Comments on the President's Back to School Speech

I hope the President's Back to School Speech motivated a few kids beyond this week. If that is the case the speech was probably worth the time.

I do have a few comments about some very specific parts of his speech. President Obama stated:

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

The federal government has absolutely no role in setting standards, supporting teachers and principals or turning around schools. There is no provision in the Constitution to give the federal government any jurisdiction over the education of my child. Quite frankly the governments standards are too low.

He goes on to say some good things about personal responsibility, taking control of your own education, and working hard toward your goals.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community.

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Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

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No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

He then went on to say:

The story of America isn’t about 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 than their best.

I find this very disturbing. I do not go to work because I love my country. I go to work because I love my family, and want to provide the best for them.

I love my country because for the most part it stays out of my way. I love my country because it still provides basic services like roads, justice, and security. Unfortunately, my country is changing, It no longer wants to provide only the basic services and as it starts adding the more progressive services like education, health care, welfare, ect., the basic services are slipping.