A Pep talk from the American President

U.S. President Barack Obama is a charismatic orator. Like many heads of state, he probably has help from a stable of effective speech writers. But he is also a skilled writer himself. One only has to read his books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope, to be impressed with the power of his ideas and expressiveness.

Obama’s recent Back to School speech, broadcast to welcome and inspire millions of U.S. school children, is one such piece of effective writing. What makes this speech ring in our ears long after he finished his delivery? Let’s map it.

The speech begins with obligatory welcome remarks. Obama recalls how he used to drag his feet too as a child when it was time to work. This creates empathy:

“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."

Obama establishes a bond between his audience and himself. He is not on a pedestal; he is just like us.

Having done this, he dives into the crux of his speech: As critical as your parents, teachers, family or the government can be in helping you on your path to success, the key ingredient is your own responsibility towards yourself to perform to the best of your ability and circumstances:

“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 person has a special ability that can enrich one’s community and country: “And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.”

No effort is wasted in service of one’s country; no talent is unwanted:

“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.”

We may not succeed easily or find fame. That should not discourage us. We owe it to ourselves to create our own dreams and make them come true. Even if success eludes us, we must forge on towards our goals. Obama cites his own childhood, when his father walked out on his family, leaving young Barack bereft of goals and his mother struggling to make ends meet.

“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.”

Success is hard to come by, and so what? “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.

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.”

Rejection is an obstacle to overcome. Obama refers to actual students who were weighed down by disease and unstable families and still overcame these odds. He mentions that novelist J.K. Rowling and basketball icon Michael Jordan both faced repeated rejections yet still vaulted to fame.

“These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you - you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying. No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work.”

The President’s advice is simple: Believe in yourself. Don’t give up. If you fall down, pick yourself up and move forward. If something doesn’t work, go back to the drawing board and create a new plan. Work hard to improve your skills. Ask lots of questions. And when you need help, seek it.

Obama refers to history, briefly, to allow his audience to connect their struggles with the harder challenges that people before them encountered and overcame. People who would not give up fought and won America’s independence from British colonial rule 250 years ago. Their descendants overcame the Great Depression, won the Second World War, fought for civil rights for blacks and sent the first man to walk on the moon, accomplishing all this because they believed in themselves. And 20 years ago, a bunch of American students founded Google, Twitter and Facebook, which have revolutionized the way the world communicates. Today’s students are part of this grand continuum of self-belief and hard work.

Obama says he would do his part and improve the country’s education policies, but he needs every student to pitch in their fullest efforts. “So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

The speech reaches out to its intended audience: school children. It succeeds because instead of being a droning sermon, it is an inspiring pep talk from a coach and who urges every player on his team to go out there and win.

By Reena Stamets
Parent