given guidance to tell students to "build background knowledge about the president of the United States by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama."

During the speech, "teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful."

Those were the parts of Tuesday's plans that raised the ire of many intelligent, knowledgable citizens.

They seemed very indoctrinaire.

Do you have some facts, Jim, to refute that they were indeed posted on the White House web site?

Then why did White House deputy policy director Heather Higginbottom say, "a part of the "lesson" in which President BO planned to ask students to "write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president" met with negative response."

AND

"...the White House revised the plans Wednesday to say students could "write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals."?

Jim said...

Joe said: "Or maybe some of us read what HAD been posted as the text of the speech over at www.whitehouse.gov" and implied that the speech had been rewritten.

Jim pointed out that the only text of the speech EVER posted on whitehouse.gov was the final version.

Joe changes the subject to talk about educational materials proposed by the White House. Everybody KNOWS those were changed after the Beckaroos hollered so much. Jim has previously said that it was really dumb of the administration to position perfectly harmless and probably beneficial activities as supporting the personal goals of the President as it would play right into the hands of the Beckaroos and their fantasy of the Obama cult. Dumb.

"They seemed very indoctrinaire." Sure they did to you.

So your, what do you call it?, lecture, falls flat. Thanks anyway.

Z said...

Are you as OVER Obama as I AM?
I'm hoping our kids are getting tired of him by now, too.

Mark said...

Zee, I was never with him.

Krystal said...

Our elelctric was conveniently out during the speech. LOL!

Anonymous said...

What is so blatantly obvious to the normal person is the double standard. Remember what we listened to from the left for the previous 8 years and now listen to that same crowd now. I'm a former Democrat who has been set free. Their talking points won't resonate with me any longer. mom2