Gee whizz, the first President George Bush addressed the nation's school children. I wonder what the teacher, who classroom President Bush was in, thinks of President Obama's address and the reaction to it: “His message that day was the same as the one I expect President Obama to make on Tuesday: Go to bed early, get to school on time, complete your assignments as best as you can, and work toward a rewarding future. Seems like the good, old-fashioned midwestern values I grew up with in Ohio.”
Mostoller expressed disappointment and bafflement at the way some conservatives are portraying Obama’s speech.
“I don’t understand the partisan controversy behind this,” she wrote. “Every president, every year, should start the school year with a message of hope and inspiration. Who better than the one person we elected to advocate for our best interests?”
Partisan politics — and that’s what’s behind this current controversy — has no place in the classroom. It didn’t when Bush chose Mostoller’s classroom for his 1991 pep talk.
“My students in 1991 were much less concerned about his political affiliation than they were having the opportunity to meet the president and be on TV,” she wrote. “The hate-mongers and political pundits looking for trouble where there is none need to give it a rest. Public education is one of the pillars of our free society. We support it with tax dollars because we appreciate its inherent value. We should worry when the president is not interested in promoting education.”
So it’s come to this? People fear a president’s interest in public education so much they’ll pull their kids out of class?
“(Addressing the importance of education) seems like a no-brainer and I regret very much that the few rabble-rousers out there with hurtful agendas have been given so much attention,” Mostoller wrote.
“There were a lot of wonderful kids sitting in my room that day — and many have gone on to be successful adults.
“Did his speech in 1991 change the world? Maybe not, but it did introduce public education into the national agenda in a way that hadn’t been done since the space race of the 1960s. Let’s hope Obama’s speech re-invigorates our engagement in education. Our future depends on it.”
Rick Moore is a life-long conservative, pretty darn good bass singer, and long time political junkie. He's been posting his commentary at HolyCoast.com since September, 2004.
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Gee whizz,
the first President George Bush addressed the nation's school children.
I wonder what the teacher, who classroom President Bush was in, thinks of President Obama's address and the reaction to it:
“His message that day was the same as the one I expect President Obama to make on Tuesday: Go to bed early, get to school on time, complete your assignments as best as you can, and work toward a rewarding future. Seems like the good, old-fashioned midwestern values I grew up with in Ohio.”
Mostoller expressed disappointment and bafflement at the way some conservatives are portraying Obama’s speech.
“I don’t understand the partisan controversy behind this,” she wrote. “Every president, every year, should start the school year with a message of hope and inspiration. Who better than the one person we elected to advocate for our best interests?”
Partisan politics — and that’s what’s behind this current controversy — has no place in the classroom. It didn’t when Bush chose Mostoller’s classroom for his 1991 pep talk.
“My students in 1991 were much less concerned about his political affiliation than they were having the opportunity to meet the president and be on TV,” she wrote. “The hate-mongers and political pundits looking for trouble where there is none need to give it a rest. Public education is one of the pillars of our free society. We support it with tax dollars because we appreciate its inherent value. We should worry when the president is not interested in promoting education.”
So it’s come to this? People fear a president’s interest in public education so much they’ll pull their kids out of class?
“(Addressing the importance of education) seems like a no-brainer and I regret very much that the few rabble-rousers out there with hurtful agendas have been given so much attention,” Mostoller wrote.
“There were a lot of wonderful kids sitting in my room that day — and many have gone on to be successful adults.
“Did his speech in 1991 change the world? Maybe not, but it did introduce public education into the national agenda in a way that hadn’t been done since the space race of the 1960s. Let’s hope Obama’s speech re-invigorates our engagement in education. Our future depends on it.”
The school, by the way, is in Washington, DC.
http://www.stubblebuzz.com/2009/09/dcteacher.html
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