one reason to (at the very least) respect President Obama

He supports American students. Click here to read the full transcript. If you have school age children, consider having them listen to President Obama’s speech. I highly recommend it. He also refers to teachers and parents, and shows students how their involvement is necessary in ensuring future successes.

This speech is extraordinary – developmentally appropriate, modern, and easy for students in difficult situations to relate to, and appreciate. Parents had the right to waive their child from listening in at school, but I found the outrage by many wary critics to be appalling. Those parents, Republican, Democratic, Independent, or unaffiliated, merely denied their children the right to access current news, hear further encouragement, and gain inspirational insight.

Lylah Alphonse from Boston.com shares my sentiments. She wrote, “Since when is telling kids to study hard and stay in school a Socialist concept?” Similarly, The Dallas Morning News received all sorts of letters to the editor in response.

It’s what many kids need to hear – students need to feel heard and listened to, to know their talents and interests are worthwhile, and that they should never fail to believe in themselves. So many Americans are anti-government or wary of political agendas to the point where they forget the positive things our country provides us. We beat our Bill of Rights into oblivion in the search for said Rights. Students, especially those in public schools, should feel like they are responsible and included in the educational process. They are vital pieces to the ultimate puzzle.

I grew up in a public school system where students easily slipped off educational pathways and into illicit venues. There were too many students for our administration to keep track of everyone. They saluted the motivated, pushed along those on the border, and placated everyone else.  I learned a lot from that educational background. I worked hard out of a personal invested interest in learning, even during the times when I was not exactly supported in my academic endeavors by those around me. I went to college despite some obstacles, including a life-threatening health condition that could have easily held me back in summer school. I did not realize how many of my peers, people who I knew on a first name basis and hung around with socially, simply stopped caring and did not continue after high school. Some did not even graduate, or were moved to “better school systems” by their families. Those kids, people I considered friends, could have used such a speech. The education some gave up on and others yearned for were all achievable at the high school we originally attended – some of us simply had a version of President Obama’s speech constantly in front of us, or already closely held in our hearts.