An Inconvenient Historical Event

January 16, 2009 2:17 PM

"Millions of people will be glued to the TV next week when President-elect Barack Obama takes his oath of office. But in Federal Way, students will need to get permission from their parents to watch the historical inauguration in school... Federal Way is the same district that put a moratorium on Al Gore's Oscar winning film about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, while the board investigated whether a screening adhered to district policies."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson (68 comments total)

Who fucking gives a shit? This is the weakest quasi-Outragefilter post I've seen in a while.
posted by nasreddin at 2:27 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]

Not you, apparently.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:30 PM on January 16 [8 favorites]

Seriously, what is notable about this? I would understand the post if they decided to hold a mandatory public lynching or something instead. But permission slips? Come on. It's a local school board. They're well known for being bureaucratic and narrow-minded. There's nothing new here.
posted by nasreddin at 2:33 PM on January 16

That's just crazy, kids love Obama:

Dear Sir Obama: Presidential Advice
dear Barack
Obama
I'm glad
you're
cool.
good Luck.

from
Juan
posted by papafrita at 2:34 PM on January 16

“It’s pretty exciting, like the Olympics,” said parent Liu Rameriz.

Yes. Yes. This is pretty much like a bunch of people playing sports really well. Pretty much exactly as important to the future of the world.
posted by gurple at 2:35 PM on January 16

I found it interesting. Apparently, you disagree. Life goes on.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:37 PM on January 16

"exciting, like the Olympics" not "important, like the Olympics"
posted by pokermonk at 2:41 PM on January 16 [3 favorites]

The district considers the inauguration a full length documentary

what
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:43 PM on January 16

On the other hand, this Texas ISD refused to let kids watch the Obama inauguration, until parents and kids raised a stink. The last Bush inauguration, oddly enough? No such snags.

But hey, I'm sure it's just beauracracy.
posted by emjaybee at 2:44 PM on January 16 [12 favorites]

How are people this stupid in charge of schools? This is so backwards.
posted by MrBobaFett at 2:45 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]

oops, better link here.
posted by emjaybee at 2:45 PM on January 16

There are much, much, much more conservative school boards than this. Like this one across the border in that liberal paradise known as British Columbia.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 2:48 PM on January 16

This really is pretty mild, and thin gruel at best. Well, at least compared to the administrators at my high school, who forced us to reenact Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" every year by stoning of one of our classmates.
posted by billysumday at 2:49 PM on January 16 [4 favorites]

this just in, crazies crazy.
posted by Rinku at 2:57 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

i lived in arkansas when clinton was inaugurated. i don't believe we got any time out of class for that. i think permission slips for anything that isn't your normal book learning isn't a terrible idea in these sue happy times.
posted by nadawi at 2:59 PM on January 16

The story is kinda of Farkifiacation, having said that, one would think that the inauguration would be an opt-out school event rather than an opt-in. I don't really have that big of an issue with the school board notifying parents about what is going on, that's cool, but to put the onus on the parents/kids to allow them see the event rather than just saying, "This is what is happening, and it being historic and whatnot we are going to broadcast it, if you have a problem let us know and we'll make other arrangements for Little Adolph Johnny. "

And I also don't have a huge issue with school boards trying to make judgment calls about movies that may have some current political content, even if I agree with that content.
posted by edgeways at 3:02 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

There are much, much, much more conservative school boards than this. Like this one across the border in that liberal paradise known as British Columbia.

Of course, those fascist Canadians are also trying to ban The Handmaids Tale in schools.
posted by Artw at 3:06 PM on January 16

On another note, since the weekend has begun and there is no government on Monday, President Bush's term of service is effectively over right now. Right now.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:09 PM on January 16 [30 favorites]

Maybe if they can keep their fingers in the kids' ears long enough, that terrible black man will go away.

Sure, this might just be a school bureaucracy that's gotten silly beyond belief -- which is an issue in itself. But in some districts, it's pretty obviously a white Republican power structure that wants to demean or disempower minority students by turning the knife: "yeah, you finally got a President who looks like you, but we still have the power to make sure you can't celebrate that. So you minorities remember that, and remember to stay in your place."

When George W. Bush got inaugurated, these folks all said, we're all gone cheer together for this white God-fearing man. At every school football game and graduation in Texas, there's a clearly Protestant prayer that serves to remind Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and atheist students that they're second class citizens and required to participate in the very ceremonies that marginalize them.

This is just another form of social control, a reminder of who is the top dog, another in a long long long line of the petty, excuses-can-be-found-to-explain-away-wink-wink, unrelenting little humiliations that are the tail end of Jim Crow.
posted by orthogonality at 3:17 PM on January 16 [10 favorites]

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old. "The information that's being presented is a very cockeyed view of what the truth is. ... The Bible says that in the end times everything will burn up, but that perspective isn't in the DVD."

Ummm...Isn't Gore saying that everything IS burning up? What must it be like to go through life with no concept of the figurative?
posted by jimmythefish at 3:20 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

I kind of fucking give a shit. It doesn't read on my outrage meter, but it seems pretty strange and idiotic that people would view a good ol' traditional 'merican event a "documentary", even if there is much about the event and is coverage that is unavoidably biased (like any kind of communication). It's still a historic event, we can all agree on that. Using that school board's logic, parental signatures should be needed to teach the kinds about the U.S. constitution or the branches of government.
posted by theefixedstars at 3:26 PM on January 16

"yeah, you finally got a President who looks like you, but we still have the power to make sure you can't celebrate that. "

. . . unless you bring a permission slip?
posted by absalom at 3:37 PM on January 16

"yeah, you finally got a President who looks like you, but we still have the power to make sure you can't celebrate that."

Come see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help, I'm being repressed!

. . . unless you bring a permission slip?

Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, Didn't you?
posted by billysumday at 3:41 PM on January 16

absalom writes ". . . unless you bring a permission slip?"

Yes, precisely. A permission slip says there's something controversial or dangerous about an activity, something that parents might reasonably object to having their kids experience.

Why would a United States school district possibly think that the inauguration of the President of the United States might be controversial, other than that this is the first black man to be inaugurated president? It sure the hell ain't that Rick Warren's giving the invocation.
posted by orthogonality at 3:43 PM on January 16 [4 favorites]

I've been talking to students, and some of them are getting close to the end of their master's degree.

I told this to one of them, and explained how great it was to see a variety of theses.

He hollered at me to stop making shit jokes.

I'm going to lay down.
posted by boo_radley at 3:44 PM on January 16

On another note, since the weekend has begun and there is no government on Monday, President Bush's term of service is effectively over right now. Right now.

OMG. There's no president this weekend. Anarchy in the streets. I'm gonna go get me a new widescreen TV for free. Who's with me?
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 3:46 PM on January 16

From Artw's link:

A "review committee" is considering the book and will make a recommendation to the "director of education."

Why the scare quotes? Do they believe there is no such thing as a committee to review objected-to books? Or a person within the department of education who directs things? It's not like the board can just brush off a parent who brings a complaint, it does have to go through a review board before getting tossed aside.

I also don't understand why that's post-worthy. Parent objects, school board says 'meh, we'll look into it'. So?
posted by Lemurrhea at 3:51 PM on January 16

This is just another form of social control, a reminder of who is the top dog, another in a long long long line of the petty, excuses-can-be-found-to-explain-away-wink-wink, unrelenting little humiliations that are the tail end of Jim Crow.

Really? Cause from the article, it sounds more like typical bureaucratic inflexibility: anything not announced in the syllabus requires additional permission for certain kinds of content. Ridiculous, but I see no evidence this is political, just stupid. Schools do a ton of stuff like this, partly out of deathly fear of being sued. The article about the Gore film seems to validate this, as again they were worried about parental reaction in showing a "biased" point of view. Nothing indicates that the administrators themselves have a problem with it, other than the pathological fear of controversy that such groups always have.
posted by wildcrdj at 3:55 PM on January 16

Y'all think this is outrageous shit or something, but seriously, I grew up in the era of community book burnings (Silas Marner), gay panic, and girls dropping out of school for a year or two to take care of a mysterious illness (pregnancy). This is just weak, a parent's signature, we should have been so lucky.
posted by billysumday at 3:58 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

Also, I never watched any inauguration in school (let's see -- that would have been Reagan, Bush1, and Clinton). I'm surprised they don't just not show it, rather than go through these hoops. Depending on the age of the kids (not obvious to me from the first article --- is it all ages?) they probably don't care. Inaugurations are super boring, even if they are historic -- I'm certainly not going to watch it, and I voted for Obama. The exciting part is what he does after the inauguration.
posted by wildcrdj at 3:59 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

My school, which was just crazy-crazy, let us go watch no political or national occurances I can remember. But we did all pile into the little school library one day to watch the O.J Simpson verdict.
posted by SomeOneElse at 4:24 PM on January 16

I agree with wildcrdj, and would like to suggest that perhaps the teachers wanted this. Would you volunteer to supervise 100s of bored-to-tears kids throughout 2 hours of speeches?
posted by holyrood at 4:25 PM on January 16

I don't remember getting to watch an inauguration but we sure watched Nixon's funeral. It was a nice change of pace.

Anyway, if I had kids and the job flexibility I'd keep them home from school on Tuesday and watch the inauguration with them.
posted by sugarfish at 4:30 PM on January 16

We got to watch Carter's inauguration in my school. There was a live mike, and they spent a few minutes talking about wearing long underwear. All of us second graders really enjoyed that. Educational mission accomplished.
posted by jenkinsEar at 4:45 PM on January 16

I remember getting to watch the events around Nixon's resignation. No wait, that was in August before school started...
posted by Robert Angelo at 4:53 PM on January 16

Yes. Yes. This is pretty much like a bunch of people playing sports really well. Pretty much exactly as important to the future of the world.

No. Less important. I never watched any inaugurations in school either. Kids would be better off watching a session of Congress on C-SPAN to see how the U.S> government really "works."

Of course, those fascist Canadians are also trying to ban The Handmaids Tale in schools.

I was all excited to be shocked, but to be fair it is one wacko parent protesting. "... that moralizing Canadian parent who's surely embarrassing his child mightily" might be more accurate.
posted by mrgrimm at 5:09 PM on January 16

Our long national nightmare is just beginning.
posted by DU at 5:16 PM on January 16

On another note, since the weekend has begun and there is no government on Monday, President Bush's term of service is effectively over right now. Right now.

If I could favorite your comment a hundred more times, I would.
posted by MegoSteve at 5:19 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

Btw, the TMZ comments on Obama threads are something to behold.
posted by empath at 5:28 PM on January 16

My mom was a math teacher at my high school. Sometimes, when we both had lunch at the same time, we'd go to a restaurant together. This was technically against the rules, however, because I had not been given official parental permission to leave campus.

When it comes to public school, it's all crazy and dumb.
posted by Ms. Saint at 5:31 PM on January 16 [3 favorites]

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:37 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

"Condoms don't belong in school, and neither does Al Gore. He's not a schoolteacher," said Frosty Hardison, a parent of seven who also said that he believes the Earth is 14,000 years old.

Is this woman so stupid she gets YEC stupidity wrong? Or is she just a flavor of stupid I've never heard of?
posted by brundlefly at 5:39 PM on January 16

Or is she just a flavor of stupid I've never heard of?

She's doing what we in the Science Business call "guesstimating".
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:41 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

They have a syllabus in grade schools now? Times have changed.

Also:
Dr. Joshua Joseph Garcia, Federal Way's Executive Director of Teaching for Learning.

As opposed to what?
posted by madajb at 5:45 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]

There are much, much, much more conservative school boards than this. Like this one across the border in that liberal paradise known as British Columbia.

Dude, that's Surrey. Nobody even acknowledges its existence in B.C. I'm pretty sure it was traded to Alberta for a 14th round draft pick.
posted by mannequito at 6:01 PM on January 16

Who cares. It's a Tuesday. They're in school. Should this be elevated above any other inauguration? If so, why? Race? Please.
posted by VicNebulous at 6:16 PM on January 16

Who cares. It's a Tuesday. They're in school. Should this be elevated above any other inauguration? If so, why? Race? Please.

It has been commented that this is actually a noteworthy and historic occassion. Lunacy, I know.
posted by absalom at 6:41 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]

I remember in Seattle, not very far from Federal Way, they made us write letters to troops in Desert Storm in middle school, whether we wanted to or not. Which didn't really give us any historical or current context of why they were out there fighting.

At least knowing who your current president is, has educational value.

Oh, yeah. And that whole historical race thing too.
posted by yeloson at 6:43 PM on January 16

I remember watching space shuttle launches in school during the 1980s. Did we learn any science from it? No, but the sheer awe factor made me respect science and mathematics in a lasting way.

Maybe you didn't get to watch inauguration speeches in school, but maybe you should have, and they should now. Barack Obama will be our first African-American president; he is a gifted orator, and the change of Administration is occurring while the nation is at war. Economic turmoil is roiling the US and the world. History involves race, and more.

The speech will last, what, a half hour? We could all use some idealism. Children in grade school probably haven't formed a negative opinion of politics, yet, and it seems to be a good use of time if young people are impressed enough to respect the responsibility of those we elect to govern, and hold them to a high standard.
posted by woodway at 6:55 PM on January 16

It has been commented that this is actually a noteworthy and historic occassion. Lunacy, I know.

Well, it is historic -- on all fronts. Any inauguration is a 'noteworthy and historic' occasion. But is it any more historic because his father was Kenyan? No more so than if his mother was Lithuanian or his father was Canadian. Really. The media has blown this thing out of the box -- to the point where it's become more coronation than inauguration.

I want this guy to succeed as much as or more than anyone. I really do. But it's not the world-changing milestone that so many seem to think.

New CEO. New BOD. Regime change in America. Welcome aboard guys. Good luck. You'll need it. Our electorate is fickle and temperamental. Beware of dog.
posted by VicNebulous at 7:32 PM on January 16

On another note, since the weekend has begun and there is no government on Monday, President Bush's term of service is effectively over right now. Right now.

If only... I suppose you could say it is all over except for the pardons though.

And as to:

Who cares. It's a Tuesday. They're in school. Should this be elevated above any other inauguration? If so, why? Race? Please.

Well perhaps ethnicity does play a factor in it, and there is nothing actually wrong with that, but I am all for showing every presidential inauguration in US schools, even the asshat presidents. Then we should teach them how to have political conversations without shouting at one another... in other words, not on the internet.
posted by edgeways at 7:35 PM on January 16

One day in the '70's when I was quite young, in public school, they took all of us kids to a dentist. I think I even had a filling done that day. My parents knew nothing about it. Years later I thought it was all a weird fake memory or hallucination until others my age told similar stories of dental visits.
And the Ontario government would have paid for all of this, too.
An American parent would probably explode in this situation.
posted by chococat at 8:42 PM on January 16

i'm not sending my kid to school to watch tv, you know - instead of watching it on tv, they could be giving the kids a lesson about american inaugurations, how they used to be done, why the date was moved from march to january, what the constitutional significance of it is, all sorts of angles are possible here

instead, people are going to watch tv

that's not how school worked when i was a kid - and before you call me an old fart, let me remind you that our SAT scores were better than yours

and this is a small part of the reason why
posted by pyramid termite at 9:07 PM on January 16

that's not how school worked when i was a kid - and before you call me an old fart, let me remind you that our SAT scores were better than yours

When the Challenger exploded, my school wheeled TVs into as many classrooms as they could. This was in Canada, mind you.

Whether tragic or joyous, newsworthy events enrich culture and lives. Children deserve no less in their education.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:18 PM on January 16

I don't think I ever once got to watch a live event on TV when I was in school. Instead we just watched Remember the Titans in multiple classes several times a year. My middle school principal went so far as to forbid all the teachers from turning on the TV on 9/11. Now that I know other schools got to watch TV I'm kind of jealous.
posted by lilac girl at 9:41 PM on January 16

I remember watching Ronald Reagan's inauguration when I was in elementary school, and nobody asked for permission slips. If you've ever lived in a white-bread suburb like I did, you'd be suspicious too about whether there is some partisan or racial bias going on here.
posted by jonp72 at 9:45 PM on January 16

The only 'permission' that should be involved is the permission of the principle for a teacher to choose to show this in their class. And frankly, parents should not be allowed to opt their child out of the class. The fact that it is on television is irrelevant (except that pyramid termite gets to make some lovely smartass remarks, the sentiment of which I appreciate, being old and all).
posted by Goofyy at 9:53 PM on January 16

Whether tragic or joyous, newsworthy events enrich culture and lives.

how did watching the space shuttle blow up at school enrich your life or culture in any kind of way that wacthing it later on the 6 o clock news wouldn't have?

you see, there seems to be this underlying assumption that being a spectator to something is of itself a meaningful educational event comparable to reading and thinking about what is being watched - and that watching something is the same thing as having experienced it - or understanding it

why not just cancel school for that day and let kids watch the inauguration at home?

this just seems like a shortcut to me - plop some kids in front of a tv and tell yourself they're learning something

(of course, having parents fill out a permission slip to hear the president of the united states speak seems downright bizarre, if not unpatriotic ...)
posted by pyramid termite at 10:26 PM on January 16

Well, it is historic -- on all fronts. Any inauguration is a 'noteworthy and historic' occasion. But is it any more historic because his father was Kenyan? No more so than if his mother was Lithuanian or his father was Canadian. Really.

Race is the central issue of American history. It is the organizing concept about which the arc of our nation has been bent.

You might not like it, but it is so.

I grew up in the era of community book burnings (Silas Marner), gay panic, and girls dropping out of school for a year or two to take care of a mysterious illness (pregnancy).

Silas Marner? Really?
posted by mr_roboto at 11:29 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]

how did watching the space shuttle blow up at school enrich your life or culture in any kind of way that wacthing it later on the 6 o clock news wouldn't have?

I don't remember much about it, honestly, being pretty young, but I do remember that we discussed the space shuttle, the Canadian robot arm, and the school teacher who died in the accident. I probably learned more about the American space program that day than at any point before. We also talked about mortality, or at least what we could discuss about it at that age.

All of that may not mean much to you, but it was meaningful to me, on some level, and I am a richer person for having had that be part of my upbringing. For that reason, I would hope that students would be able to experience something similar, if in more cheerful circumstances.

this just seems like a shortcut to me - plop some kids in front of a tv and tell yourself they're learning something

Well, you're going to have to talk to the Federal Way administrators about that one. Unless the American public school system is really that fucked, and I doubt that would be true for this school, I don't agree with you that this would not provoke any kind of non-televisual learning. I just don't think what your proposing is what would happen in real life.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:14 AM on January 17

Millions of people will be glued to the TV next week and they don't need a fucking reason!
posted by zouhair at 1:30 AM on January 17

So if I was American, could I send a note that I want my kids to be excused from having to say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Because that's some silly ass shit right there, a bunch of kids pledging their loyalty to state, nation and flag every morning.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 5:36 AM on January 17

I do remember that we discussed the space shuttle, the Canadian robot arm, and the school teacher who died in the accident.

my whole point is that you wouldn't have had to watch it in the classroom to be able to discuss those things and the time spent watching it is time that isn't being spent discussing it
posted by pyramid termite at 6:04 AM on January 17

So if I was American, could I send a note that I want my kids to be excused from having to say the Pledge of Allegiance?


You don't need to send a note:

Even before the addition of the phrase "under God" in 1954, legal challenges were frequently founded on the basis of freedom of religion.

Central to early challenges were Jehovah's Witnesses, a group whose beliefs preclude swearing loyalty to any power lesser than God. In the 1940 Supreme Court case Minersville School District vs. Gobitis, an 8-1 majority in the Court held that a school district's interest in promoting national unity permitted it to require Witness students to recite the Pledge along with their class mates. Gobitis was an unpopular decision in the press, and it led to a rash of mob violence and intimidation against Jehovah's Witnesses; three years later in West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette, the Court reversed itself, voting 6-3 to forbid a school from requiring the Pledge.

As a result, since 1943 public schools have been disallowed from punishing students for not reciting the Pledge.

Does this this whole business of permission slips for the big day have anything to do with exactly how long there are going to be showing the ceremony? If they were simply going to turn on for a 15 minute speech that would seem silly, but if it's going to take up a whole class period or more I can imagine that would require some kind of paperwork no matter what it was (apart from pre-scheduled school-related bs like pep rallies).
posted by K.P. at 7:44 AM on January 17

that's not how school worked when i was a kid - and before you call me an old fart, let me remind you that our SAT scores were better than yours


Sigh. It's so boring when you do this.
posted by applemeat at 7:58 AM on January 17

Maybe if they can keep their fingers in the kids' ears long enough, that terrible black man will go away. [...] It's pretty obviously a white Republican power structure that wants to demean or disempower minority students by turning the knife [...] another in a long long long line of the petty, excuses-can-be-found-to-explain-away-wink-wink, unrelenting little humiliations that are the tail end of Jim Crow.

*stares*

Have you .... have you ever *been* to Seattle? This is the Liberal White Guilt Capitol of the nation. Not reeeeaaaally so much with the Klan robes and all.
posted by webmutant at 8:24 AM on January 17

pyramid termite: You make a lot of assumptions (or straw men?). How do you know teachers are NOT showing the inauguration as part of a comprehensive lesson plans, assumption? You know what they say about those - and those who make them.

Also, if your SAT or ACT scores were better than mine, I'd be quite surprised. You know, since we're all making baseless assumptions.
posted by absalom at 10:17 AM on January 20

OH, and it's worth noting that all the Old Farts didn't have an essay component on their SAT or ACT - it was a much *simpler* test back then.
posted by absalom at 10:18 AM on January 20