Obama's Speech Sparks more Controversy than Motivation in America

In President Obama’s speech to the American school children given on Tuesday, September 8th from Wakefield High school in Arlington Virginia, Obama immediately starts off the speech being very personable and relatable to the audience of school children. He even starts off with a sense of humor to lighten the mood saying, “some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed a bit longer this morning.” He keeps the mood light, understanding that all kids probably wish they didn’t really need to go to school but the time has come to head back to school or move on to a new school and understands kids are nervous about this. He even throws in a short personal story about growing up in Indonesia and having to wake up every morning at 4:30 to get “extra lessons” from his mother before he went off to school.
Obama then starts to address the students on a more serious note stating that he’s talked a lot about the governments responsibilities, schools and principals responsibilities for supporting children, parents responsibilities, but when it really comes down to it it’s the students responsibility to make the most of their education. He then goes off on an inspiring note saying, “Every single one of you has something your good at.” Making kids realize they do have something to offer the world no matter what it is, and whatever they want to do, they’ll need an education to do it. Obama goes straight to the point stating, “You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.” He goes on touching on how the current students are the future of America, so even if you don’t want to learn for yourself, it matters for the future of our country, and states how every single child in America somehow effects the state of our nation, and some students will grow up to do great things like cure cancer or AIDS. He continues to inspire students to work as hard as they can and find the motivation to do well in school and further their education. He mentions a few specific students with inspiring success stories from around the United States and how any obstacle can be overcome. He addresses the fact that sometimes it’s not that easy to do well and it takes hard work but believes in all the students of America and that every child has the potential to succeed. He finishes up the speech reiterating once again that every student needs to “get serious this year” and put forth their best efforts to succeed in school.
In CNN’s coverage of Obama’s speech, they explain how much controversy has arisen from disapproving parents whose children were forced to watch the speech during school hours. These angry parents are claiming that the president’s message should be heard on a voluntary basis, whereas if their child didn’t want to watch the speech they shouldn’t have had to. Some viewed the speech as Obama forcing his views on the students when in reality he claims it’s just a “pep talk” to motivate students to work harder and try the best they can. In a poll done by CNN, it shows that Obama’s leadership is dividing the nation as 90% of democrats approve of Obama, and 85% of people from any other party do not approve of his presidency. When sophomore Joe Beaudoin was asked about what he thought of Obama’s speech he responded, “I don’t see what the big deal is. All he did was try to motivate students to work harder. He didn’t say anything crazy or controversial that should get anybody upset. People just love to overreact.” When another sophomore TJ Rotanelli was asked the same question about his thoughts on Obama’s speech he responded, “Once I saw Obama on the TV I changed the channel. I don’t really care what he has to say about how I should be educated, and kids shouldn’t have been forced to watch it either.” So Obama’s innocent “back to school” speech has actually done the opposite of what it was meant to do. Instead of calming parents down and trying to help them reach their children, it’s just divided the nation even further between conservatives and liberals over the roll the President should play in their children’s lives.