letter to public school superintendent
Here is a draft letter to my school district's superintendent about the speech Our Dear Leader intends to deliver to ALL public school students on September 8th, 2009. Feel free to use as a template:
Dear Mr. XXXXXX,
I am the parent of a XXXXX grader and deeply concerned that the school will be broadcasting an address from the President of the United States during my child's class time on September 8th. I have no idea what the content of this address will be, and am unable to vet it as a parent. The politicization of my child's education is not something I welcome. My child is not old enough to vote, and he is not old enough to formulate political opinions without my guidance. Therefore I urgently request that parents be able to read and view the exact same speech before it is given to students. If this is not possible, then I must insist that my son's normal school day take place on September 8th, without interruption from the President of the United States.
In addition, I have read Department of Education materials suggesting student assignments after the presidential address. There is one suggestion that my child can discuss what he, my child, can do for the President. I find these suggestions very offensive and believe they run counter to the United States Constitution, which expressly limits the role of the federal executive branch. My child is getting an education for himself and his community, and is not required to do anything for the President. The President is not a king. I must insist that any teacher at the school refrain from suggesting that my child owes any sort of "help" to the President.
Please inform the parents what the school district will do to preserve the relatively non-politicized atmosphere that has, apparently until today, existed in XXXXXXXXX classrooms.
Excellent template. Thank you, Kathleen.
ReplyDeleteSounds like September 8 is a good day to schedule that doctor's appointment for your child. Or to schedule that unexpected fever that popped up overnight . . .
ReplyDelete...or a bonus end-of-summer day at the amusement park, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteHomeschooling is looking more and more like an attractive option.
ReplyDeleteFor me that would be a move of desperation. It's not out of the realm of possibility however.
ReplyDeleteKethleen, this is so good that I decided more people should have access to it. So I posted it at Free Republic. People dig it.
ReplyDeletethanks Pauli. I was considering doing that. but now i dont' have to!
ReplyDeleteha, we showed up on wittoo gween foosballs
ReplyDeleteYeah -- it's a little bit irritating to me the way it's characterized as a freak-out. I should point out that neither you nor I said anything about Marx, Hitler or Nazis. There's nothing wild-eyed about the letter at all, good grief.
ReplyDeleteAnd nice way for him to phrase it this way: "Free Republic is going completely bug-eyed nuts over this story, posting a form letter for parents to protest the speech and urging that children be pulled out of school. And they’re accompanying this with pictures of Obama as a Nazi youth leader." I guess we're chop liver, Kathleen.
The truth is that it's still overtly political by the very fact that the President himself is making the address. It's the meta-message, stupid. I guess no one ever pointed out to the great intellects at Wittoo Gween Foosballs that children are impressionable.
*shiver* there are so many loser "conservatives" on that site that wishing to be given a gold star for being smartest boy in the room. Dreher clones all. In my naivete, I never realized the extent to which the internet was populated with middle aged mediocrities pathetically searching for some way to demonstrate their intellectual superiority, especially if it means hanging out other people to dry.
ReplyDeleteI should never have gone to law school. As a student I always thought political philosophy types were creepy and boring, and I was right.
PS thanks for scolding LGF over there
ReplyDeleteAnother cute thing is that you need to register on LGF to comment. And guess what? "Registration is currently closed--please try again later." IOW, F you.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, Prison Planet likes it.
ReplyDeleteKathleen, LGF dissed it? You have arrived, girl!
ReplyDeleteLGF has sucked for quite some time now. It's a stupid cult where all those brown-nosers must keep Charles Johnson's ass well-kissed to stay in his good graces. I was banned from LGF a few months ago. Why? It wasn't a comment or link...I hadn't posted either in ages. I simply down-dinged a post. That's right, I merely disagreed with CJ. Thing is, I read where other people claimed they were banned for down-dinging posts, so I just thought I would see if he was really that petty. I found out that they weren't kidding.
ReplyDeleteSo, it is to your credit that that jerk decided to misrepresent your post. I noticed that he didn't even acknowledge that the kids are also going to have to write an essay about how they can best serve Dear Leader.
Back on topic...excellent letter, Kathleen. I don't have any kids, but if I did, I certainly wouldn't want them exposed to Dear Leader's propaganda.
So in that sense, Johnson is worse than Dreher & co. I mean, I criticize his posts now and again and he allows the comment. And I can comment again over at CAEI, I guess Mark has given me a reprieve for whatever it was I did.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that someone with as many hits as they have know that comments lnking other sites can be pretty heavy, esp. if you make a good point against them. So they "keep a tight ship", which they're well within their rights to do, but It seems as if it's against the spirit of the blogosphere.
My God! Have we all completely lost our minds? This is the President! If this was Bush or Reagan would you be so quick to censor him?
ReplyDeleteI remember a time in the "wonderful 50's" that you all so aspire to return to when Eisenhower spoke, every schoolchild no matter what the political opinion of the parents, was told to listen no matter what! There was no controversy!
This is the President! If this was Bush or Reagan would you be so quick to censor him?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if this a strawman, a red herring, a non sequiter, or some delicious como I'd like to dub the straw herquiter.
I remember a time in the "wonderful 50's" that you all so aspire to return to when Eisenhower spoke, every schoolchild no matter what the political opinion of the parents, was told to listen no matter what! There was no controversy!
You know, it's funny - no, not the commenter. Judging by the tone and that angry looking picture, I'm going to guess that this dude hasn't laughed since the last episode of Mad About You faded to black - but I digress. Anyway, we hear s much about how awful the Church is for telling people how to think, yet enlightened progressive here has absolutely no qualms about a little presidential indoctrination. High-larious.
I do enjoy all the exclamation points, though. Nice touch.
"My God! Have we all completely lost our minds?"
ReplyDeleteThat's right Whazdat! I'm INSAAAAAAAAANE!!!!!!!!!!!!! how clever of you to figure it out. good boy.
I think we found a new submission for this site. Am I wrong?
ReplyDelete(how's this...)
ReplyDeleteMy God!! No one is censoring him by not wanting him to talk to school children! He's already done more infomercials than his predecessor! This is the President! He can address the nation at any time, providing his teleprompter is up to it! Are you insane??
Pauli,
ReplyDeleteYes, it is CJ's right to ban whoever he wants to. I just find it flat out petty and ridiculous to ban someone for *down-dinging* a post. Why doesn't he just put a big plus sign with no minus sign so he never has to deal with any hint of disagreement?
PS thanks for scolding LGF over there
Could someone point out to me the place in the LGF thread where this scolding takes place (if it hasn't been deleted, that is)? I skimmed the thread but wasn't able to find it. However, I've seen plenty of the following:
1.) Sarah Palin is teh stoopids.
2.) If you support homeschooling you must be a creationist.
3.) If you disagree with Charles, you must be a creationist.
4.) If you have a problem with your kid being propagandized, you are crazy and/or stupid. And probably a creationist, too.
5.) They really notice when someone commits wrongthinking and down-dings a post.
6.) That certain people will sell-out their dignity and every principle they supposedly have to be liked by the cool kids.
Oops, never mind...I see the scolding was on FreeRepublic. I just can't get over what a pesthole LGF has turned into. Hadn't been over there in a while and the deterioration is unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I wonder if my old FreeRepublic username still works?
Susan, there are no ex-Freepers.
ReplyDeleteApparently, you're right...my account there still works (although I had to request the password, since I couldn't remember it). My screen name there is "low estate". Wish I could change it.
ReplyDelete