Controversial Speech about working hard and personal responsibility

Today President Obama addressed the school children of America. It has been quite a controversial speech. Most of the speech is about personal responsibility, hard work, and personal hygiene.

Judge for yourself.



full text of the speech

We discussed this in class today. When I came home, my partner mentioned a facebook thread that began with, "Is this controversial? "At the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents and the best schools in the world -- and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools, pay attention to those teachers, listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed."

This thread was surprisingly quite controversial. I was surprised about how much people object to the speech when Reagan & Bush also addressed the school children of America. I hope that all parents would discuss the speech with their children as they would with any other school activity. I realize not all parents are involved with their child's classroom, but it seem that would be an obvious choice for the parents who are objecting to this speech.

Now if only I can take Obama's advice,"So I expect 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 don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it."

I better get back to homework.......