Missing the President's education address: Another blow to the concept of community

Yesterday the President of the United States gave a speech which he hoped would inspire the youth of America to seize their educational opportunities and aim high.

And who better to look to as an example? You could do much, much worse than to emulate the work ethic and accomplishments of Barack Obama. To have a person of his accomplishment speak to our nation’s youth as a group is precisely the sort of event that has the power to change lives for the better.

How wonderful to have as our president man with the background to credibly say the following:

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school.

There is no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up.

No one's written your destiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny.

You make your own future.

That is powerful stuff to hear as a child, especially in the company of your peers - - as a community. It is deeply meaningful to look around yourself and see others like yourself absorbing the same advice from the man holding our nation's highest office.

For schools that took advantage of the opportunity, it was a great success.

Unfortunately, my children did not get to see the president's address at their school and share an uplifting community moment. Insane as it may seem (and it will certainly be labeled thus when recalled in future history texts), school officials in many districts were bullied by parents who take seriously the paycheck demagoguery of the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.

They feared "indoctrination." Parents actually threatened to keep their kids at home if their school showed a speech about the importance of working hard at school.

They feared the idea of the president of the United States addressing the nation's children on the subject of doing well in school?

Par for the course, I'm afraid, in the ongoing disintegration of the concept of community in the post-Proposition 13, partisan-above-all world.

Could it be that the drumbeat of fear-mongering against a message extolling the importance of education and personal responsibility is rooted in the rising spirit of naked self-interest encouraged by the rantings of radio wingnuts? Combine the ongoing marginalization of school district funding as a result of "taxpayer revolts," haphazardly applied TIF districts that rob the educational coffers while enriching corporate swells, and paid-for-their-ideology conservatives who libel and smear school officials and without bothering to attend the meetings they describe, and you get a pretty "low achievement" atmosphere.

To be more specific about the instance above: Wisconsin state senator Mary Lazich's aide, Kevin Fischer, recently called Franklin School District business manager "a true crook" and "shyster" in a posting on his blog that discusses the local tax levy (a blog which is hosted by the parent company of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Fischer, who aspires to talk radio as a fill-in for WISN right wing talker Mark Belling, also has names for the citizens who bothered to attend the school board meeting and voted for an increase in the tax levy: "mindless robots"; "blind sheep, like lemmings"; and "the 25 potted plants at the annual meeting." He then tastefully invoked forced sodomy ("...we’re bending over quite a bit. Please tax us some more.")

Not exactly an education booster, but a true suburbanite in his fixated self-interest. I have no idea if Fischer attended or graduated from college (it took me months just to get him and the editor at FranklinNow to finally admit on his blog he is a paid aide to a Republican state senator), but I do know that Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck do not have a single college degree among them: Limbaugh lasted a year in college and dropped out; Hannity dropped out of two universities; Beck was provided a special nontraditional program at Yale, where he took a single theology course and dropped out.

What does education -- and public investment in education -- mean to the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck?

For that matter, what use do they have for communities, where people can share ideas without resorting to the FOX playsheet?

Consider as well the bar-lowering knee-slapper George W. Bush trotted out regularly while president:

"To the 'C' students, I say: You, too, can be President of the United States."

And, at the Naval Academy:

The thing McCain loved about the Naval Academy was he got to study all the time. (Laughter.) He and I both showed that if you -- people with C averages can succeed. (Laughter.) Welcome.

This works if your father and grandfather "encourage" their political and business associates to rescue you regularly, of course; you tend not to "fail upward" without that safety net. That's a different kind of community -- one that not all of us have access to. And it's not an attitude I want my kids to adopt.

Given an opportunity to harness the inspirational story of our president and infuse a pro-education, pro-achievement ethos at the community level, we dropped the ball. "Watch him at home if you'd like," many were advised.

Not a proud moment for America - - but a quintessentially suburban moment, I submit.

Comments

[Fred Keller]

"This works if your father and grandfather "encourage" their political and business associates to rescue you regularly, of course; you tend not to "fail upward" without that safety net...”

Reminds me of Teddy Kennedy. As for the “dim-witted,” trio (Limbaugh, Hannity, and Beck) without a single college degree among them; these self-made men are doing rather well for themselves without a sheep skin hanging on the wall. The only common thread between Teddy and Beck is that they were both alcoholics. And I think I can round up a few Kennedys that have abused prescription medications.

Also, I remind you, that unlike the late Teddy Kennedy, Bill O’Reilly (someone you neglected to mention) holds a Bachelor's Degree in History from Marist College, a Master's Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Boston University, and another Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government—now that’s ironic.

Kennedy on the other hand, was kicked-out of Harvard for two years after being caught cheating (something he enjoyed for most of his life) on a Spanish final. Kennedy then enlisted into the Army and after 16 months (I’ve never heard of a 16-month enlist term, have you?) of service returned to Harvard in 1953—eventually graduating in 1956.

[John Michlig]

I'll not be defending the "self-made" credentials or character of any Kennedys. They practically provided a template for the Bushes.

(However, for all their bad habits, John and his older brother, Joe, conducted themselves rather admirably in battle [as did the senior George Bush]).

Fred, note also that YOU introduced the term "dim-witted" when referring to the unholy trio of Hannity, Limbaugh and Beck (however, I take credit for just now introducing the term "unholy").

My point in bringing up their lack of degrees and credentials is to emphasize a reason why they do NOT place particular value on education and they are NOT by any means role models for America's youth. They are, frankly, unabashedly anti-intellectual. They are free to be as wrong as they can be, contradicting themselves constantly, then chalk it up to "lack of book learnin'." It's so CHARMING.

As far as ACHIEVEMENT goes: H.L. Mencken foresaw squawk radio and FOX when he proclaimed that no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

I recommend to you the riveting film A FACE IN THE CROWD, starring Andy Griffith as the proto-Beck. Even in 1957. they saw him coming.

[Fred Keller]

John:

Knowing me, you know I used "dim-witted," sarcastically.

I pulled Ted Kennedy into the mix to show who the real dim-wit is. And if you want to discuss "unholy" characters, let's start with "Papa Joe" Kennedy. Fortunately, we're running out of Kennedys. I wish I could say the same about the Bushes.

My film recommendation to you is: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, starring Jimmy Stewart. ((SMILE))

[John Michlig]

We could split the difference and watch INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. :)

[Fred Keller]

Works for me!

[J. Strupp]

Excellent blog entry John. I don't think this "situation" could be framed any better.

[Custom term papers]

Your blog is really excellent. It inspires the readers who has that great desire to lead a better and happier life. Thanks for sharing this information and hope to read more from you.

[Term Papers]

Thanks for share this information, i really didn't know about that, will get advantage from this,Thanks for share this.