President Bush collects letters from students at the General Philip Kearny School in Philadelphia today. (AP Photo by J. Scott Applewhite)
by Mark Silva
We've seen President Bush in classrooms before - we saw him there on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, at Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Fla., listening to second-graders reading.
And we saw him there again today, at the General Philip Kearny School in Philadelphia, celebrating the seventh anniversary of his signing of the No Child Left Behind Act. - on what is expected to be his second to last journey aboard Air Force One as president.
And this morning, the president was telling second-graders in Philadelphia the same thing he told second-graders in Sarasota on the morning of 9/11.
"Reading more than they watch TV?... Anybody do that?" the president asked the schoolchildren that morning in 2001.
"Make sure you read more than you watch TV,'' Bush told the schoolkids this morning.
(Read on about the mornings with the second grade -- (Photo, right, of Bush getting word of a second airliner hitting a second tower of the World Trade Center / AP)
The No Child Left Behind Act was the most significant domestic reform of the president's first term - save, perhaps, for his two big tax cuts. It was overshadowed by 9/11 and everything that followed, and indeed criticism for NCLB has only grown during its several years of demanding annual student testing. It was enacted with a fanfare of bipartisan support, but critics complain the government never provided schools with the funding needed for reforms in classrooms failing to make "adequate yearly progress.''
At 9:00 am EST, three green and white Marine helicopters approached the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base on a clear and cold morning. The President and First Lady Laura Bush stepped out of Marine One and climbed the starts to Air Force One, wheels up at 9:13 a.m.
"There was some modest turbulence at the start of the flight,'' print pooler David Cook of the Christian Science Monitor reports, "bu not enough to keep your pooler from sampling breakfast. Menu: fruit bowl, muffin, and orange juice. ''
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter joined Bush.
AF One landed in Philly in 9:36 am. The presidential motorcade headed into Philadelphia on I-95 north, and arrived at the General Philip Kearny School at 10:07. In the second-grade classroom of Cheryl Feldscher, the boys all dressed in blue shirts, the girls in blue dresses, one wall displayed the sign, "Math Word Wall,'' another displayed the sign "Science Word Wall."
"Good morning, press,'' the teacher said to the pool. She prompted the class in questions for press including, "why is their fur on the microphone?'' Before the Bushes entered the classroom, a number of Secret Service agents arrived. The teacher explained to the class that they were e there to "keep him safe, so no harm comes to him."
At 10:17 am, Mrs. Bush, a onetime school librarian, entered with a "Hi everybody."
The president asked the class: "Are you learning how to read?" He also told the class: "Make sure you read more than you watch TV... With all due respect to the TV cameras, you learn more reading than from TV."
Several years ago, I was the print pool reporter as Bush arrived at an elementary school in Florida amid news that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center. As he settled into a chair next to the teacher who played host to the president in Sarasota that morning, Bush asked the children:
"Reading more than they watch TV?... Anybody do that?"
The children's hands shot up.
"Really good readers -- whew!" said Bush, delivering the ultimate compliment: "This must be Sixth Grade."
Andy Card, the president's chief of staff, had entered that classroom and quietly whispered in the president's ear the news that a second airliner had hit a second tower, that the first crash was no accident, that the U.S. was under attack. The president withheld that news from the children during the few minutes that he remained in the room listening to them read.
As the children finished reading, they closed with this phrase: "more to come." Bush asked them what that means. Something is happening, they replied.
"That's exactly right,'' the president said.
Comments
Too bad he doesn't take his own advice.
Posted by: Janstress | January 8, 2009 12:49 PM
He didn't want to read "My Pet Goat," did he?
Posted by: Jeff | January 8, 2009 12:51 PM
Was Bush reading from "My Pet Goat" again?
Posted by: Richard S. | January 8, 2009 1:00 PM
At least NCLB attempted to make someone accountable to change the dismal performance of public schools. Lack of funds failed to prevent the Chicago PS's (under the guidance of our new ed. sect. designate) to spend 67K on cappuccinos. Enough "Bush bashing" we want more fluff pieces on "get er done" Obama.
Posted by: Bubba Porter | January 8, 2009 1:10 PM
"Why is their fur on the microphone?" You have got to be kidding me; does anyone proofread anything anymore? And this is a story about education, among other things.
Posted by: JCC | January 8, 2009 1:18 PM
You won’t read this classroom high jinx in the media because it had to do with Barack Obama. Read it at, http://stopthepresses2.blogspot.com/2008/12/conservative-plant-asks-obama-tough.html
Posted by: Stopthepresses | January 8, 2009 1:18 PM
It may be he DOES take his own advice. If he reads nothing and doesn't watch TV either (i.e., if there's nothing AT ALL getting through to him), technically he's not being hypocritical.
Posted by: Op109 | January 8, 2009 1:24 PM
The first 2 comments are from 2 liberal asses. Watch spineless Obama fail internationally and you 2 will still blame Bush.
Posted by: Jim | January 8, 2009 1:27 PM
Rarely is the question asked, "Is our children learning?"
Posted by: Dave | January 8, 2009 1:27 PM
I wonder what books Bush has ever read, beside 'My Pet Goat' (which he told us all was his favorite). My little nephew's read more than this classless person.
Posted by: Doug R. | January 8, 2009 1:32 PM
Two-week advent calendar for Inauguration Day
Each day for the next two weeks, you get to open a door celebrating the end of the Bush Administration.
And my my ... what goodies we find inside!
Jan. 8: A petri dish (stem cells).
Jan. 9: A toxic toy from China.
Jan. 10: A wiretap.
Jan. 11: A pretzel.
Jan. 12: A vial of oil.
Jan. 13: A model of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Jan. 14: A signing statement.
Jan. 15: A government job (even though you aren't qualified).
Jan. 16: Mardi Gras beads (Katrina).
Jan. 17: A tiny, tiny dollar bill.
Jan. 18: A copy of 'My Pet Goat.'
Jan. 19: A toy replica of the Twin Towers.
Jan. 20: The Constitution.
HAPPY INAUGURATION DAY, PRESIDENT OBAMA!
Posted by: Big Orange Satan | January 8, 2009 2:23 PM
Yesterday I called those on the Left scum, which obviously drew some ire. But in this Swamp item, Bush provides a good lesson to schoolkids and that is to read. Reading is the essence of knowledge. So, in a tale about a positive, good message the President is telling schoolkids, we have the scum once again lower themselves to their usual selves.
I also want to note that it is very interesting that the Swamp did not have anything on Bush signing orders protecting sea life and various oceanic areas from development. It's interesting, but not surprising. The Tribune, like most media in this country, have a history of not covering the accomplishments of this administration (of which there are many, regardless of what the scum think) or the good things this administration has done (again, the Bush administration has done much good in eight years).
Posted by: John D | January 8, 2009 2:24 PM
Isn't this the same person who said that he only looks at the headlines and doesn't read the stories?
The same guy who had to have things put on a DVD so he could see them on TV instead of READING them?
Posted by: W OBrien | January 8, 2009 3:02 PM
Bush is wrong. We don't need any of that elitist book learning. We need more Joe Sixpacks, not a bunch of people who read books and and newspapers and stuff.
Posted by: Palin Lover | January 8, 2009 3:09 PM
I also want to note that it is very interesting that the Swamp did not have anything on Bush signing orders protecting sea life and various oceanic areas from development. It's interesting, but not surprising. The Tribune, like most media in this country, have a history of not covering the accomplishments of this administration (of which there are many, regardless of what the scum think)
Posted by: John D | January 8, 2009 2:24 PM
Ha ha ha ha ha! Bush "accomplishments"?...Ha ha ha ha!
I'm sure we'll be seeing mobs of angry little Johnny D GOP rioters in the streets over this any day now. Just as soon as Rush gives them permission.
Posted by: Dyslin | January 8, 2009 3:47 PM
I also want to note that it is very interesting that the Swamp did not have anything on Bush signing orders protecting sea life and various oceanic areas from development. It's interesting, but not surprising. The Tribune, like most media in this country, have a history of not covering the accomplishments of this administration (of which there are many, regardless of what the scum think)
Posted by: John D | January 8, 2009 2:24 PM
Ha ha ha ha ha! Bush "accomplishments"?...Ha ha ha ha!
I'm sure we'll be seeing mobs of angry little Johnny D GOP rioters in the streets over this any day now. Just as soon as Rush gives them permission.
Posted by: Dyslin | January 8, 2009 3:51 PM
Poor Johnny Donuts the editor in chief. He still hasn't learned the correct use of parenthesis or how to write a complete sentence.
Watch out for your job there Donut, people much more qualified than you are currently out of work.
Posted by: Dyslin Green D Trees | January 8, 2009 11:26 PM
This from the most illiterate president in memory.
He can't put together a literate sentence.
He can't pronounce many words.
He bragged in the 2000 campaign about not reading the newspaper.
And it is pretty clear he's never read a serious book.
Posted by: JOHN CHUCKMAN | January 9, 2009 8:24 AM