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Say what?: 9 Comments

1. Meredith Broderick wrote,

   Come on Doug you can’t knock someone for being consistent. That is a perfect “Bushism” , in perfect keeping with the tone, tenor and merit of what he has been spouting for the last 7 years.
   All he is really saying is you have a much better chance in this system if you are born wealthy as opposed to earning your achievements through hard work and cultivated intelligence. You disagree with this how?
   Though I am not so sure that Ms. Rice is so brilliant, I mean look who she chose to work for.

   Link | September 21st, 2007 at 1:50 am

2. Brian wrote,

   A. You find fault with a man who admits he can’t predict the future.

   B. He is the President of the U. S. of A. and his comments/idle speculation carry much weight on the markets therefore it is would be inappropriate to answer such a hypothetical question. Yes, HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION. Yes, INAPPROPRIATE.

   C. I thought it was a great answer. Recession isn’t a real issue on the horizon except for Greenspan’s recent remarks. Love him or hate him Greenspan has been predicting inflation for the last 15 years. He has a recession fetish. The President’s comments took the question from a hypothetical issue back to the real, present day issues of tax cuts and government spending (neither of which has he delivered on in years).

   D. A finger wag at you: Hypocrite in Chief? Disrespectful, off hand comments like this on the part of a school teacher, comments that would lead youngsters to question authority and undermine their parent’s teachings, are completely inappropriate in the classroom.

   No, this isn’t the classroom. It is a teaching blog. It is a blog which discusses real time classroom issues. It is flipant comments like this on the part of teachers, which you undoubtedly see as completely harmless, that are a small part of the reason my kids will never attend public school (God willing).

   I would not stand for disrespect of Office of President even if the teacher berated the real, philandering, lying hypocrite who held the office previous. To do so would be to undermine the decent, respectful children I am trying to raise.

   D. Finger wag #2: President Bush (and myself) attended school in an age when average students received “C”s. Today, with grade inflation, something like 80%-90% of all grades awarded in some institutions are “A’s”. Average studends EXPECT to get “A’s”. High school and college dropouts who start million dollar companies or become famous rappers are lauded in the media as shining examples of how unimportant an education is.

   How dare you take a humble comment by a humble man who acknowledges the intelligence of a friend and turn it into an admission of stupidity. There are meaningful targets for your anger towards a failing school system. Start with the NEA and your local school district. The President shares some blame, but to twist these particular words to suit your political orientation shows more about your character than his.

   Link | September 21st, 2007 at 1:54 am

3. Doug Noon wrote,

   Brian’s response misses a key point. The person who disrespects the office of the president with offhand remarks is the man currently holding the office, making those remarks. Brian’s response about recession not being a real issue was better than Bush’s, and he should consider advising him, not me, about propriety.

   A leader who champions the value of academic achievement should model that cause in word and deed. Bragging about mediocre performance in school is conduct unbecoming of a leader - parent or president.

   “… a humble comment by a humble man…” Ha, ha, ha, ha..

   Meredith’s observation about the benefits of privilege is exactly right. It was mean of me, I know, to pick on the president for flaunting that.

   Link | September 21st, 2007 at 5:48 am

4. Sarah Puglisi wrote,

   The worst part of the entire thing is…. this is the President demanding a test based accountability ed. system so that a “C” student would be excluded from the opportunities he so obviously enjoyed. Think about that.

   Grade inflation is not new. Are you deluding yourself?
   The Ivy League had the “Gentleman’s C” from before I was born. My father often said, holding PHD’s from Wisconsin, that one had to watch exactly where someone was in a class standing, meaning if they were one of the privileged that had donor family power they also needed to show graduating above last place to prove it was work they did academically.

   I’d like to believe all Bush’s buffoonery is an “act’.
   Molly Ivin’s credited Bush with intelligences that I often miss, but in general, publicly humiliating your own staff for their skills and efforts to become educated tends to make me think you are playing to that part of the electorate you see as your base…a group it would seem suspicious of education for very different reasons.And perhaps not so able now to access it anyway.

   Link | September 21st, 2007 at 7:30 am

5. Judy Gould wrote,

   God help us.

   Link | September 21st, 2007 at 8:47 am

6. Brian wrote,

   “God help us.”

   It may be too late. All we can do is actively campaign for more good men like Bush.

   Keep praying, Judy.

   Link | September 21st, 2007 at 1:00 pm

7. Meredith Broderick wrote,

   What country is Brian living in?

   Link | September 24th, 2007 at 5:36 pm

8. Doug Noon wrote,

   He’s lives right here in God’s Country, North Pole, AK.

   Link | September 24th, 2007 at 11:07 pm

9. Learning Signal - Today’s Top Blog Posts on eLearning - Powered by SocialRank wrote,

   [...] Say what? [...]

   Link | October 1st, 2007 at 3:03 am

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