Boortz on Education and Obama's Speech to Students

By now, most of you parents have jeopardized your children's future by sending them off to the government to be educated. You didn't do it out of malice .. but do it you did. You put them on a school bus this morning where, essentially, they will go and learn to be good little government subjects. The government school goal is to make you're your spawn learn just enough to get by, but not enough to ask the hard questions or think for themselves. Don't believe me? Well that is, in fact, the purpose of government education. Don't take it from me, take it from this guy who was a helluvalot smarter than me. That guy would be H.L. Mencken. Here are two quotes I want you to absorb from Mencken about government education:

"The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all: it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality."

"And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps."

Well .. here comes some more rubber stamping. On September 8th ... that's next Tuesday ... your children are going to get a welcome back to school speech from none other than President Obama. Teachers are getting ready. Perhaps you would like to read this memo from the Department of Education as to how teachers should handle this first-ever event.

OK .. everybody out there just calm down. You should have seen the email that came crashing in last night ... Obama's little talk has a mighty good number of panties in a complete wad. So let's relax for a bit and see what Obama intends to do.

We get this preview from the DOE:

"The President will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning. He will also call for a shared responsibility and commitment on the part of students, parents and educators to ensure that every child in every school receives the best education possible so they can compete in the global economy for good jobs and live rewarding and productive lives as American citizens."

As if that wasn't enough, as I told you the federal Department of Education has put together a worksheet for teachers across America so that they can properly prepare their students for the President's speech. There are some little gems in this worksheet that could be troublesome. Pretty much what you would expect, though, from government.

An example: In the teacher's worksheet the teacher is urged to discuss with the students the following questions:

• What do you think the president wants us to do?
• Does the speech make you want to do anything?
• Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
• What would you like to tell the president?

Well .. how about a few more questions from the Talkmaster:

• What are the constitutional limits on this president's power?
• Is the president asking us to do things that are really outside of his designated powers?
• SHOULD we do what President Obama is asking of us?
• Do you feel the president was talking to you, or with you?

It's hard to really flesh this out until we hear Obama's speech. Trust me ... we'll be listening, and hoping for the best.