My stance on "The Speech"

Ok so many think that this for me is an issue because I am a conservative republican and have fundamental issues with the policies that are being worked. This is not the case. If Bush or any other President wanted to do this I would have the exact same response to it. My issue is that here in California we are so tight in our budget that we can not afford many or the things that in most areas are expected and covered by the school district. Our children are in schools that can not be repaired when they have issues because the money is not there. Music, Art, PE and Computer is paid for by the PTA because the schools can not afford to pay the teachers. We have over crowded class rooms sitting in some rooms are at 35 to 1 ratios. Teachers having to teach a combination of grades class just so that the ratios are not worse than where they are. The high school can not afford to pay coaches for sports teams and forget paying for buses to get them to games. Oh that and if you are lucky enough to be on a bus route then you have the privilege to pay $200.00 per child to let them ride the school bus. With the teachers having so much on their plate as it is to me it is unfair to take their valuable time up with a 20 minute speech. Add to that then having all of the "recommended" activities that go along with that speech. While here in California we are into the first month of school the teachers have more of a routine at this time to get the amazing things done that they do every day with the little that they are given to do it with. For those that have this speech on the first day of school it is even more of a burden. The first day is hard enough in all grade levels for many reason that adding in this speech is an unreasonable request. I would have no issue with this speech if a little bit of common sense was applied and it was done Monday or Tuesday night where the kids would be able to watch it at home. I also feel that this topic is something that parents should be able to discuss with their child. This is not up to the teachers to have to cover with the students when the parents can just as simply do the same things at home with the materials provided to go with this speech. I think that the message of stay in school and get a good education is wonderful but not something that needs to be covered in the class room. Teachers are under so much pressure to teach to the testing standards for each state that they have little to no freedom to work with the children on things that do not fall on the test. Some of this is stuff that is important. In Virginia my children were taught simply to pass the Standards of Learning ( SOL) Test. This test was the only focus of the schools for the year. Everything revolved around what was on this test. Children would be so stressed out by this test that they would get ill from worry about doing well on the test. This is even in the elementary levels! Here i California we have the Star testing and the Bench Mark testing. The children are forever in some type of testing or prep for the testing. In Virginia my children were taught history... Virginia's History. Here in California they are taught something else. Personally I feel that this is an issue that Obama should be looking at. With so many dropping out and failing he should spend the time looking at the true cause of this and not preaching at them to stay in school. This message is told to them over and over. They know why to stay in school they know why it is important. If Obama is worried about our children competing in the Global marketplace as they get older then the focus needs to be less on stay in school and more on improve the education that is being provided to the children that are in school. Make an National Grading scale so that kids graduating High School have the same GPA in one state as they would in another by having all using the same grading scale. Not having this puts these children at a disadvantage when they are applying to college. Having a curriculum that is the same across the nation would help as well this way all children are being taught the same thing regardless of where they live. There is no advantage or disadvantage by state standards. For me personally there are many issues that I feel need to be addressed by the country as a whole so that the education system can get back on track. As a military family we have the unique ability to move many times during the time that our children are in school. This affords us the ability to move to a better area and in some cases a far worse one with little or no say as to the education that is provided by the schools. This is why many military families feel it imperative to home school their children. This helps those children to receive a great education and many times that is something that the schools that the children would have attended could not do. With the challenges that military children face every day I feel that education and the right to a good education is something that should never be an issue! Our Children send their mothers and fathers off to war. Spend months at a time with only one parent or in some situations other family members because both mom and dad are deployed. They never know if Mom or Dad is ever going to be able to come back from war they know the price that may be paid.

They are not like the other children in the schools and they speak a different language than that of their friends. For those that do not know Military speak is far different than that of a civilian. For instance my husband receives and LES where we can see what he got paid for BAH, BAS and what deductions were taken for SGLI and other such things. Now if this does not have you confused my children will ask where the Head is, what time you hit the Rack, if you wear your cover in the house. Ok those are simple. In a conversation with other spouses you can here words like duty , TDY, Ditty, pcs, prd, duty and so on. Those are also terms that i hear the kids using as well. With the many challenges that the kids face having education being another one is even more unfair to them.

So President Obama if you would like to see our children do better in school and stay in school make school a better place with education levels being to the standards that they had been years ago when we were as a country one of the best places to get educated!