On September 8, coinciding with the first day of school for many American students, President Obama delivered a 17 minute address from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. The message he delivered to students was straightforward and clear; students need to work hard at school for the betterment of themselves and their country.
He encouraged students to set goals for themselves and follow through on those goals. He talked about how everyone has to be responsible for their actions related to having great schools and providing educational opportunity. Teachers need to inspire students, parents need to help their children with their homework and encourage them to focus on school, government has a responsibility to set high standards and support schools. However, he emphasized, that all of this effort won’t matter if individual students fail to fulfill their own responsibilities—to show up at school, listen to teachers and their parents, and put in the hard work necessary to succeed.
The President noted that everyone is good at something and that each student needs to find out what that is and work towards being the best they can at that skill. That is a great message and something that we should keep in mind because we are part of that process. The work that the CTE community is undertaking every day; at high schools, community colleges and area career centers, as well as in administration offices across the country, is providing students a lens to look through. We are helping them to find out about themselves, to find out what they are good at and to help them determine the path they want to take in their schooling and their life. While the President’s comments today focused on students, let us not forget the link we all have to the students and the efforts we are all making to put the programming and resources in place to help students succeed no matter their stage of education or life circumstances.
If you would like to view the President’s speech you can go to: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/A-Message-of-Hope-and-Responsibility-for-Americas-Students/
Tags: president, Public Policy