Pesident Obama is bringing to light nationally a debate that has gone on locally for eons – should schools be year round?  Not only is Barama leaning towards recommending it, there are also reports out that he wants to lengthen each school day.

The main benefits are touted as being more instruction equals more learning and better test scores, less downtime to forget what was learned the previous year, and a reduced need for parents to spend money on summertime childcare.   Key complaints raised so far include the economic destruction of the summertime tourist industry, not giving children a chance to take a break to recharge, and finding money to keep schools operating more days when education funding already sucks.

When I look at this I don’t take an economic viewpoint for once.  On education I think the problems we have are more societal than financial.  I see a system where a less than quality teacher can survive long enough to become locked into a position that may not be deserved (I’m avoiding the “T” word).  I see a system where too many children do not have parents involved with either their school or their schoolwork.  I also see a system where children are not taught to think critically and independently, but to learn the answers to standardized testing.

(I have a bunch of teacher friends, and I know that most of them are great teachers.  I’m not pointing the finger at you guys, but at the ones who give half-assed efforts in the classroom and then bitch about their kids in the teacher’s lounge.)

Until we make sure that sub-par teachers are replaced with quality teachers; until we can get parents or guardians involved and interested in their child’s schooling; and until we can teach children how to learn and improve their minds and abilities themselves, our schools will never improve.  All the extra days and hours spent in the schoolhouse won’t mean a thing until we improve the quality of the product coming through the doors when the bell rings.

By now everyone knows that President Obama is giving a speech Tuesday at noon EDT aimed directly at the wee little skulls full of mush in school. Everyone also knows that as as the current match in the Capitol Hill Summer Slam Series (get your tickets now!) there is a lot of rancor and discord over the amount of motivational material in the speech and supplemental materials for it.  The liberal side of the battle sees a President with the noblest of intentions, looking for him to deliver the same educational platitudes and motivations (Work hard!  Stay in school! Eat your vegetables!) parents have been telling their non-listening kids for generations.  The conservatives see this as one more attempt by The Messiah to reach out and stick the earwig of socialist propaganda into the collective ears & brains of our future Social Security contributors.

Where does it fall in reality?  Like most things, probably somewhere in the middle.  It’s not much of a secret that political gains were in the forefront of someone’s mind, seeing that the US Department of Propaganda Education  voluntarily reworded some of their pre-approved leaflets about “helping the president” once the bombs started falling.  Once those talking points were removed, and given the battle wounds this administration has experienced during the Summer of No Love, it’s hard to imagine an “I’m Right and They’re Wrong” Goebbels-like diatribe.  It’s been obvious that his advisors were swimming in the deep end without water-wings this summer, and I can’t help but think even they know enough not to touch the lightning rod this time. Someone recognized the need to acquiesce, so the administration will post what he is expected to say Monday.

(10pm EDIT) As promised, the White House posted what they say will be his expected remarks today.  As one would expect following the public noodle lashing delivered last week, there is very little partisan tomfoolery in his words.  Whether this was the draft expected all along or is a retread is like the old Tootsie Pop commercial – the world may never know.  (Yes, the Wise Old Owl determined three licks, but the voice-over guy wasn’t paying attention.)

What there is an abundance of in his speech is time and words.  I didn’t run it through the word counter, but it appears to be a fairly long-winded presentation.  For all the concern over whether Obama is being motivational or manipulative, what he’s probably going to be to millions of miniature academics is boring.  I know the attention span of my second grader, and he can’t make it through a 10 minute Spongebob short without turning away to do half a dozen other things.  To the kids losing their lunchtime recess, this will be less of a Gettysburg Address and more of War & Peace.

Much like school prayer, the teeth gnashing over these affairs are going to be sharp and pointed from all perspectives right up to the point where Obama gases deeply into this teleprompter to recite the missive.  Once the glass crutches are powered down, most everyone is going to forget about the lunchtime lesson and go back to more important battles like healthcare.

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PS – Something that shouldn’t go unmentioned is the generally poor grammar in his script.  The scriptwriters are obviously keyed into writing his speeches as he would say them, so the language and structure for an educational speech is weak.  My 2nd grade teacher would have never let me leave her class if I began a sentence with “And”, like the second paragraph does twice.  And (hee-hee) paragraph six.  And paragraph eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, and likely others if I hadn’t stopped looking.  There’s also several lines that shift from compound to run-ons, and if I were an English major I’m certain that other flaws would jump out.

I’m not going to bully-pulpit much else regarding the struggle with English, mainly because as a blogger I admittedly take many linguistic liberties every time I tickle the keyboard.  I, however, am not drafting a speech on education that is being delivered to millions of schoolchildren and their teachers, nor am I publishing it for everyone to read.  It doesn’t bother me that this speech is written the way Obama would normally deliver it.  It makes perfect sense to give an orator the copy that fits his style.  It does look pretty dumb, however, to post that version for everyone to read.  Surely someone in the West Wing could have edited the version that matches what English teachers nationwide would grade an “A”.

House leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have a column out today trashing the animosity towards the un-healthy care boondoggle they passed the other week, calling the louder demonstrations “un-American”  and accusing them of drowning out the debate.  They also laughably insist that “it is well worth the time it takes to get it right,” pointing out that “health care is complex. It touches every American life. It drives our economy. People must be allowed to learn the facts.”

Where in the world was this perspective when Messiah and his staff were running to every corner of the country, yelling and screaming to get the House AND Senate vote in before the August recess?  He and his cronies don’t want debate and input from “the constituents”. They wanted this bill jammed and slammed together in an attempt to stifle the original debate.  It is because of the large public outcry (much of which is NOT being organized by some conservative third parties) that this thing got sidetracked.  Maybe the bill can’t be improved or maybe a much better one will come along, but neither is the point.  Messiah himself wanted this mess fast-tracked and passed without any public debate.  To Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer, by your own standards Obama himself is the original un-American on this issue.  He not only stifled debate, he drowned, bound, and gagged it.

Clean up your own House before meddling in ours.

I’m not saying that every single Obamacare protester has been an angel or perfectly civil. but these wimpy Democratic leaders are certainly showing they can’t take what they encouraged others to dish out for eight years.  Here’s a hint – if the plan is so damn great then wow us with the details.  Bitching about the protesters is merely ducking from the firestorm.  Stand up and show a pair.

We’ve all seen or heard about videos showing how gruesome an abortion, a slaughterhouse, cosmetic testing, war, etc. can be.  This, however, has to be the most gruesome and sadistic murder video I’ve ever seen.  The length and sound of the suffering as the victim suffocates, chokes, and slowly grinds to death is excruciating and painful to witness.

Not to mention that the amount of carbon gasses and emissions released, plus the possible toxic nature of the chemicals used, probably will do greater harm to the planet rather than actually driving it.