...And this isnt 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 youre learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
Youll 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. Youll 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. Youll 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 dont do that if you quit on school youre not just quitting on yourself, youre quitting on your country.
...So today, I want to ask you, whats your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?
Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. Im working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But youve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So dont let us down dont let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.
And there it is, so innocent sounding, but read it carefully. It is for the collective. Does anybody else parse this as I do?
“And there it is, so innocent sounding, but read it carefully. It is for the collective. Does anybody else parse this as I do?”
That is what I noticed also. There isn’t anything about individual success. It’s all about the collective.
There is only one individual in this narrative. The President. Everyone else must succeed for the good of the collective.