Check out this story from the New York Times today. Isn't it cute the way he revealed a personal anecdote from America's First Family who's just like you and me? Following the story are a couple of comments I made on the page awaiting "approval." I sure hope they pass muster with the Times.
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The Caucus - The Politics and Government blog of The New York Times
November 4, 2009, 4:31 pm
Obama Uses Malia’s Test Scores as a Teaching Example
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
MADISON, Wisconsin – President Obama marked the first anniversary of his election on Wednesday by calling on states to toughen their education standards – and wound up calling on parents to toughen theirs, too, as he confessed that his 11-year-old daughter, Malia, recently got a 73 on her science test.
...... toward the end of his speech, Mr. Obama diverted from his prepared text to talk about his daughter’s experience in school – a rarity for a president who has tried his best to keep his children’s lives a private matter.
“Malia and Sasha are just wonderful kids ,and Michelle is a wonderful mother,’’ Mr. Obama said. “But even in our own household, with all the privileges and opportunities we have there are times when the kids slack off. There are times when they would rather be watching TV or playing a computer game than hitting the books.’’
Then, to a chorus of oooohs from the crowd, he said that Malia, a sixth-grader at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, had come home with a 73 on her science test not long ago. He recounted how, a few years ago, she had come home with a grade in the 80s, believing that she had ‘’done pretty well.’’ He and his wife corrected her, telling her that their goal was “90 percent and up.’’
“So here’s the interesting thing: she started internalizing that,’’ the president said, adding that when she came home with a 73 on the science test ‘’she was depressed.’’ He asked her what happened, and she said the study guide didn’t match up with the test. So she vowed to study harder.
“So she came home yesterday, she got a 95,’’ Mr. Obama said. “But here’ the point: She said, ‘You know , I just like having knowledge.’’
The moral of the story, in the president’s view: “Don’t just expect teachers to set a high bar. You’ve got to set a high bar.”
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Now on with the comments:
Wait a second...... so let me get this straight: a while back this girl got good grades on her own without any "special" attention, just being raised by loving parents. Then, on her own, she floundered a bit. Her loving parents encouraged her to work harder and earn a better outcome. I notice they did NOT have someone else come in for the assist; they did NOT give her money, another book, a desk, food stamps, general relief, WIC, or any other entitlements -- they just taught her to work a little harder and put her nose to the grindstone. And then the outcome was a better grade and sense of accomplishment, true pride, and willingness to keep doing better?? Is that what this story says?!?!?!
In that case what the kid SHOULD do, because it’s her moral obligation, is give 28% of her score to spread amongst her neighbor’s kid who’s out skateboarding at the mall, the fat kid lying on the couch eating Ho-Ho's while dad's with his buddies drinking beer on the porch, the girls at the mall watching the boy skateboard, and the poor minority kids playing basketball at the park. Then she needs to give 8.125% to the government so she’ll have a retirement income to supplement her own savings, and the school needs to chip in the same amount. She also needs to devote about 7.5% to the District of Columbia even though she doesn’t go to school there but, again, it’s that moral obligation thing. That should bring her in line with the mainstream — but we encourage her to keep doing better so she can “give back” more to the society that handed her all that good fortune.
But that ain't gonna happen. She's gonna keep it all because she earned it; she worked hard for it and it instilled self esteem and a desire to continue to do better.
Daddy is actually raising a capitalist.
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