As most of you know, on September 8th, 2009 our President, Mr. Barack Obama gave an educational speech at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. The main topic of his speech was encouragement for students, teachers, and parents, to take action on their responsibility to give our generation the best education possible.
Whether you agree with him or not, this speech was not trying to change anyones political views, there was a lot of controversy among parents whether it should be shown publicly in schools or not. Buffalo High School faculty decided it would be best not to require students to watch it. As principal Mark Mischke thought that there was enough stress on students starting a new year. But they were still given the opportunity to watch it the following day during all lunches.
“We had a very little turnout for the showings of Mr. Obama’s speech, the feedback I received was more from parents and their opinions, than students, but I’m glad our building decided not to require it, I didn’t want to make a decision based on the different opinions of an entire student body,” said Mischke.
Obama greatly showed his interest in the future of our generation throughout his speech.
“Education isn’t just important for your own life and your own future, but what you make of it will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 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 it- if you quit on school- you’re not just quitting on yourself, your quitting on your country,” said Obama.
Whether you agree with him or not, this speech was not trying to change anyones political views, there was a lot of controversy among parents whether it should be shown publicly in schools or not. Buffalo High School faculty decided it would be best not to require students to watch it. As principal Mark Mischke thought that there was enough stress on students starting a new year. But they were still given the opportunity to watch it the following day during all lunches.
“We had a very little turnout for the showings of Mr. Obama’s speech, the feedback I received was more from parents and their opinions, than students, but I’m glad our building decided not to require it, I didn’t want to make a decision based on the different opinions of an entire student body,” said Mischke.
Obama greatly showed his interest in the future of our generation throughout his speech.
“Education isn’t just important for your own life and your own future, but what you make of it will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future. 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 it- if you quit on school- you’re not just quitting on yourself, your quitting on your country,” said Obama.
We all had our class meetings the first week of school, and listened to Mischke talk about our future and what he expects of each and every one of us.
“School can set the stage, we come from an outstanding place of education, but its up to each individual to determine where you’ll go,” said Mischke.
So whether you hear it from staff at BHS or the President of the United States, we each have a latter of success, and its up to you to decide how high you’ll climb.
“Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up, no one has written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny, you create you own future,” said Obama.
