Small Town News

Presidential remarks challenge students to challenge themselves

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After almost 30 children from the Park River Elementary 5th grade class watched President Barack Obama's back to school remarks on the television in Mary Martin's classroom on Sept. 8, she asked the student's what they got out of it.

"Don't let yourself down," a couple of the students chimed in. "And do your best," Mrs. Martin added.

The speech, which was directed at all students across America from kindergarten to 12th grade, became a controversial topic as the date for the televised remarks to Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. grew closer.

Like many schools across the state, Park River Superintendent Kirk Ham said that it was up to the individual teachers as to whether or not he or she wanted to show the speech in his or her classroom. The speech aired at 11 a.m., which Ham said was a difficult time to fit into a class schedule when considering whether classes would be watching it live.

Mrs. Martin tuned the television to CNN and the other 5th grade class joined in to watch. Students were welcome to opt out of viewing the speech if either they or their parents had any objections to the event.

Park River Elementary Principal Brenda Nilson said that she was surprised at how controversial the speech had become, mentioning that she thought a televised event had been done when George H.W. Bush was in office.

Obama's speech did not focus on any specific political agenda, and the prepared remarks were available for viewing online prior to the speech.

In his speech, some of the messages echoed remarks made by the 41st President of the United States George H. W. Bush in a teleconference with schoolchildren in September of 1991.

Both s spoke of students committing themselves to working hard and doing their best to create a better future.

Bush spoke specifically about challenging students to do well in math and science as he fielded questions from students.

One student asked, "Mr. President, what if you are talented in art and you drop out of school because you can make a bunch of money?" Bush responded by telling the student that even if they or someone they know has a talent in a specific discipline, it is best to use education to build a wide array of knowledge to become a whole person.

Now 18 years later, Obama addressed students to say that they can achieve their goals if they work hard, regardless of personal situations or expectations others have for them. He said that each student needs to develop his or her talents, skills, and intellect to solve problems and build a better tomorrow.

"I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things," said Obama. "But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try."

He said offered the examples of JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book being rejected 12 times before it was published and Michael Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team to explain that failure does not define a person if a person can learn from them.

The president also took questions from a 9th grade classroom in Wakefield, Va. While many of the questions directed at Bush were about the space program and education goals, the questions that Obama fielded were more of a personal nature.

The students asked about his family life and how he achieved his goals except for one student who asked about his healthcare plans.

The question and answer portion of the event wasn't shown in Mrs. Martin's classroom in Park River.

Those students listened to the speech and took a second to absorb the words the president spoke about not giving up on yourself and it was off to lunch without any political agenda further than "Make us all proud."

The message ended in a similar vein to that of the closing remarks Bush said to members of the class of 2000 when Bush said, 'Take heed at the words you heard today: study, study, study, read, read, read."



Copyright 2009 Walsh County Press, Park River, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 Walsh County Press Park River, North Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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