Obama's Address to Schools

NEW INFO: See blue text below...

This is the letter I wrote to my daughters' school district. What are your thoughts?

Dear District 200 Board Members,

I am extremely disappointed with your decision to ban President Obama's address to the children of our district. I am a parent in the community and a 20-year veteran teacher. As an educator, I know it is necessary to make our curriculum relevant to our children's lives, particularly if we want them to be engaged as active learners. This rare opportunity to use a live presidential speech—a speech being addressed directly to our children—as the source of meaningful dialogue in the classroom should be the focus of your day on Tuesday in every building. The electricity running through your classrooms, watching the students come to life conversing about something that sincerely matters—the importance of school and a strong education—will be a fabulous reminder to all of us what our primary purpose should be as professional educators. Namely, that we are nurturing our children to be critical thinkers, sensitive to the world around them and capable of making informed, constructive decisions.

We moved into this district in part due to the excellent reputation of District 200's strong, challenging schools. I find this decision to be in direct contrast to the characteristics that make a school excellent. The greatest tragedy of this decision is that you've removed the academic freedom from the teachers you supposedly support. (In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a union grievance.) You are sending the message that your teachers are incapable of facilitating an impromptu, dynamic and potentially passionate discussion among a couple dozen students, students you put in their charge on a daily basis. How do you explain this discrepancy? They are either hired to be educators, or they are hired as pawns to deliver approved, scripted content. Please do not allow their progressive ideas and these rare opportunities to become suffocated in the penetrating trend of standardization and indoctrination.

This is very much an embarrassment to me and my children. The districts in the area where I work have instead left this decision to the teachers to determine whether the speech is an appropriate focus for their day's lesson. They have also set up areas in the buildings where students and classes can go to watch this historical event, including the lunch room for those students eating lunch at that time.

As a science teacher, I plan to have the president's speech playing in my classroom and then discuss whether or not his thoughts will help solve any of the 20 greatest scientific, global problems as outlined in the book High Noon: 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Fix Them. The idea of disagreeing with the president's thoughts is as welcome as agreeing with them and as welcome as not understanding them...as long as a student has a well-formulated opinion. This is the foundation of developing a constructive educational community. Without this freedom, I would not have the opportunity to make this lesson really come to life. And I believe my students will find the day eye-opening, challenging and—dare I say it—even inspiring. This is the type of environment in which our greatest historical thinkers thrived. Don't deprive our children of these experiences.

There are a host of other reasons why I find this decision wrong, but I wanted to highlight only my main frustrations. Please know that I recognize that there are logistical challenges to schedule changes and am intimately familiar with the potential difficulties of dealing with technology. However, our children are worth the effort. And there are creative ways to solving any problem. That's what I learned in school.

Don't deprive our children of this historical event. Don't let them be the "kids from the schools that banned the president." Don't close the door on our children or our teachers.

This is a teacher's decision. Trust them. I implore you. Trust them.

Joan Gallagher-Bolos

Seems the campaign spearheaded by our neighbors worked, at least in part. The community received notice yesterday that the school will record the president's speech and that students will be shown his address in school on Wednesday. A form will be sent home today for parents to have their child opt out of watching the speech if they so wish.

Not what I was fighting for, but I guess baby steps in this region is all we can hope for...They're still missing the point. Really missing the big picture...

A Fresh Start

My blogging hiatus is officially over! It seems the perfect time—a new year, new semester and new president all upon us. Unfortunately, GBN administered final exams last Tuesday and missed watching a part of this new beginning—the historic inauguration of President Obama, along with his inauguration speech. Other schools described the day as "electric," the halls and classrooms filled with enthusiastic dialogue. High school students, too young to vote, were conversing about the future and what they could do to participate, as well as formulating insightful, authentic questions for their teachers all day long.

One moment that jumped out at me during President Obama's speech was his reference to science. He made the following statements, "For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do."

Looking at this paragraph carefully, the foundation for growth that the president describes is rooted in science. I'm thrilled by this! I hope educators and students see this an invitation. I also find this paragraph intriguing; what is science's rightful place? And what caused its shift from its rightful place? And how, when and where will the discussions take place regarding the economic, political, religious, and/or social constraints that affect science? And how can we use science as a means for positive humanitarian efforts?

There are many of us who have wondered how long it would take for the idea of "thinking as a scientist" to resurface and play a role in our governmental decisions. More importantly, I still wonder whether the people making these decisions are capable of reading, processing and analyzing information that is highly scientific in nature and making a solid decision regarding it. If children are still wondering why to study science, I hope this speech makes it clear. Even though schools segregate our academic areas of study into separate classrooms, they are one and the same. Each piece plays a role in our daily lives, intertwined and complex. And although certain content details may not be needed for recall on a constant basis, the need for a comprehensive understanding of these ideas is mandatory for the betterment of our global community. Regardless of what position you will hold in the future, decision-making requires the ability to think as a scientist. And sometimes, the content you're thinking about can be extremely challenging. It's worth challenging our students to think this way.

A fresh start starts now!

(Pictures linked to original sites, including Lasvegassun.com and Washingtonpost.com.)