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Home Front: Politix
Duncan says furor over Obama speech 'silly'
2009-09-07
The furor surrounding President Barack Obama's plans to address the nation's school children is "just silly," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Sunday.

Duncan's department has taken heat for proposed lesson plans distributed to accompany Tuesday's speech, and he acknowledged that a section on writing to the president about how students can help him meet education goals was poorly written.
Imagine that, a bunch of educators writing something poorly ...
It has been changed.

Debate about conservative objections to the speech has dominated cable television and talk radio for several days, signaling again the stark divisions in the country both over politics and social issues. Some opponents to the speech claim Obama would try to indoctrinate school children with what they call his "socialist" agenda.

"That's just silly. They can go to school. They can not watch. It's just, you know, going an 18-minute speech," Duncan said.
It takes 18 minutes to tell the kids to do their homework, stay in school and eat the peas in their school lunches?
He said Obama had no intention beyond talking "about personal responsibility and challenging students to take their education very, very seriously."

Duncan said the guides distributed to schools "were put out by teachers, for teachers. And there is one that wasn't worded quite correctly. It was talking about helping the president hit his goal of having the highest percent of college graduates by 2020. He's drawn a line in the sand in that.
He's drawn a line in the sand in an18-minute speech to children about something out of his control even if he should somehow get re-elected? Silly doesn't come close.
"We just clarified that to say write a letter about your own goals and what you're going to do to achieve those goals. So again it's really about personal responsibility and being accountable, setting real goals and having the work ethic to see them through," the secretary said.

Declaring that viewing the speech is "purely voluntary," Duncan said the hubbub is something "I frankly don't pay any attention to." Rather, he said, he is focused "laser-like" on the big problems in the U.S. education system.

The secretary said the speech text will be posted on the White House Web site on Monday "and people can have a look. Again this is all about the president challenging our young people to take responsibility for their education."

Duncan spoke on CBS"s "Face the Nation."
Posted by:Fred

#8  It's not the first speech that is disturbing. It's the precedence it sets for the second, the third, the fourth, and however many more he deems needed to reach "his goal."

This is just one of many action steps in meeting his goals --- a Bill Ayers/Saul Alinsky type take over.
Posted by: Sherry   2009-09-07 15:25  

#7  Arne ran the worst school system in the Milkey Way Galaxy! 47% graduation rate, gangs dealing and shooting all day long, phoney grades, they even corrupted the ACT and SAT! all for 5.1 billion in localtaxes each year.

The law that created the Dept of ED specifically prohibits the Dept of Ed to engage in curriculum.

But laws are for the peasants.
Posted by: Chaiter Pelosi4314   2009-09-07 09:29  

#6  Of his own public school experience, he appears to be quite proud of the fact that although he was a cokehead, he rejected heroin. Maybe he'll mention these tidbits from his book to the kids.

"Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though," he says.

"We were always playing on the white man's court . . . by the white man's rules," he writes. "If the principal, or the coach, or a teacher . . . wanted to spit in your face, he could, because he had the power and you didn't. . . . The only thing you could choose was withdrawal into a smaller and smaller coil of rage.

"And the final irony: should you refuse this defeat and lash out at your captors . . . they would have a name for that too. Paranoid. Militant."
Posted by: Woozle Uneter9007   2009-09-07 09:00  

#5  Disrespect for the Presidency? How could anyone get wee wee'd up about that?
Posted by: Lumpy Phoque7659   2009-09-07 08:26  

#4  
Posted by: lotp   2009-09-07 08:03  

#3  Yeah, other than the Dear Leader Addresses the Children of the Proletariat aspect, the whole thing is pretty silly.
Posted by: SteveS   2009-09-07 01:49  

#2  I'd rather he did focus on "something silly" like this speech. The nation can't afford Mr Duncan concentrating his time and energy on bringing the rest of us to that stellar 60%+/- high school graduation rate he had at his previous job.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie   2009-09-07 00:37  

#1  Zero's supporters have seized on this issue to complain about the 'sudden' disrespect shown to the office of the presidency. This was pointed out to the viewers of Face the Nation by the assembled panel.

Crock of shit unless you've forgotten the Left's fondness for Bushitler, etc.
Posted by: Woozle Uneter9007   2009-09-07 00:13  

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