Without Borders (Canada) who recently spent a second stint in Africa in the
past number of weeks.
The world watches. I have been in contact with African educators who admire
Obama and the democratic nation of the United States. The Americans have the
rich opportunity to watch their nation's leader (indeed, perhaps the most
powerful man on the globe) address their students. Education is an
empowering force. How many other nations' leaders have so earmarked their
time to do so? And yet there is such resistance to this attempt at so many
levels.
This is an important event in history. To deny students the opportunity to
witness this address is a blow to education itself, regardless of one's
stance on American politics.
Much more is at stake here than just 20 minutes of our students' class time.
Let's let our American students know that their responses are important, not
just for their own cultural generation, but for the millions of us who are
not Americans, who cannot vote in America, and yet who are affected by the
decisions and lifestyle choices of Americans.
Most sincerely,
Sharon Peters
ICT Team Leader TWB-C to Africa (South Africa and Kenya)
Director of Technology, Hebrew Academy, Montreal
NAIS Teacher of the Future 2009
On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 4:58 PM, Bassett, Patrick <bassett@nais.org> wrote:
> Many schools are struggling with the decision about whether to broadcast
> President Obama's address to school children next week and how to
> communicate that decision to parents.
>
> Below the signature line of this email. is a message that one of our member
> schools in Florida sent to families.
>
> Cheers.
>
> PFB
>
> Patrick F. Bassett, President
> N A T I O N A L A S S O C I A T I O N O F I N D E P E N D E N T S C H O
> O L S
> 1620 L St., NW, Washington, DC 20036
> 202.973.9710 (Office)
> 202.746.5444 (Cell)
> 202-247-9667 (Fax)
> bassett@nais.org<mailto:bassett@nais.org> www.nais.org<
> http://www.nais.org>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> September 4, 2009
>
> Dear Academy Families:
>
> A small number of our families this week inquired about whether we intend
> to show our students President Obama's upcoming speech to our nation's
> school children. Some families have requested that their children be
> removed from such a presentation; others have requested that we show the
> speech. We do not intend to show a live broadcast of the speech. Our reason
> is that we don't think it's really intended for students like ours, as it is
> designed to be a message about staying in school, about taking
> responsibility to do your homework and encouraging all students to accept
> the value system of school and the idea that being a good student will lead
> to improvement in your life. Almost all of our students have internalized
> this message long ago. Still, I feel a need to comment about the idea of
> viewing a presidential speech and requests for children to opt out of
> viewing a speech.
>
> We very much want to engage our students about the world around them and
> about taking part in our democratic system. We feel that they ought to
> learn about our national issues and hear perspectives on those issues
> regardless of which party's philosophy they might endorse. As an
> administration, we see a big problem in our country today - that, as a
> nation, we are not very good right now at engaging in civil discussion and
> disagreement about the policies and political philosophies that are being
> "debated" in the public square. We very much want our school to be a place
> where our students learn to listen to all sides of a debate and engage in
> questioning, answering, and exploring, but always in a polite and civil
> tone. We do not want our students to become liberals. We do not want our
> students to become conservatives. We want them to learn how to listen
> respectfully, how to question respectfully, and how to come to their own
> opinions and votes while respecting those who may come to different
> conclusions. We want them to learn how to be citizens. In order to do that,
> they have to be exposed to different points of view. We would like them to
> study those points of view.
>
> If we were to show the President's speech, we would hope that those
> families who disagree with the President's comments would engage their
> children in discussion about what the President says, and that they will in
> turn provide (and teach) their own countervailing views. When you do so,
> please also reinforce rules of respect and polite civil discourse. ("We
> disagree with the President because . . ." )
>
> We want our students to learn that patriots can disagree about policy
> choices in a democracy while still loving their country and wanting the best
> for all of her people. Opting out of hearing a speech by the President or a
> member of the clergy from a different religion or any opinionated speaker
> does not serve the goal of learning about others and, eventually, yourself.
> We believe that our students' education is well-served by exploration and
> engagement about issues, not by refusing to even hear opposing views.
>
> As a school, we are absolutely fine with our students disagreeing with
> whomever is President and voicing that disagreement, even publicly, as long
> as every student shows respect to every speaker and every event that they
> attend. We want all of our students to know that they have the right to
> disagree with the President or their Congressman or the Governor, and that
> they have many appropriate avenues in which to voice that disagreement,
> including their vote.
>
> Our democracy needs its young people. But before they turn 18 they ought
> to learn how to be better citizens and better participants than the models
> they see in their daily swim through our culture's waters. The Academy at
> the Lakes educational experience will help them learn how to participate
> with respect for others, respect for ideas, and respect for our country, the
> greatest nation on Earth.
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Mark Heller
>
> Head of School
>
>
>
>
>
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