奥巴马演讲.ppt

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, its your first day in a new school, so its understandable if youre a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now - (applause) - with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade youre in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you couldve stayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning. vI know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didnt have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school, but she thought it was important for me to keep up with an American education. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday. But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning. Ive talked about your parents responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and you get your homework done, and dont spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with the Xbox. Ive talked a lot about your governments responsibility for setting high standards, and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that arent working, where students arent getting the opportunities that they deserve. o I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you has something that youre good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. Thats the opportunity an education can provide. And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that youll 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? Youre going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. Youve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it. Youll 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. Youll 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. Youll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy. lBut I was - I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didnt have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country. vSome of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you dont have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and theres not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you dont feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know arent right. vBut 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 youve got going on at home - none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. Thats no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying. Where you are right now doesnt have to determine where youll end up. No ones written your destiny for you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future. Thats what young people like you are doing every day, all across America. Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didnt speak English when she first started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But she worked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to Brown University - is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr. Jazmin Perez. Im thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, whos fought brain cancer since he was three. Hes had to endure 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. Hes headed to college this fall.vAnd then theres Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a program to keep young people out of gangs, and shes on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college. vAnd Jazmin, Andoni, and Shantell arent any different from any of you. They face challenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases theyve got it a lot worse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. These people succeeded because they understood that you cant let your failures define you - you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, that doesnt mean youre a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to act right. If you get a bad grade, that doesnt mean youre stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. No ones born being good at all things. You become good at things through hard work. Youre not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You dont hit every note the first time you sing a song. Youve got to practice. The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something a few times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before its good enough to hand in. vDont be afraid to ask questions. Dont be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isnt a sign of weakness, its a sign of strength because it shows you have the courage to admit when you dont know something, and that then allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust - a parent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor - and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals. vAnd even when youre struggling, even when youre discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you, dont ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country. The story of America isnt about people who quit when things got tough. Its about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. Its the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and they founded this nation. Young people. 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 and Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other. So today, I want to ask all of you, whats 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 20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country? lNow, your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. Im working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn. But youve got to do your part, too. So I expect all of 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 dont let us down. Dont let your family down or your country down. Most of all, dont let yourself down. Make us all proud. lThank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you. (Applause.)