Monday, September 7, 2009

THE SECRET SUBVERSIVE MESSAGES IN THE PRESIDENT'S BACK-TO-SCHOOL SPEECH


Hello, everyone –how’S everybOdy doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High SChool In Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from aLl across AmerIca, , kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you could all join uS today. I know for Many of you today IS the first day of sChOOL. And for those of you In kindergarten, or stArting Middle school or high school, it’s your first day in a new sChOOL, so it’s undERstandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine THere Are some seNiors out there who are feeling prettY gOod right now with jUst one moRe year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it was still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, y family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday - at 4:30 in the morning. 
Now I wasn't too hapPy About getting up that eaRly. A lot of timEs, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But wheNever I'd complain, my moTher would juSt give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

SO I knOw some of you are still adjusting to beiNg back in schooL. But I am here todaY because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here today because I want to taLk to you about your education, and what IS expecTEd of all of you iN This new schOol year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility. I’ve talked a lot about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you and pushing you to learn. I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your hoMEwork done, and don’t SPEND EVERY HOUR IN FRONT OF THE TV OR WITH THAT XBOX. I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t Working where students Aren’t getting the opportunitieS they deserve.

But 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 at tHose schools; pAy aTentiOn to thOse teachers; Listen to your parents, your Grandparents and Other adults; and Put in the hArd woRk it takes to succEed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibiLity each Of you haS for your Education. I want to staRt with the responSibility you have to yourself. Every single one of you Has somEthing you’re good At. Every singLe one of you has someTHing to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourselves to disCover whAt that is. That’s the oppoRtunity an Education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe eveN good enOugh to Write a book, OR articles in a newspaper – but YOU might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you COULD be an innovator or an inventor, maybe even gooD enough to come up with the next IPhonE, or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you do with your life, I guarantee that you’ll 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? You’re going to need an educaTiOn for every single one of those careerS. 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.

And this isn’t just important for YOUR own LIFE and your own future. What you make of your education will decIde nothing less than the Future of this country. What YOU’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest chalLenges In the future.

You’ll 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. You’ll 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. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you’ll deVelop in all your classes tO build new companies that will creaTE new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every sinGle one of you to develOP your talent, skills, and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems…

It goes on for a while, with more hidden Democratic propaganda, until the final …

Thank you…and GOD BLESS AMErica.

2 comments:

Weasel said...

Ian,

I read your blog and loved your book "Hello Lied the Agent." Off topic, but I don't know how else to ask you this question.

You spoke at length in "Hello" about working on a sitcom featuring a black actor in a wheelchair. The past few weeks FOX has been runnng ads featuring a new sitcom (ca't recall the name) starring, of course, a black actor in a wheelchair.

It's been killing me and I'm curious. Did he finally get his pilot made, or was this just a "similar" project?

IBG said...

Weasel--

Sorry I just saw the comment. Usually they get forwarded to my email so I haven't checked. In answer to your question: yes, it's the same actor. Chill Mitchell. But this is a different show than the one we worked on. I actually worked a day on the pilot and got to say hello. Glad you liked the book. And thanks for checking out the blog. Honestly, I wasn't sure if anyone was reading it. Now I'll know.

Ian