The U.S. Department of Education has backed off naked propaganda on behalf of President Obama in published lesson plans, only to cover over that propaganda with the equivalent of a bikini thong. Obama's Department of Education had prepared two “lesson plans” for public school teachers in advance of the president's September 8 address to public school students.

ABC News' Jake Tapper reported, “As one of the preparatory materials for teachers provided by the Department of Education, students had been asked to, 'Write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.'” The “lesson plan,” if it can be called that, amounted to nothing more than hero worship of the president and an amateurish attempt to mobilize political support for the president among those attending the government schools.

Faced with public exposure of its agenda, the White House quickly had the lesson plans re-written and republished online (the revised lessons are here and here). “We changed it to clarify the language so the intent is clear,” White House Spokesman Tommy Vietor told ABC's Tapper.

The new lesson plans replace the “help the president” line with: "Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short‐term and long‐term education goals.”

That's definitely an improvement over the naked propaganda. But the the “intent” is still “clear” among the new lesson plans. Those new lesson plans ask rather uncritical questions such as: “Is President Obama inspiring you to do anything? Is he challenging you to do anything? What do you believe are the challenges of your generation? How can you be a part of addressing these challenges?” In other words, they're not substantially different from the original questions.

A lesson plan genuinely geared toward increasing a student's critical thinking skills would include questions that are, well, critical. They would include uncomfortable questions for the administration, so they were omitted. Questions teachers might ask include:

• What is President Obama's expertise in giving students advice?
• Recent presidents have often made addresses to students. What political advantage is that to incumbent presidents?
• Does President Obama's position as president of the United States give him any authority to give students directions? Does it give him any authority to give parents directions?
• If so, where in the U.S. Constitution can it be found?
• If not, to what extent should his words have weight with you?

Without questions such as these, the government lesson plan is at best a waste of time for those students who are not at risk of dropping out of school.

The speech and initial lesson plans caused an uproar among Republicans, and in Florida that resulted in a sternly worded press release from the GOP state chairman Jim Greer. "As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.”

The president hasn't given his address to students yet, and from the advance description given by the Department of Education, the focus seems to be on inspiring kids not to drop out of school rather than healthcare and other issues. “The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning,” the Department of Education's website says. Greer's objections may be a technically off the mark, but the clear direction behind the questions means he was substantively correct.

Of course, if Obama were truly interested in decreasing the dropout rates, he'd be urging an exodus from public schools to private education. Catholic and other private schools have far lower dropout rates, even after income and family status and other social phenomena are accounted for (see a few of the many studies here, here, and here). And Catholic and other private schools enjoy better results even though they typically have lower per-pupil expenditures. But Obama won't promote private schooling and its results of lower dropout rates, because it would decrease the power of Washington and conflict with his educational campaign promises.

The Department of Education lesson plans are instructive. They reveal that the federal government's primary role in education is to promote a bigger role for the federal government in education. “The intent is clear,” as the White House spokesman told ABC news, despite the fact that the intent is the opposite of what the White House says it is.

Thomas R. Eddlem is a history teacher at a Catholic high school in southeastern Massachusetts.

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Bonnie said:

... 1) I no longer have school age children. 2) When I did, they never attended a public school. But if I DID have school aged children, and they DID attend a public school, they would be out sick the day of Obama's propagandcast. I wouldn't need to have their minds constantly assaulted by the repetitive exposure to his inane speeches and "fatherly face", surrounded by cheering minions. How long will it be before giant photos of Obama appear on billboards, sides of buildings, public transportation, etc.? How long before we see his statues in our parks and city squares? How long before he is elevated to the level of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Mussolini, Fidel, Saddam, and countless other two-bit despots?

September 04, 2009

Jeremy said:

... Maybe I'm missing something. Isn't school teaching us to be citizens? As citizens are we not suppose to support America? And can we support America if all we do is spit poison at the president?

September 07, 2009

der Fuhrer said:

... Jeremy, you make me so proud!

September 07, 2009

Warner said:

White House Propagandizes .... Der Fuher is too parochial. You must think Cosmos Comrade. "Audacity, audacity ever more audacity". This is what Mr Welch told me in 1969 in his office in Belmont to watch for as the mechanism of overthrow of our Constitution. The population will not recognize what it is seeing as the problem of the times. They must be educated to what they are losing. This is what will be necessary for an informed response to legal/illegal criminality.

September 08, 2009

Warner said:

White House Propagandizes .... Der Fuher is too parochial. You must think Cosmos Comrade. "Audacity, audacity ever more audacity". This is what Mr Welch told me in 1969 in his office in Belmont to watch for as the mechanism of overthrow of our Constitution. The population will not recognize what it is seeing as the problem of the times. They must be educated to what they are losing. This is what will be necessary for an informed response to legal/illegal criminality.

September 08, 2009

Bonnie said:

How are we doing, Comrade? 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purpose. Property tax. CHECK. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. CHECK. 3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. Needs work. 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. Some precedent set, but still needs work. 5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. CHECK. 6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. EAS, FCC, ICC, S. 773. Framework in place, looking good! 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Land Reclamation, takeover of GM, banks. WE ARE ON A ROLL! 8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. Having a few problems with those pesky "right to work" states, but otherwise doing fine. 9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of population over the country. Agri-business, corporate farming, decline of family farm, urban sprawl. Steady positive progress. 10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in it's present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc., etc. CHECK.

September 08, 2009

Warner said:

... Bonnie, you are doing your homework. Congrat's. I recommend you get, from the "Department of Education", the Universtity of Michigan publication "Bevioral Science Teacher Education Program" BSTEP. It is the guide for the programming of the students of the day to get the ingredients for what the Elitists have in store for the U.S./World. This is Orwell practicalized. NWO/Mind Control/UNESCO/NEA...etc.

September 08, 2009

Flu-Bird said:

NEA LEFT-WING The NEA is a left-wing bunch of brainwashers using their revionists education and force all kids to watch OBAMA despite their parents objections just like HITLER and STALIN did

September 09, 2009