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| Raw Text: Obama's Speech to American School Children | |||||||
| 2009-09-07 | |||||||
| Believing that every parent should read this, especially ones in the the school districts that are insisting their students will watch "live," and making sure Rantburg parents have access, here it is 2435 number of words 67 number of times use of the word I 42 paragraphs 145 sentences 3.4 average sentence per paragraph 16.7 average words per sentence 4.2 average characters per word Grade level readability for your children? 6.6 grade Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School Event Arlington, Virginia September 8, 2009 The President: Hello everyone - how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I'm glad you all could join us today. I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning. I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday - at 4:30 in the morning. Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster." So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year. Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility. I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.
But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world - and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide. Maybe you could be a good writer - maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper - but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor - maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine - but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team. And no matter what you want to do with your life - I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.
You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that - if you quit on school - you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country. Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork. I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in. So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse. But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama,
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right. But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life - what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home - that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying. Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez. I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer - hundreds of extra hours - to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall. And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college. Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education - and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter. Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.
But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try. That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you - you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust - a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor - and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you - don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country. The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other. So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country? Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn.
So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down - don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. I do believe, this is the first time I've aware that he ends a speech like Bush always did, "God bless you, and God bless America."
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| Posted by:Sherry |
| #16 Just about a couple of hours ago, I did a stand-up for a local TV station about this - outlining why the Tea Party was so upset about it, and I think I managed to get across that it wasn't the speech so much - as the totally creepy lesson plan to go along with it - and the terribly polarized political atmosphere. I think enough people here kicked up enough of a fuss that most of the school districts threw in the towel and put it on their websites. What I think most people feared was having their kinds singled out by other pupils and by over-zealous teachers - and lawsuits have been made out of far, far less. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2009-09-07 18:13 |
| #15 BTW, eLarson, I am so stealing that. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-09-07 17:50 |
| #14 elarson wins the thread! :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-09-07 17:49 |
| #13 My kids will come home from school tomorrow and call or pres a jerk. Kids see through this crap. I cant wait to hear what they say. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2009-09-07 17:30 |
| #12 elarson - LOLOL! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-07 17:09 |
| #11 as I remember, back in the day when I was in school, I would really want to listen to this pompous ass self-reflect and tell me to do sh*t I already knew. What a pr*ck. This will not endear him to anyone, and costs him cred and trust he was already shorting. Whoever brainstormed this should be out the door |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-07 17:09 |
| #10 Another piece for his third memoir: Songs in the Key of Me. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2009-09-07 17:06 |
| #9 Seems to me that Obama's first worshiper and highest devotee is Obama himself. In order words Obama really does think he's the second coming and he can 'inspire the childin' simply by delivering a speech. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-09-07 17:05 |
| #8 Long-winded Bullshitter, isn't he. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-09-07 16:54 |
#7 Since his audience consists of students from kindergarten to grade 12, he should have mentioned that after his stay in Indonesia, he did this:In 1971, he (Obama) returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham, and attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from the fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979. If he uses his own life history to make an argument, rather than promoting it in the abstract, leaving out his attendance at a private prep school is certainly disingenuous. Also no mention of his college records, and what role Khalid Al-Mansour played. |
| Posted by: Whaviting Brown8159 2009-09-07 16:45 |
| #6 If all he's going to do is to tell the kids to wash their hands and eat their peas, it isn't worth doing. The 'inspiration' the kids will receive is negligible -- "great, another adult telling us what to do." I think you're right: it's the precedent for the next speech, and the next, pre-recorded and delivered with a lot less fanfare. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-09-07 16:17 |
| #5 saw his speech to the Union Hacks in Ohio (via Foxnews) this AM - he's back in campaign mode. Unpresidential, yes, hackneyed crap for the koolaid drinkers, yes. Unexpected? Nooooo He's back in Us vs Them™ mode to rile up the base before he sells them out to get any healthcare plan that he can. He smells like desperation |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-07 16:09 |
| #4 Very, very impressive: I'm here with students I'm glad I know I imagine I know that feeling. When I was young my family my mother didn't have Now I wasn't too happy I'd fall asleep I'd complain So I know But I'm here today I have something important I'm here because I want to talk with you Now I've given And I've talked a lot I've talked about your teachers' I've talked about your parents' responsibility I've talked a lot about your government's I want to focus on today I want to start with I guarantee that you'll need Now I know it's not always easy I get it. I know what that's like My father left my family I was two years old I was raised by a single mother I wasn't always as focused I should have been I did some things I'm not proud of got in more trouble than I should have. And my life I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances I'm thinking about my hometown of Chicago That's why today, I'm calling So I expect you I want you to commit to it I want you to really work at it because you believe, like I do I do that every day I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms I know you can do it. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-09-07 16:08 |
| #3 The problems are in both. But the problems in the lesson plan are more apparent because it's authors were no where near as clever and subtle as Obama and his team of For example, aside from the blatant attack on homeschooling, our fore fathers, none of whom attended a public school, did not "wage a revolution." They demanded and fought for their right as freeborn Englishmen not to have taxes imposed on them by a legislature in which they had no representation. They set up a government modeled after the one under which they had formerly lived but with safe guards to prevent the re-imposition of such tyranny. Zero should consider this well. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-09-07 16:03 |
| #2 Total agreement, Blonde -- It's not the first speech that is disturbing. It's the precedence it sets for the second, the third, the fourth, and however many more he deems needed to reach "his goal." This is just one of many action steps in meeting his goals --- a Bill Ayers/Saul Alinsky type take over. (repeat post below) |
| Posted by: Sherry 2009-09-07 15:30 |
| #1 The speech isn't the problem (even with that sorta narcissistic third paragraph. Couldn't go to the rich schools....wah....). The problem has always been with the suggested "lesson plan". Call me nuts, but I always thought my kid's job is to learn how to read, do math, and maybe pick out the US on a world map...not to think of ways he could help the President, or think of ways that the President can inspire him. |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-09-07 15:04 |