I was considering staying home to watch the inauguration, but i dicided to go to school.When I got there I was very disappointed to discover that almost no teacher was watching the inauguration, and they weren’t planning on turning it on either. If it’s not guaranteed that schools will show the inauguration, then I agree with Linda Ellerbee that it would be worthwhile to stay home from school to watch. I think either all TV’s should be on at school on inauguration day or it should be a holiday.

Brett,

Forget looking up “gullible.” I really am Linda Ellerbee. And I have much enjoyed reading this debate. Here’s how I came to be part of it. Nickelodeon asked me if AOL could interview me about how to talk to kids about the inauguration. I said yes and a nice young woman interviewed me over the phone. Nobody mentioned ParentDish, so I don’t really understand the connection there, but, anyway, during the interview I DID say I thought kids ought to be able to skip school and parents skip work in order to watch the inauguration together. I said, in fact, that I believed every inauguration ought to be a national holiday (that’s in the ParentDish piece), which does indeed imply I meant Republican inaugurations as well. So, yes, to the Sara Palin question.

Trouble is, most of us (I include myself) read and hear only what we want to read and hear. And so eventually it whips around various websites until all that’s left is “Ellerbee says kids should skip school for THIS inauguration.”

However, having said that I meant all inaugurations, I do agree that THIS inauguration was more historic than most, for all the reasons others have stated. If it wasn’t pretty damn historic, then why were those 2 million or so Americans huddled in bitter cold from the capitol to the Lincoln Memorial?

That, by the way, is the single most powerful image I took from the day.

And while I was thrilled so many schools found ways for students to see the event on television, I still think not watching it with your own kids is a missed opportunity for kid and parent.

Uh, and so it goes.

Respectfully,

Linda

p.s. Interview about what?

I think your viewpoint is fine, but I also think mine — I’m keeping my daughter home after much debate — does not amount to saying that school is not important. She’s missing school for a historic first in her country. Putting blinders on and pretending that it’s just like any other inauguration isn’t honest.

I completely disagree with you as well as many other people. Tomorrow is a historic event. There is an inauguration that happens every four years but that does not make them historic. Obama being the first african american to be elected president makes this a historic event. So it’s not keeping them home to “watch television” but yet experience a once in a lifetime event with their family. I found this blog because I was looking for advice on if I should go ahead and keep my 3rd grader and kindergartner home. After reading your insane post I have decided to do as I originally planned and keep them home. 20 years from now when they are asked “Where were you on January 20, 2009?”, they can say I was at home with my parents watching Obama get sworn in rather than I was at school playing with blocks and crayons.

Is that actually Linda Ellerbee? If so, I’m flattered.
I will question one thing – I don’t see John McCain mentioned in the ParentDish post that I link to. If there is another version of the story that has different information please let me know.
Are you are willing to do a quick interview, either by phone or email/chat? If so, let me know; if not, no worries. Either way, thank you very much for your reply. (And if that wasn’t Linda Ellerbee, you’ll have to excuse me while I go and double-check if the word “gullible” is actually in the dictionary.)

I teach third grade and I plan to show my students the inaugual Day procedings, at least part of it. It would probably more effective to tape it and show it again later when I can pause, comment and teach. I haven’t quite figured out how to manage the whole lunch/recess interuption. I would have shown it with either candidate because it teaches citizenship and current events. This will be an especially significant year. I really appreciate the folks’ comments on wanting to teach their children. Maybe we should have considered inviting parents to come to school. Then the kids wouldn’t miss the whole day for an hour long ceremony. I’m glad to say the staff in my district is “big enough” to show the inauguaration every time, not just when the NEA is supportive of the candidate. My students understand, as much as a 9 year old can, that this is a big deal. Honestly, some of them are a little confused about why grown ups make such a big deal about the color of somebody’s skin.

I’m keeping my third grader home from school so we can watch the inauguration on Tuesday, you betcha, the same as I would have kept her home to watch a once in a lifetime moon landing. She’s been very interested and engaged in the election process, and I want to sit with her and talk with her about it. Yes, “our guy” (“That One”?) won, and I certainly wouldn’t have taken her out of school to watch McCain be inaugurated, or Bush (heaven forbid) for that matter. Still, the fact that someone so intelligent and charismatic is becoming our president is one of the things that makes the event so intriguing, and I want to share it with her. Are her teachers going to tell her the story of how Marian Anderson had to sing from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when she was refused entry to Constitution Hall by the DAR? I doubt it. I intend to share the day with her and I believe she’ll remember it as clearly as I recall staying up til midnight to watch Americans walk on the moon.

Also:
“But I don’t believe that this is why so many schools are having kids watch the ceremony, and I don’t think that’s why so many people are traveling to D.C. to experience the event in person. At least, it’s not the only reason. Part of it is that “our guy won.” Another part of it is that “George W. Bush has been a terrible President.”

So? Since when has history been bereft of political background?

“Our guy won” etc. is a sidenote, and in no way detracts from the fact that as a nation, we have made amazing social changes. And it’ll be the same for our first female president, even if it’s (shudder) Sarah Palin.