State of the Union Address

President Barack Obama said in his state of the union address "and dropping out of high school is no longer an option... it's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country - and this country needs and values the talents of every American", currently the dropout rate in the U.S. is higher than it's ever been - the highest of any industrialised nation. According to his speech only a little over half of Americans are currently getting their high school diplomas, and that half of the people who do make it to college will drop out, this staggering statistic means that only about a quarter of our population will ever receive a degree, (that's a lower graduation percent than is expected of children who work in Chinese sweat shops). This rate of failure is unacceptable, because as Obama so eloquently states: "the countries which out educate us today - will out compete us tomorrow".

Our president insists that everyone commit to at least one year of education past high school. This doesn't specifically address current students because adults who are already part of the work force can always benefit for taking additional classes to improve themselves as well as their job performance, because an educated population is our best defense against further recession - well educated people get better paying jobs and in turn help stimulate the economy by spending excess capital. Obviously this goal is harder for some people than most -specifically people who can't afford higher education to begin with- that is why President Obama vows that under his administration college will be made affordable through unmentioned means to anyone who is willing to serve their country or their community.

Saving our education system (and vicariously our economy) however, does not start at a college level- it starts at home long before a child ever begins school. It is in this stage of development that a parent must instill in their child a desire to learn, an insatiable thirst for understanding. As Socrates once said "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." to me this means that no matter what you tell somebody it will never sink in until they have a desire to know more than you've informed them of, and seek knowledge for themselves. For this reason President Obama Implores us to spend time with our children, by reading to them, and turning off the T.V. during dinner, or doing anything else you can think of to stimulate your child's mind, rather than addle it with useless information.

Graduation Speech

Well, here we are at last, many of us much to our own surprise. When I started high school graduation seem like a daunting goal, something that was out of my grasp. But as Thomas Edison once said "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.", and nobody here gave up, you should all take great pride in that fact. The only thing more trying than failure, is mustering up the courage to persist until you succeed.

Although, we often can't succeed on just raw effort, and that is where our school comes in, and where most traditional high schools fall short. Everyone here has had obstacles to overcome that put them where they are. some of us have scheduling conflicts that make normal school attendance impossible, for others Mclain is our last chance to buckle down and succeed when we recognise we've messed up enough for one lifetime. I think it is also important to emphasise the point that most of us didn't fail traditional high school, but rather high school failed us - but none of us ever stopped trying, and it eventually paid off. I always had trouble trying to learn anything in a room full of clamoring teenagers, where getting the teacher's attention is always a competition. Mclain is a melting pot, who's students and teachers come from all different walks of life, and where the options for learning are as diverse as the people.

But as with most things these struggles are all in the past, we should keep all of these experiences, to reminisce about the good, and learn from the bad, while always looking toward the future. There is an old quote by Confucius, which states "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." I'm confident that all of my peers who are sitting before me today will be successful in all their endeavours, because I know we have all mastered the art of standing, and forging ahead when we fall. In retrospect, though I don't know many of you, our common struggles make us kin. And so, my comrades, in the interest of looking toward the future I leave you with this final quote, by a man some of you may have heard of, his name is Michael Jordan, and he says, "If it turns out that my best wasn't good enough, at least I won't look back and say that I was afraid to try; failure makes me work even harder."
Thank you all, and good luck.