The President's Message to our Children -- Take Responsibility

When Barack Obama was running for president, besides Health Care reform, Education reform was at the top of his list of projects. His message all along the way has been one of responsibility -- parental responsibility, government responsibility, and in today's message to the children of America, which unfortunately some parents and school systems have decided to exempt their children from hearing, is a strong call to children, to take responsibility for their education.

He makes it clear that it doesn't matter how good the teachers are or how much the parents push, if the student doesn't take the initiative there will be no success in education. It's a brief, to the point, and important speech. There's no politics, no indoctrination, just encouragement to take responsibility for one's education.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

I hope that this puts an end to what I believe was a lot of silliness. Part of the job of the President is to inspire our people, including our children, to persevere and do what is right -- to use Teddy Roosevelt's bully pulpit. I think that's what he did, and its a message our children need to hear (and probably some parents as well). Read the speech, it will do you some good.

I agree that Presidents shouldn't use school time for political gain, but whether Republican or Democratic, they should be allowed to encourage our students to succeed in life. And to our children -- hey, have a great school year! Do yourself proud!