Citing curriculum concerns and the threat of protests from partisan parents, several area school districts have decided not to show President Obama's speech to school children on Tuesday.

Here is the text of the speech, from the White House Web site, www.whitehouse.gov:

OBAMA'S SPEECH TO SCHOOL CHILDREN

Hello everyone -- how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through 12th grade. I'm glad you all could join us today.

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

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday -- at 4:30 in the morning.

Now, I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So, I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility. I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn. I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox. 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.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world -- and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

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

Maybe you could be a good writer -- maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper -- but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor -- maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine -- but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life -- I guarantee that you'll need an education 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 can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that -- if you quit on school -- you're not just quitting on yourself, 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 have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our first lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

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.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.
That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

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6 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by jjrakman on Sept. 9, 2009 at 10:58 a.m. (report)

Except for that it wasn't the speech that angered parents, but rather the essay in the accompanying lesson plan, and the creepy pledge to Obama. OnMilwaukee, please work to get your facts straight.

Posted by effstahp on Sept. 8, 2009 at 10:02 p.m. (report)

It's too bad we didn't have those accountants 6 years ago to tell the sitting president that he was running the country's finances into the ground by running two wars and paying for them with tomorrow's money... or maybe they did, and he didn't care. We can only hope and pray the children of today will grow up to be the leaders of tomorrow that we need and practice fiscal responsibility and lead this nation the way it was meant to be led - with honest, open people having rational discussion and following the rules and laws they swore to uphold. I don't care if you're (D) or (R)... this country is seriously messed up and need in some basic repair. We need to work together to make it happen.

Posted by Broner on Sept. 8, 2009 at 1:05 p.m. (report)

I'm pretty sure sijan is being sarcastic. I'm no fan of Obama but that speech was fine. One of the things that is dividing this country is when people get riled up about the President giving a speech to school children at the start of the school year. We should focus on the issues that really matter and not all of these petty things. Having said that, he should have encouraged more kids to be accountants so we'll have enough people to keep track of the debt he'll be leaving them with.

Posted by devidia on Sept. 8, 2009 at 12:40 p.m. (report)

Are you for real, sijan_heights?? I've never read such paranoid stupidity in my life. It's people like you we should fear, or rather, fear becoming. You have your heads buried in the sand and are so paralyzed by fear of anything new that you'll do anything to hinder progress or anything that resembles it. And as far as socialism goes, if having good healthcare available to all and a society based on the prosperity of all rather than a greedy few is socialism, then baby, sign me up!! I still maintain that America could use a little socialism right now!!! Go back to your cave where you belong, for God's sake!!!

Posted by CikTi05 on Sept. 8, 2009 at 10:40 a.m. (report)

I found nothing in the contents of President Obama's speech above appealing to a call for socialism or Marxinism as some parents/individuals are claiming. Why is the President's call for social responsibility among students viewed as such? Even President Ronald Reagan once said that "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." He and a great many of our leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, grew up in less advantageous circumstances but took it upon themselves to study hard in school and received their education from the best schools in this country. Why can't he use himself and the students he's mentioning in the speeach that through education, you can open many doors and achieve great things?