奥巴马2009年9月8开学演讲稿

开始学生演讲了一小段

THEPRESIDENT: Hello, everybody! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Allright, everybody go ahead and have a seat. How is everybody doing today?(Applause.) How about Tim Spicer? (Applause.) I am here with students atWakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning infrom all across America, from kindergarten through 12th grade. And I am just soglad that all could join us today. And I want to thank Wakefield for being suchan outstanding host. Give yourselves a big round of applause. (Applause.)

Iknow that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those ofyou in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day ina new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imaginethere are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now --(applause) -- with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you'rein, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer and you could'vestayed in bed just a little bit longer this morning.

Iknow that feeling. When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived inIndonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn't have the money to send mewhere all the American kids went to school, but she thought it was importantfor me to keep up with an American education. So she decided to teach me extralessons herself, Monday through Friday. But because she had to go to work, theonly time she could do it was at 4:30 in the morning.

Now,as you might imagine, I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. And a lotof times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'dcomplain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say,"This is no picnic for me either, buster." (Laughter.)

So I know that some of youare still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I havesomething important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk withyou about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new schoolyear.

Now,I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked aboutresponsibility a lot.

I'vetalked about teachers' responsibility for inspiring students and pushing you tolearn.

I'vetalked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track,and you get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front ofthe TV or with the Xbox.

I'vetalked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards,and supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren'tworking, where students aren't getting the opportunities that they deserve.

Butat the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the mostsupportive parents, the best schools in the world -- and none of it will make adifference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill yourresponsibilities, unless you show up to those schools, unless you pay attentionto those teachers, unless you listen to your parents and grandparents and otheradults and put in the hard work it takes to succeed. That's what I want tofocus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education.

Iwant to start with the responsibility you have to yourself. Every single one ofyou has something that you're good at. Every single one of you has something tooffer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is.That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybeyou could be a great writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book orarticles in a newspaper -- but you might not know it until you write thatEnglish paper -- that English class paper that's assigned to you. Maybe youcould be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up withthe next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know ituntil you do your project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor ora senator or a Supreme Court justice -- but you might not know that until youjoin student government or the debate team.

Andno matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need aneducation 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 a good education for every single one of those careers.You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got totrain for it and work for it and learn for it.

Andthis isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you makeof your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. Thefuture of America depends on you. What you're learning in school today willdetermine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in thefuture.

You'llneed the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math tocure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies andprotect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical-thinking skillsyou gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crimeand discrimination, and make our nation more fair

andmore free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all yourclasses to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

Weneed every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and yourintellect so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems. Ifyou don't do that -- if you quit on school -- you're not just quitting onyourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now,I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you havechallenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on yourschoolwork.

Iget it. I know what it's like. My father left my family when I was two yearsold, and I was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled attimes to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us the things that otherkids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There weretimes when I was lonely and I felt like I didn't fit in.

SoI wasn't always as focused as I should have been on school, and I did somethings I'm not proud of, and I got in more trouble than I should have. And mylife could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

ButI was -- I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances, and I had the opportunityto go to college and law school and follow my dreams. My wife, our First LadyMichelle Obama, she has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone tocollege, and they didn't have a lot of money. But they worked hard, and sheworked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not havethose advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you thesupport that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job andthere's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood whereyou don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things youknow aren't right.

But at the end of the day,the circumstances of your life -- what you look like, where you come from, howmuch money you have, what you've got going on at home -- none of that is anexcuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That'sno excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping outof school. There is no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right nowdoesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destinyfor you, because here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your ownfuture.

That's what young peoplelike you are doing every day, all across America.

Youngpeople like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when shefirst started school. Neither of her parents had gone to college. But sheworked hard, earned good grades, and got a scholarship to Brown University --is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to becoming Dr.Jazmin Perez.

I'mthinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought braincancer since he was three. He's had to endure all sorts of treatments andsurgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer

--  hundredsof extra hours -- to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind. He's headedto college this fall.

Andthen there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even whenbouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods in thecity, she managed to get a job at a local health care center, start a programto keep young people out of gangs, and she's on track to graduate high schoolwith honors and go on to college.

AndJazmin, Andoni, and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They facechallenges in their lives just like you do. In some cases they've got it a lotworse off than many of you. But they refused to give up. They chose to takeresponsibility for their lives, for their education, and set goals forthemselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That'swhy today I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education-- and do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simpleas doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some timeeach day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in anextracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decideto stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are orhow they look, because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve asafe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care ofyourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, by the way,I hope all of you are washing your hands a lot, and that you stay home fromschool when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the fluthis fall and winter.

Butwhatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to reallywork at it.

Iknow that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich andsuccessful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through

rappingor basketball or being a reality TV star. Chances are you're not going to beany of those things.

Thetruth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject that youstudy. You won't click with every teacher that you have. Not every homeworkassignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute. Andyou won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That'sokay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've hadthe most failures. J.K. Rowling's -- who wrote Harry Potter -- her first HarryPotter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published. MichaelJordan was cut from his high school basketball team. He lost hundreds of gamesand missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I havefailed over and over and over again in my life. And that's why I succeed."

Thesepeople succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failuresdefine you -- you have to let your failures teach you. You have to let themshow you what to do differently the next time. So if you get into trouble, thatdoesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to actright. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just meansyou need to spend more time studying.

Noone's born being good at all things. You become good at things through hardwork. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. Youdon't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice.The same principle applies to your schoolwork. You might have to do a mathproblem a few times before you get it right. You might have to read something afew times before you understand it. You definitely have to do a few drafts of apaper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to askquestions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that everyday. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength becauseit shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and thatthen allows you to learn something new. So find an adult that you trust -- aparent, a grandparent or teacher, a coach or a counselor -- and ask them tohelp you stay on track to meet your goals.

Andeven when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel likeother people have given up on you, don't ever give up on yourself, because whenyou give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn'tabout people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going,who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less thantheir best.

It'sthe story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wagea revolution and they founded this nation. Young people. Students who sat whereyou sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who foughtfor civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20years ago who founded Google and Twitter and Facebook and changed the way wecommunicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask allof you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going tosolve? What discoveries will you make? What will a President who comes here in20 or 50 or 100 years say about what all of you did for this country?

Now,your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sureyou have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard tofix up your classrooms and get you the books and the equipment and thecomputers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part, too. So I expectall of you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort intoeverything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let usdown. Don't let your family down or your country down. Most of all, don't letyourself down. Make us all proud.

Thankyou very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America. Thank you.(Applause.)