I AM the Future of America! :)

This past week, we all watched Obama's speech on education. He encouraged us to do our best in school because we had a responsibility to try for our country and for ourselves.

Let me just say that 1) I totally agree. Everything Obama said I've been hearing all my life, and I haven't changed my opinion; I do believe myself to be influential for the country, and it was nice of the President to remind us of our responsibility, and 2) how cool would it have been to be that Student Council President introducing Obama?!

Anyway, before the speech was given, I was hearing all this ruckus and bad talk about the President asking America's students to do well in school, and I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Regardless of what was said about the idea, I think Obama was expecting everything--from arguing to enthusiastic support--with his speech, and I think he was totally prepared; a big aspect of the final speech was his relation to the students--because we were his audience--and an impressive ability to sound un-biased the whole way through.

Obama knew who his audience was: America's students. He even stated that he was speaking to students K-12th grade, and even so, Obama related to us through certain stories--stories made with pathos in mind, I think. For example, when he talked about his mother, and how he'd get up at 4:30 every morning for lessons. I totally get that! I hate waking up that early too. Or when he starts talking about how we should prepare for more than just getting lucky and becoming a reality television star or a basketball player or a rapper. Today's students do expect to get rich or famous quickly, but I think many of us have forgotten that hard work reaps those rewards. And all of the examples he used seemed to bring his point across, we've all sat down and thought "Well, what if I was invited to this show?" or "What if a producer saw me on Youtube?" We've considered it all, and it sounded ridiculous when Obama said it out loud. We knew what he was talking about, and then we also realized how illogical it sounded. So, Obama was able to relate to us throughout the whole speech.

Something else I mentioned earlier was his un-biased nature, as well as his optimism. The ethos was pretty established by speech time--he's the President of the United States, kiiind of a big deal. Yet he didn't try to diminish the value or intelligence or political awareness of teens, he didn't state anything like "You don't know about politics, let me teach you what you should know," and he stayed positive--he looked to the future the entire time. He asked us, rather than ordered, to try our best, and his whole speech continued in that pattern. So as well as being a wise president, he almost lowered himself to appeal to us, and that gave us a rounded and logical person, someone we could trust. Like I said before, I think Obama was definitely anticipating critical parents and teachers and students, and the whole style of his speech was about openness and request, rather than "You MUST try harder, you MUST."

Overall, I liked the speech. I admire Obama for reaching out to people who may not necessarily affect the politics of America today, but now have an awareness for helping out tomorrow. There was nothing evil or manipulative in Obama's style, not to mention the fact that he practically memorized the thing. To me, he made the point that he's trying, he's trying as hard as he can to serve the country, and that we should too. Bravo, Obama.