President Obama's Speech to America's School Children

I loved watching this video. I hadn't had the opportunity to watch this, so I was very glad to be able to see it.

This was a very postive video, I thought it was very appropriate to talk with the school children of this country-since he is the President of the United States. I didn't feel that his talk was in any way in bad taste or negative. I can't believe how much "hype" was created over this very positive speech.

I thought it was a pity he did't speak to the entire nation and give everyone a pep talk like this. I thought it was great. I felt very encouraged to work harder, set my goals higher, and be successful.

In his speech he talks with the students about being successful. And that success doesn't come without hard work. It takes preseverance and you don't always love everything you have to do to be successful. You will have to take classes that are possibly not your favorites, you may have poor teachers at times, you may not succeed the first time you try something--you may fail sometimes, but if you don't give up, and you try harder you will eventually succeed at what you are trying to accomplish.

He discussed the fact that he didn't have the "perfect" life growing up, that he was raised by a wonderful single mother. Who provided him with a good life, but not everything his friends had. She had to work hard to support their family, but she still took the time to get up each morning at 4am and work with him on his school work, because she knew this was important to his future.

He talked about how important a college education is. That these students are going to need that education to be able to support themselves, and inorder to make this a better nation- we are counting on them -because they will lead our country eventually.

He helped them understand that he knows each person has their own challenges. He talked about several young people who had physical and personal problems which could have kept them from getting their education, but they set their goals and even when it was difficult they worked harder, and they were able to reach their goals.

He counseled them to, "Set your own goals for education, and do everything you can to meet that goal". Reaching some of these goals may be as easy as simply going to class, doing your homework, reading, serving others --all of these things will help you.

Along with that thought he told them,"Don't let your failures define you". That's great advice, we can't give up when we fail at something, we have to learn from our failures and make those failures our strengths.

I also appreciated him telling everyone that, "no one is born good at all things". Being good at something takes hard work and practice, it's not just given to you. Sometimes while you are working at learning something you will have to ask for help--he suggests to the students to ask a trusted adult for help, and learn from them.
As teachers we need to be able to step up to the plate and give our students this help when our students ask. We need to be there for them, to help them reach their goals.

He ended by asking everyone what contribution they planned to make to their country. He encouraged them to always try and never give up on themselves, and to get serious, and give their best effort. And most important he told everyone not to let their country down, their family and most importantly themselves.

Great talk! I loved it.