Socialist Indoctrination or Not?

Recently, President Barack Obama has been vilified for giving a speech to American school children. Their claims against the president are that he is attempting to indoctrinate their children into his socialist worldview. This has probably been the most asinine thing I have heard or read as of late. Regardless, of whether you agree with this political leader or not is a non-point to being just plain silly and saying this constitutes socialist indoctrination. We all indoctrinate children to a certain degree. If his indoctrination involves telling students to do EXACTLY what a great majority of our parents ever told us; work hard, stay in school, and the world can be your oyster, then I support this. I've included a video of his speech and a copy of the so-called "socialist" lesson plans that were distributed amongst students.

Here's a video of one of the crackpots.

Menu of Classroom Activities

President Obama's Address to Students Across America

(PreK‐6)

Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education

September 8, 2009

Before the Speech

1. Teachers can build background knowledge about the President of the United States and his speech by reading books about presidents and Barack Obama. Teachers could motivate students by asking the following questions:
   

   Who is the President of the United States?
   

   What do you think it takes to be president?
   

   To whom do you think the president is going to be speaking?
   

   Why do you think he wants to speak to you?
   

   What do you think he will say to you?
   

   Teachers can ask students to imagine that they are delivering a speech to all of the students in the United States.
   

   If you were the president, what would you tell students?
   

   What can students do to help in our schools?
   

   Teachers can chart ideas about what students would say.
   

   Why is it important that we listen to the president and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?
   

   
   

   During the Speech
   

2. As the president speaks, teachers can ask students to write down key ideas or phrases that are important or personally meaningful. Students could use a note‐taking graphic organizer such as a "cluster web;" or, students could record their thoughts on sticky notes. Younger children could draw pictures and write as appropriate. As students listen to the speech, they could think about the following:
   

   What is the president trying to tell me?
   

   What is the president asking me to do?
   

   What new ideas and actions is the president challenging me to think about?
   

   Students could record important parts of the speech where the president is asking them to do something. Students might think about the following:
   

   What specific job is he asking me to do?
   

   Is he asking anything of anyone else?
   

   Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?
   

   Students could record questions they have while he is speaking and then discuss them after the speech. Younger children may need to dictate their questions.
   

   Menu of Classroom Activities (PreK‐6) President Obama's Address to Students Across America 2
   

   After the Speech
   

3. Teachers could ask students to share the ideas they recorded, exchange sticky notes, or place notes on a butcher‐paper poster in the classroom to discuss main ideas from the speech, such as citizenship, personal responsibility, and civic duty.
   
4. Students could discuss their responses to 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?
   

   
   

   Extension of the Speech
   

   Teachers could extend learning by having students:
   

5. Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked with the following labels: personal, academic, community, and country. Each area could be labeled with three steps for achieving goals in that area. It might make sense to focus first on personal and academic goals so that community and country goals can be more readily created.
   
6. Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short‐term and long‐term education goals. Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress.
   
7. Write goals on colored index cards or precut designs to post around the classroom.
   
8. Interview one another and share goals with the class to create a supportive community.
   
9. Participate in school‐wide incentive programs or contests for those students who achieve their goals.
   
10. Write about their goals in a variety of genres, such as poems, songs, and personal essays.
    
11. Create artistic projects based on the themes of their goals.
    
12. Graph individual progress toward goals.
    

    
    

    
    

    Menu of Classroom Activities
    

    President Obama's Address to Students Across America
    

    (Grades 7‐12)
    

    Produced by Teaching Ambassador Fellows, U.S. Department of Education
    

    September 8, 2009
    

    Before the Speech
    

13. Conduct a "quick write" or "think/pair/share" activity with students. (In the latter activity, students spend a few minutes thinking and writing about the question. Next, each student is paired with another student to discuss. Finally, the students share their ideas with the class as a whole). Teachers may choose to ask the following questions:
    

• What ideas do we associate with the words "responsibility," "persistence," and "goals?"
  
• How would we define each term?
  
• Teachers then may choose to create a web diagram of student ideas for each of the words.
  
• Have students participate in a "quick write" or brainstorming activity. Teachers may ask students:
  
• What are your strengths?
  
• What do you think makes you successful as a student and as a person?
  
• Teachers may engage students in short readings. Teachers may post in large print around the classroom notable quotes excerpted from President Obama's speeches on education. Teachers might ask students to think alone, compare ideas with a partner, or share their thoughts with the class. Teachers could ask students to think about the following:
  
• What are our interpretations of these excerpts?
  
• Based on these excerpts, what can we infer that the president believes is important in order to be educationally successful?
  
• Create a "concept web." Teachers may ask students to think of the following:
  
• Why does President Obama want to speak with us today? How will he inspire us?
  
• How will he challenge us?
  
• What might he say?
  
• Do you remember any other historic moments when the president spoke to the nation?
  
• What was the impact?
  
• After brainstorming answers to these questions, students could create a "cause‐and‐effect" graphic organizer.
  

Menu of Classroom Activities (Grades 7‐12) President Obama's Address to Students Across America

During the Speech

1. Teachers might conduct a "listening with purpose" exercise based on the following ideas: personal responsibility, goals, and persistence. Teachers might ask pairs of students to create a word bank at the top of a notes page that has been divided into two columns. On the right‐hand side, students could take notes (trying to capture direct quotations or main ideas) while President Obama talks about personal responsibility, goals, or persistence. At the end of the speech, students could write the corresponding terms from the word bank in the left‐hand column, to increase retention and deepen their understanding of an important aspect of the speech.
   
2. Teachers might conduct a "listening with purpose" exercise based on the themes of inspiration and challenges. Using a similar double‐column notes page as the one described above, teachers could focus students on quotations that either propose a specific challenge to them or that inspire them in some meaningful way. Students could do this activity individually, in pairs, or in groups.
   

   
   

   Transition/Quick Review
   

3. Teachers could ask students to look over their notes and collaborate in pairs or small groups. Teachers might circulate and ask students questions, such as:
   

• What more could we add to our notes?
  
• What are the most important words in the speech?
  
• What title would you give the speech?
  
• What is the thesis of the speech?
  

After the Speech

Guided Discussion:

• What resonated with you from President Obama's speech? What lines or phrases do you remember?
  
• Whom is President Obama addressing? How do you know? Describe his audience.
  
• We heard President Obama mention the importance of personal responsibility. In your life, who exemplifies this kind of responsibility? How? Give examples.
  
  • How are the individuals in this classroom similar? How is each student different?
  • Suppose President Obama were to give another speech about being educationally successful. To whom would he speak? Why? What would the president say?
    
  • What are the three most important words in the speech? Rank them.
    
  • 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?
    

  
  

  Video Project:
  

1. Teachers could encourage students to participate in the U.S. Department of Education's "I Am What I Learn" video contest. On September 8, the Department of Education will invite students age 13 and older to submit a video no longer than two minutes in length, explaining why education is important and how education will help them achieve their dreams. Teachers are welcome to incorporate the same or a similar video project into a classroom assignment. More details will be released via www.ed.gov.
   

   Menu of Classroom Activities (Grades 7‐12) President Obama's Address to Students Across America
   

   Transition/Quick Review
   

2. Teachers could introduce goal‐setting activities in the following way to make the most of extension activities:
   

   
   

   "When you set a goal, you envision a target that you are going to reach over time. Goals are best when they are "Challenging," "Attainable," and "Needed" (CAN). For example, a good goal might be: 'I want to boost my average grade by one letter grade this year so I can show colleges that I am prepared.' But, every good goal also needs steps that guide the way. These steps keep you on track toward achieving your goal. For example, my first step might be improving in all of my subjects by one letter grade. My second step might be completing 100‐percent of my homework in all of my classes during the first week of school. My third step might be taking an extra hour to study for all of my tests during each marking period. My fourth step might be attending a tutoring session or getting an adult to help me whenever I do not understand something. My last step might be the most important: asking an adult in my life to check on me often to make sure that I am completing each of my steps. Your steps should add up to your goal. If they don't, that's okay; we fix them until they do!
   

   Let's hear another example of an academic goal for the year and decide what steps would help to achieve that goal…
   

   Now I want you to write your personal academic goal for this year and the steps that you will take to achieve it. We can revise our steps each marking period to make sure we are on track."
   

   Extension of the Speech
   

   Teachers could extend learning by having students:
   

3. Create decorated goals and steps on material that is the size of an index card. The index cards could be formatted as an inviting graphic organizer with a space for the goal at the top and several steps in the remaining space. Cards could be hung in the classroom to create a culture of goal setting, persistence, and success, and for the purpose of periodic review. (See the "Example Handout" section.)
   
4. Create posters of their goals. Posters could be formatted in quadrants, puzzle pieces, or trails marked as steps. These also could be hung around the room, to be reviewed periodically and to create a classroom culture of goal setting and for the purpose of periodic review.
   
5. Interview and share their goals with one another and the class, establishing community support for their goals.
   
6. Create incentives or contests for achieving their personal goals.
   
7. Write about goals and the steps to achieve them in a variety of genres such as poems, songs, or personal essays.
   
8. Create artistic representations of goals and the steps to achieve them.
   

   Menu of Classroom Activities (Grades 7‐12) President Obama's Address to Students Across America
   

   Example Handout
   

   
   

   Ok, so where is the indoctrination? I can't seemingly find it anywhere. Most of these two point bulletins seem to comprise of guides for the teachers and open ended questions for student to cultivate critical thinking. Yes, CRITICAL THINKING, a trait that seems to be evaporating in this country. We need more of this in schools. I think a philosophy, logic and reasoning, anthropology, and a history of science course should all be mandatory for every student to help instill a healthy level of skepticism and critical thinking in the future generations of Americans. I also think that all students starting from first grade on should be required to learn a foreign language and develop it to a level of fluency by high school. Languages that would be beneficial for America to be more competitive on the world stage are Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and possibly French and Farsi.
   

Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness

I was given a copy of this particular edition of this christian teen's magazine and was appalled at what these folks are actually telling children. One thing I cannot stand is those who will further their own religio-political ideologies by manipulating children. Yes, these are "religious" people who LIE to children by willfully misrepresenting modern science. The modern world is built on science and every innovation that has improved the human condition has been by scientific breakthroughs and those being applied through engineering standards. The very fact you are reading this on the internet with a computer is a testament to science, engineering, and technology. Their tactics are no better than a political leader who uses fear to coerce or a used car salesman. They use a very old and effective method of advertising, FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The publisher and contributors to this magazine are adherents to a fundamentalist version of Christianity and by and large do not represent it as a whole. My purpose with this blog post is not to denigrate someone's religion, but, on the other hand, nothing is beyond criticism; even religion. These are merely my opinions and are in no way absolute or definitive in their intentions. These are merely my own perceptions of their intent. I know in their minds they really believe they are fighting the "good" fight. Well, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I did not attempt a blow-by-blow rebuttal of their claims because greater minds have already dealt with this sort of drivel. I have just written my thoughts when I read the articles I have re-posted below.

First off, Mr. Wells shows his lack of understanding or even apparent research in the highlighted portion saying that trilobites are the oldest fossils we know. This is factually wrong.
Stromatolites are the oldest known fossils known. How convenient this mistake was made considering the information that stromatolites may hold the key to determining one of the most important questions in evolutionary biology; how and when the tree of life branched into the three domains, the Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya. http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Tree_of_Life/Stromatolites.htm What the hell is Mr. Wells talking about children being forced to read classic literature in English classes about evolution? Wrong. Why would you read about science in English class? This is just a ludicrous statement. For all intensive purposes, he is accusatory of the government school system being biased and not educating children properly. The fantastic job he postulates some are doing, are more along the lines of attempting to discredit 200 years of science and replacing it with his particular religious leaning. Creation "science" and it's sexed-up, repackaged version, intelligent design are NOT scientific, but religious in nature. This has been demonstrated numerous times by rebuttals of scientists dealing with evolution, and it was even ruled a religious notion in the Kitzmiller versus Dover court case in Pennsylvania. You lost. Mr. Wells apparently supports circumventing the United States Constitution and violating the Establishment Clause therein openly supporting only one religion to be taught in public school; his. Is it not a sin to break the law? I'm going to out on a limb here and guess that he believes (not thinks), incorrectly the United States was founded solely as a Christian nation. Wrong. The Establishment Clause created the separation of church and state which makes our government neutral in matters of religion. This benefits everyone. This country is for anyone whether your Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, non-religious, etc. Finally, yes it is a good idea to discuss areas in any theory where all the answers are not known, but not having all the answers does not completely discredit a working scientific theory. Atomic theory, gravitational theory, quantum theory are also incomplete. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. A missing piece of evidence in evolutionary theory is not evidence for intelligent design either. Mr. Wells works with teenagers, who are still very impressionable and easily swayed. He peddles ignorance and blatant misinformation to manipulate children and further hampering them academically. Hopefully, most of the young adults he speaks to will be objective enough to take what he says and verify it. I am afraid some will go hook, line, and sinker because of this shyster.

Mr. Jackson emphatically states there, is "no solid evidence" for the generally accepted age of the Earth being approximately 4.6 billion years old. Wrong. Yet again in these young earth creationist arguments an unnamed source from Oxford University or some other prestigious institution is cited. Where is this source? Why didn't you place this in your tract? I cannot find anything of this supposed bell found in a coal bed in Pennsylvania dated 250 million years. The only places I could even find anything close to it were on conspiracy theory websites and other creationist sites and the place changed too depending on the site. Something is indeed wrong here, Mr. Jackson. "The rate of radioactive decay can change depending on certain conditions." Wrong. This demonstrates Mr. Jackson's utter lack of foundation in atomic theory. Also, radiometric dating is the correct term not "evolutionary clocks". Mr. Jackson's attempts to discredit the way in which fossils and rocks are dated are laughable and he uses it to prop up his house of cards; young earth creationism. "Lead can enter a rock from an outside source." Wrong. If it is already in a crystalline form and solid like a rock, lead doesn't just magically show up inside the rock unlike his belief concerning the emergence of life on Earth. What false and intimidating theories of modern science? Why is he timid of knowledge? Mr. Jackson appears to be a biblical literalist, it seems, and takes everything for what it says exactly; verbatim without any historical, cultural or literary context. The earth must be flat and held up by four pillars and we should stone people to death who commit adultery? A faith based on such literalism is weak. Acceptance of anything outside of this narrow point of view could utterly destroy Mr. Jackson's belief structure. This is why he must vehemently oppose anything based in reality and contradictory to what his religion tells him.

Mr. Palmer in this article levies that common descent lowers human beings to level of slugs, rats, snakes, and apes. Human beings, as a basic description, are bipedal, omnivorous, and possibly semi-aquatic primates. His assertion really here is emotional and plays off the human bias of anthropocentrism; our own over inflated sense self-importance in the Universe. His other important point made is that if you find evolution scientific, you can't be a Christian (in so many words), you're life will be hopeless, you will be licentious and avaricious, and could lead to harmful or murderous activities. Wrong. His argument is completely non-sequitur. Some could accuse religion of being anti-intellectual, manipulative, power hungry, and has caused more human conflict than any other reason in the history of mankind. Religion is not a prerequisite to being a good person or altruistic either. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda each co-chair the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This foundation is one of the largest, transparent charitable foundations today and is lead by someone who is a Catholic and non-religious.

This one article is just disgusting. Nothing, but one long ad hominem attack on Charles Darwin. Darwin never wanted to be a physician, but tried anyways to please his father. Dr. Harrub actually fucking used the death of someone's ten-year old daughter as a means to personally attack them. Regardless of them being dead, this is despicable. Darwin did hold a degree in divinity, but a PhD is not necessary to be a brilliant scientist. Nor, will a PhD make Dr. Harrub a brilliant scientist. In my opinion, he uses his PhD as a means of gaining himself more credibility amongst those whom he spreads this propaganda. He erroneously created the false dichotomy that one cannot subscribe to evolution being scientifically valid and be a Christian. Wrong. This magazine is geared toward young adults who are still quite impressionable. This dichotomy created is manipulative. Goebells would be proud. He utterly misrepresents what modern science states concerning evolution and co-related fields such as genetics, molecular biology, nanoscience, astrophysics, et al; therefore he is either being willfully ignorant or a liar.

These are two letters from children regarding their views on evolution. The quotation from Dr. Michael Behe, a leading intelligent design apologist, makes me think that children really didn't write these articles above. These letters are still the same creationist drivel I have seen a million times like the confusion in the colloquial meaning of "theory" and the scientific definition of the word "theory". These letters are designed to create a bandwagon effect on the readers of this magazine; children. Anyone a little disgusted with these folks yet?

This is a cutesy anecdote by Mr. Blaine Kelly. I am happy to hear that his wife's MRSA was successfully treated and infer that she is doing well these days. I hope he thanks the scientists who developed new antibiotics to treat MRSA by the application of molecular biology and it's cornerstone; evolutionary theory. MRSA is a prime example of natural selection, cross gene adaption, etc! How can you not see this, Mr. Kelly? As he said, he is no scientist and it's apparent as his wife's nose once was. Once again, the tired argument to assail evolutionary theory is it cannot explain the origin of life. He is correct. Evolution does not explain the origin, the beginning of life here on Earth. The origin of life is beyond the constraints of the theory therefore this is not even a part of the theory. I question if Mr. Kelly has even read more than the cover of "On the Origin of Species". This is just another example of how these religious fundamentalists confuse, manipulate, and lie to further their aims by grossly misrepresenting science. A simple explanation: Evolution explains how species change to suit their environment through natural selection. It never deals with the origin of life. Given enough time scale, environmental changes, and mutations, a new species can arise. Finally to quote Mr Kelly, "Some mistake God's creative hand for evolution…" So God gave Mr. Kelly's wife MRSA? I am sorry he is so petty to him and his kin. Also, it doesn't matter how many times or how loud you keep saying something; it doesn't make it even remotely correct.

"Most of the areas of science were discovered by famous scientists who not only believed in the God of the Bible, but also defended God's Word against the agnostics of their day. The majority of people on earth have always denied God's Word or compromised on its teachings. Only about 30 percent of today's world claims to believe in Christianity. Yet over 90 percent of all technological breakthroughs that have benefited humanity have come from this 30 percent."

Please state your source. The innovations of the modern world were almost exclusively from Christians? This is the most arrogant statement thus far. Albert Einstein was an agnostic Jew. Western Europe has had the most technological advancements in recent history and most of it is predominately Christian. Correlation does not imply causation. Christianity, in of itself, did not create the modern world, but science and engineers did who just might happen to profess a belief in Christianity. Also, what about the fact that Muslims invented algebra? In fact the word "algebra" is an Anglicization of the Arabic word, al-jabr, الجبر. I find this particular quote to be of dubious validity.

Mr. Longley's article in this magazine is not bad I suppose. I mean there is nothing wrong with being somewhat awestruck at the complication and intricacies of life. However, just because things are neat or complicated and you're amazed as to how it all happened, the default answer is not God. This whole argument here is an example of the logical fallacy for the argument of ignorance which basically says, "I don't understand how this can happen therefore it must be this"

Darwin said a bear could turn into a whale? This is just a misleading statement and a perversion of what he ever said about natural selection. I am so thrilled over the level of maturity in this article as per the title, "Darwin's Dumb Idea". I also find it fairly amazing that staggering evidence for natural selection is used by these crackpots in an attempt to discredit it, i.e. Ambulocetus. How can these fourty changes occur? Simple it's Evolutionary theory: random mutations in genes, natural selection, environmental changes, and TIME.