Recalling his own humble roots and fatherless childhood, President Obama on Tuesday asked the nation’s students to take personal responsibility for their future, imploring them: “Do your part.”
“I expect all of you to get serious this year, 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 down, don’t let your country down, most of all don’t let yourself down,” Mr. Obama told nearly 1,000 students at Wakefield High School in Arlington in remarks that were piped into schools across the country and also made available online.
The planned speech drew intense criticism last week when the Department of Education suggested in an accompanying lesson plan that students write letters “about what they can do to help the president,” language that the White House later clarified. The revised lesson plan was to write letters about their education goals.
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Conservatives spent several days suggesting Mr. Obama was attempting to “indoctrinate” American children or push his own policy plans on youngsters.
After the White House released Mr. Obama’s prepared remarks a full day ahead of the event, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich and a top Florida Republican Party official who made headlines for saying he would keep his children out of school Tuesday changed their tune. They said the speech gave the right message and they no longer opposed it, and Mr. Obama received a bigger boost from former first lady Laura Bush, who heartily endorsed the speech Monday.
But critics still were making their point, with schools across the country refusing to show the speech to students.
Protesters were spotted on streets near the school with signs reading, “Children serve God, not Obama,” and accusing the president’s speech of “dumbing-down students.”
Mr. Obama did not mention the criticism and stuck closely to his prepared remarks.
“What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country,” he said. “The future of America depends on you. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.”
The students didn’t seem to mind the controversy — the teens cheered loudly throughout the morning as the gym’s bleachers filled up hours before the speech. Carrying cameras and with some wearing Obama campaign T-shirts, they cheered loudly for Mr. Obama.
“Today is truly about you,” Wakefield Principal Doris Jackson told the students. “Today is the most nontraditional and exciting start to school that you will ever have.”
She asked students to “take time to be in the moment” and to feel the “electricity” in the gym. “You will be telling this story for years to come,” she said.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told reporters Tuesday morning before the speech he didn’t worry about the criticism.
He said no one asks why no president has spoken to schoolchildren in a national forum since former President George H.W. Bush in 1991.
“Why has it been 18 years? This has to be an all-hands-on-deck effort,” he said.
Mr. Duncan stressed the speech broadcast was “totally voluntary” for schools, but noted it will be uploaded to YouTube for children to watch on their own or with their parents after school.
He said his department feels a “huge sense of urgency” to cut the nation’s 30 percent dropout rate, and said a president engaging students at all ages can only help.
“If you quit on school, you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country,” Mr. Obama told the students, adding, “You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a great job.”
“I get it,” the president said as he talked about his mother and grandparents and his own struggle as a young man to stay focused and driven.
He hearkened back to an old campaign-trail standard that parents must make sure their children do homework and step away from the television sets, while teachers must inspire and push students to learn, but added the most dedicated teachers at the best schools and supportive parents do not guarantee success.
“None of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attention to those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed,” Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Obama, who acknowledged teenage drug use and drinking in his book “Dreams From My Father” and on the campaign trail, told the students he “did some things that I’m not proud of.”
Before the speech, the president met with freshmen and told them his goals as a high school student were more about basketball and having fun than academics. He also warmed them to be careful what they post on Internet social networking sites such as Facebook.
Mr. Obama talked about the second chances he earned and praised first lady Michelle Obama for her hard work in a lower-middle-class family that led to an Ivy League education and professional success.
He even got in a plug for his administration’s battle against the swine flu, asking students to wash their hands frequently and stay home from school when they are sick.
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