News-Record.com

What's the use of having a captive audience if you don't take advantage of it, huh Mr. committed democrat and high school 'teacher'?

Sorry, Neo. Though I am a committed Republican, I can see the reasoning in school children watching an inauguration. It is a lesson in civics, regardless of political persuasion.

If he were such a "committed Democrat", as in crow over Republicans whenever possible, he wouldn't have bothered to have his students watch the Bush inaugurations or Reagan's funeral.

What Mr. Kirkman said isn't all that different from what I said on the boards regarding the original letter.

I'm all for a school watching and learning about the election, as a group, in the auditorium or the like, with an explanation of what and why it is occurring, and perhaps having a question and answer session before and after.

Mr. Kirkman doesn't mention what he teaches (probably because it isn't related to civics), but I strongly oppose a geometry or Spanish teacher "(using) the time to foster a dialogue between my students and teach them to listen to, respect and strive to understand opposing views."

Not your job. Parallelograms and conjugates? Fine. Waterboarding and social justice? Nope.

"...for our American democracy."

(chuckle)

Like I said, probably not a civics teacher.

Good luck, kids.

It's a good idea- let all the kids see the inauguration.
If only for the chance that the cameras are accidentally turned towards the audience, so the freaks and hate-America-first clowns would be as visible as the selective, well dressed, conservative-looking cadre of hangers -on that will populate the front rows.

On another note, Obama's selection of the Clinton White House to host his presidency is an interesting kind of change- if retrogression can be defined as change. Those kos kiddies and huffpo blowhards must have produced a huge pile of twisted knickers by now.

It is a good idea, perhaps Obama can educate the young skulls of mush where Ohio or New York is on a map.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/index.html

Sorry Mr. Kirkman, cannot find any teachers who back up your claim, about watching Bush's gig.
Dan, you expect more?
One thing I agree with, Obama is OUR president, I wish him well.

Ah yes, Ohio, our 54th state, sharing borders with Wisconsin and Iowa.

Or was it Arkansas and Kentucky?

The cynicism of some of the responses to my letter to the editor is bewildering. Clearly, we are more polarized than ever and that does nothing for the future of our nation.

It seems that it has become too easy to surround oneself solely with those who think just like one, to chide rather than respectfully debate and loose all sense of objectivity and purpose greater than ones own designs. Our lack of intellectual curiosity is dangerous.

Surely the Internet, despite all of its intellectual riches, is a contributing factor along with, as seen here, anonymous postings. The result: A resounding series of echo chambers in which those with whom one disagrees are treated not as just wrong, but borderline-insane and the fascinating experience of learning, growing intellectually, opening ones mind to new ideas is simply obliterated.

NO, I am not a civics teacher, I am a foreign language teacher. And, as a highly trained, committed and professional educator I understand that teaching is more than just the subject one teaches. A class period away from the language to watch an inauguration or state funeral, whether for a republican or democrat, is a professional decision that benefits the students and can be incorporated into the specific academic discipline in myriad productive ways.

As for wishing the kids "good luck" - let me say that any student who had me as a teacher had great luck to have been in my classroom because I am open-minded, not draped in rhetoric, work to understand and respect both sides of a discussion and provide them with a true experience of intellectual curiosity. I am not there to tell them what to think, but rather to entice them to think and provide them exposure to all sides so that they may conclude for themselves.

The word "educate" comes from the Latin "ex" meaning "out" and "ducere" meaning "to lead" As such, an educator is leading his or her students and, therefore, should be nonpartisan and strive to expose the students to diverse ways of viewing the world, not just those with which he or she agrees or finds comfortable.

Education is much more than about the specific academic discipline that one teaches, it is about leadership and objectivity to prepare the students to be intellectually curious, capable of the polite expression and exchange of ideas, experienced enough to have something to talk about and well-rounded enough to know that their specific political, social, religious ideas and opinions are not the only ones that count.

As stated so aptly by Abigail Adams “I've always felt that a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic.”

Jeffrey A. Kirkman