Full transcript
0:00[Music]
0:09[Applause]
0:11[Music]
0:13hello
0:14[Applause]
0:17everybody thank you thank
0:20you thank you everybody all right
0:22everybody go ahead and have a
0:24seat how's everybody doing
0:28today
0:31how about Tim
0:37Spicer I am here with students at
0:41Wakefield High School in Arlington
0:44Virginia and we've got students tuning
0:46in from all across America from
0:50kindergarten through 12th grade and I am
0:53just so glad that all could join us
0:55today and I want to thank Wakefield for
0:57being such an outstanding host give
0:59yourselves a big round
1:00[Applause]
1:06now I know that for many of you today is
1:10the first day of school and for those of
1:12you in kindergarten or starting middle
1:14or high school it's your first day in a
1:17new school so it's understandable if
1:20you're a little
1:22nervous I imagine there's some seniors
1:24out there who are feeling pretty good
1:25right now with just one more year to
1:28go
1:31and no matter what grade you're in some
1:33of you are probably wishing it were
1:34still summer and you could have stayed
1:36in bed just a little bit longer this
1:39morning I know that
1:43feeling when I was young my family lived
1:46overseas uh I lived in Indonesia for a
1:48few years and my mother she didn't have
1:51the money to send me where all the
1:53American kids went to school but she
1:55thought it was important for me to keep
1:57up with an American educ education so
2:00she decided to teach me extra lessons
2:03herself Monday through Friday but
2:06because she had to go to work the only
2:08time she could do it was at 4:30 in the
2:11morning now as you might imagine I
2:13wasn't too happy about getting up that
2:15early a lot of times I'd fall asleep
2:18right there at the kitchen
2:19table but whenever I'd complain my
2:22mother would just give me one of those
2:23looks and she'd say this is no picnic
2:25for me either
2:28Buster so I I know that some of you are
2:30still adjusting to being back at school
2:33but I'm here today because I have
2:35something important to discuss with you
2:38I'm here because I want to talk with you
2:40about your education and what's expected
2:43of all of you in this new school
2:45year I've given a lot of speeches about
2:48education and I've talked about
2:50responsibility a lot I've talked about
2:54teachers responsibility for inspiring
2:57students and pushing you to learn I've
3:00talked about your parents responsibility
3:02for making sure you stay on track and
3:04you get your homework done and don't
3:06spend every waking hour in front of the
3:08TV or with the
3:10Xbox I've talked a lot about your
3:14government's responsibility for setting
3:16high standards and supporting teachers
3:18and principles and turning around
3:20schools that aren't working where
3:22students aren't getting the
3:23opportunities that they
3:25deserve but at the end of the day we can
3:28have the most dedicated teachers the
3:30most supportive parents the best schools
3:33in the world and none of it will make a
3:36difference none of it will matter unless
3:39all of you fulfill your
3:42responsibilities unless you show up to
3:44those schools unless you pay attention
3:47to those teachers unless you listen to
3:49your parents and grandparents and other
3:51adults and put in the hard work it takes
3:54to
3:56succeed that's what I want to focus on
3:58today the responsibility each of you has
4:01for your
4:03education I want to start with the
4:05responsibility you have to
4:07yourself every single one of you has
4:09something that you're good at every
4:12single one of you has something to offer
4:15and you have a responsibility to
4:17yourself to discover what that
4:19is that's the opportunity an education
4:22can
4:23provide maybe you could be a great
4:26writer maybe even good enough to write a
4:28book or articles in a newspaper but you
4:31might not know it until you write that
4:33English
4:34paper uh that English class paper that's
4:37assigned to you maybe you could be an
4:39innovator or an inventor maybe even good
4:42enough to come up with the next iPhone
4:44or the new medicine or vaccine but you
4:47might not know it until you do your
4:49project for your science
4:51class maybe you could be a mayor or a
4:54senator or a Supreme Court Justice but
4:57you might not know that until you join
4:59student government or the debate
5:02team and no matter what you want to do
5:05with your life I guarantee that you'll
5:07need an education to do it you want to
5:09be a doctor or a teacher or a police
5:12officer you want to be a nurse or an
5:14architect a lawyer or a member of our
5:16military you're going to need a good
5:19education for every single one of those
5:21careers you cannot drop out of school
5:24and just drop into a good
5:26job you've got to train for it and work
5:29for it and learn for it and this isn't
5:33just important for your own life and
5:34your own
5:36future what you make of your education
5:38will decide nothing less than the future
5:40of this country the future of America
5:44depends on
5:45you what you're learning in school today
5:47will determine whether we as a nation
5:50can meet our greatest challenges in the
5:53future you'll need the knowledge and
5:55problem solving skills you learn in
5:57science and math to cure this diseases
6:00like cancer and AIDS and to develop new
6:02Energy Technologies and protect our
6:04environment you'll need the insights and
6:06critical thinking skills you gain in
6:08history and social studies to fight
6:10poverty and homelessness crime and
6:12discrimination and make our nation more
6:14fair and more
6:16free you'll need the creativity and
6:18Ingenuity you develop in all your
6:20classes to build new companies that will
6:22create new jobs and boost our economy we
6:25need every single one of you to develop
6:27your talents and your skills and your
6:29intellect so you can help us old folks
6:32solve our most difficult
6:35problems if you don't do that if you
6:38quit on school you're not just quitting
6:41on yourself you're quitting on your
6:43country I know it's not always easy to
6:46do well in
6:47school I know a lot of you have
6:49challenges in your lives right now that
6:51can make it hard to focus on your school
6:54work I get it I know what it's like my
6:57father left my family when I was 2 years
6:59years old and I was raised by a single
7:02mom who had to work and who struggled at
7:04times to pay the bills and wasn't always
7:06able to give us the things that other
7:08kids had there were times when I missed
7:11having a father in my life there were
7:13times when I was lonely and I felt like
7:15I didn't fit in so I wasn't always as
7:18focused as I should have been on school
7:20and I did some things that I'm not proud
7:21of and I got in more trouble than I
7:23should have and my life could have
7:27easily taken a turn for the worst
7:30but I was I was lucky I got a lot of
7:33Second Chances and I had the opportunity
7:35to go to college and law school and
7:37follow my
7:38dreams my wife our First Lady Michelle
7:41Obama she has a similar story neither of
7:44her parents had gone to college and they
7:46didn't have a lot of money but they
7:48worked hard and she worked hard so that
7:50she could go to the best schools in this
7:53country some of you might not have those
7:56advantages maybe you don't have adults
7:58in your life who give you the support
8:00that you need maybe someone in your
8:03family has lost their job and there's
8:04not enough money to go around maybe you
8:07live in a neighborhood where you don't
8:08feel safe or have friends who are
8:11pressuring you to do things you know
8:13aren't
8:14right but at the end of the day the
8:17circumstances of your life what you look
8:20like where you come from how much money
8:22you have what you've got going on at
8:25home none of that is an excuse for
8:27neglecting your homework or having a bad
8:29attitude in
8:30school that's no excuse for talking back
8:33to your teacher or cutting class or
8:35dropping out of school there is no
8:37excuse for not
8:40trying where you are right now doesn't
8:43have to determine where you'll end up no
8:45one's written your destiny for you
8:47because here in America you write your
8:49own destiny you make your own
8:52future that's what young people like you
8:55are doing every day all across
8:58America young people like Jasmine Perez
9:01from Roma Texas Jasmine didn't speak
9:04English when she first started school
9:06neither of her parents had gone to
9:08college but she worked hard earned good
9:10grades and got a scholarship to Brown
9:12University as now in graduate school
9:15studying Public Health on her way to
9:17becoming Dr Jasmine
9:20Perez I'm thinking about andon Schulz
9:24from Los alos California who's fought
9:27brain cancer since he was three
9:30he's had to endure all sorts of
9:32treatments and surgeries one of which
9:34affected his memory so it took him much
9:37longer hundreds of extra hours to do his
9:40schoolwork but he never fell behind he's
9:43headed to college this
9:45fall and then there's Shantel Steve from
9:48my hometown of Chicago
9:50Illinois even when bouncing from foster
9:53home to foster home in the toughest
9:55neighborhoods in the city she managed to
9:57get a job at a local Health Care Center
10:00start a program to keep young people out
10:02of gangs and she's on track to graduate
10:04high school with honors and go on to
10:07college and Jasmine and doni and Shantel
10:11aren't any different from any of you
10:14they face challenges in their lives just
10:16like you do in some cases they've got it
10:19a lot worse off than many of
10:22you but they refused to give up they
10:25chose to take responsibility for their
10:27lives for their education and set goals
10:30for themselves and I expect all of you
10:32to do the
10:34same that's why today I'm calling on
10:36each of you to set your own goals for
10:38your education and do everything you can
10:40to meet
10:41them your goal can be something as
10:43simple as doing all your homework paying
10:46attention in class or spending some time
10:49each day reading a
10:51book maybe you'll decide to get involved
10:54in an extracurricular activity or
10:55volunteer in your
10:57community maybe you'll decide to stand
10:59up for kids who are being teased or
11:01bullied because of who they are or how
11:04they look because you believe like I do
11:07that all young people deserve a safe
11:10environment to study and
11:12learn maybe you'll decide to take better
11:14care of yourself so you can be more
11:16ready to learn and along those lines by
11:18the way I hope all of you are washing
11:20your hands a lot and that you stay home
11:23from school when you don't feel well so
11:24we can keep people from getting the flu
11:27this Fallen winter but whatever you
11:29resolve to do I want you to commit to it
11:33I want you to really work at
11:35it I know that sometimes you get that
11:37sense from TV that you can be rich and
11:39successful without any hard work that
11:42your ticket to success is through
11:43rapping or basketball or being a reality
11:47TV
11:48star chances are you're not going to be
11:51any of those
11:52things the truth is being successful is
11:57hard you won't love every subject that
12:00you
12:01study you won't click with every teacher
12:05that you
12:06have not every homework assignment will
12:09seem completely relevant to your life
12:12right at this
12:14minute and you won't necessarily succeed
12:16at everything the first time you
12:19try that's
12:21okay some of the most successful people
12:23in the world are the ones who've had the
12:25most
12:27failures JK
12:30Rawlings who wrote Harry
12:32Potter her first Harry Potter book was
12:35rejected 12 times before it was finally
12:39published Michael Jordan was cut from
12:42his high school basketball
12:44team he lost hundreds of games and
12:46missed thousands of shots during his
12:48career but he once said I have failed
12:51over and over and over again in my life
12:54and that's why I
12:57succeed these people succeeded because
12:59they understood that you can't let your
13:02failures Define you you have to let your
13:05failures teach you you have to let them
13:08show you what to do differently the next
13:11time so if you get into trouble that
13:14doesn't mean you're a troublemaker it
13:16means you need to try harder to act
13:19right if you get a bad grave that
13:22doesn't mean you're stupid it just means
13:23you need to spend more time
13:27studying no one's born being good at all
13:30things you become good at things through
13:33hard
13:34work you're not a varsity athlete the
13:37first time you play a new sport you
13:39don't hit every note the first time you
13:40sing a song you've got to practice the
13:43same principle applies to your
13:46schoolwork you might have to do a math
13:48problem a few times before you get it
13:50right you might have to read something a
13:52few times before you understand it you
13:54definitely have to do a few drafts of a
13:56paper before it's good enough to hand in
14:00in don't be afraid to ask questions
14:03don't be afraid to ask for help when you
14:05need it I do that every
14:07day asking for help isn't a sign of
14:09weakness it's a sign of strength because
14:11it shows you have the courage to admit
14:13when you don't know something and that
14:15then allows you to learn something
14:18new so find an adult that you trust a
14:21parent a grandparent or a teacher a
14:23coach or a counselor and ask them to
14:26help you stay on track to meet your
14:28goals
14:30and even when you're struggling even
14:32when you're discouraged and you feel
14:34like other people have given up on you
14:37don't ever give up on
14:39yourself because when you give up on
14:42yourself you give up on your
14:44country the story of America isn't about
14:47people who quit when things got tough
14:49it's about people who kept going who
14:51tried harder who loved their country too
14:53much to do anything less than their
14:55best it's the story of students who sat
14:58where you sit 250 years ago and went on
15:01to wage a revolution and they founded
15:03this nation young
15:06people students who sat where you sit 75
15:09years ago who overcame a depression and
15:11won a World War who fought for civil
15:14rights and put a man on the
15:15moon students who sat where you sit 20
15:18years ago who founded Google and Twitter
15:20and Facebook and changed the way we
15:22communicate with each
15:25other so today I want to ask all of you
15:29what's your contribution going to be
15:31what problems are you going to
15:33solve what discoveries will you
15:37make what will a president who comes
15:40here in 20 or 50 or 100 years say about
15:42what all of you did for this
15:45country you know your families your
15:47teachers and I are doing everything we
15:49can to make sure you have the education
15:51you need to answer these
15:53questions I'm working hard to fix up
15:55your classrooms and get you the books
15:57and the equipment and the computers you
15:58need need to
15:59learn but you've got to do your part
16:02too so I expect all of you to get
16:06serious this
16:07year I expect you to put your best
16:09effort into everything you do I expect
16:13great things from each of
16:16you so don't let us down don't let your
16:19family down or your country down most of
16:22all don't let yourself
16:24down make us all
16:26proud thank you very much everybody God
16:29bless you God Bless
16:31America thank you