Monday, 7 September 2009
I hope you had a pleasant Labor Day Weekend. Having received a number of inquiries regarding President Obama’s “back to school” speech tomorrow, I thought I would send a brief clarification. While there are certainly merits behind President Obama’s goals in addressing a speech to students at the start of the academic year, at MVS, we have decided not to make arrangements to broadcast the speech to our students.
The White House has made available the text version of the President’s speech, which can be found at the following weblink: http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/
Pat Basset, President of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS, of which MVS is a proud member), posted a letter from a member school in Florida, which eloquently addresses the reasoning and approach that MVS and many other independent schools are taking in regard to President Obama’s speech. I hope this letter clarifies our position in the
With sincere regards,
Sam Wagner Head of
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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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