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00:00When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years.
00:06And my mother, she didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school.
00:11But she thought it was important for me to keep up with an American education.
00:16So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday.
00:22But because she had to go to work, the only time she could do it was at 4.30 in the morning.
00:27But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and she'd say,
00:31this is no picnic for me either, Buster.
00:36So I know that some of you are still adjusting to being back at school.
00:40But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you.
00:45My father left my family when I was two years old.
00:48And I was raised by a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills
00:53and wasn't always able to give us the things that other kids had.
00:57There were times when I missed having a father in my life.
01:01There were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn't fit in.
01:05So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been on school.
01:08And I did some things that I'm not proud of. And I got in more trouble than I should have.
01:13And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
01:18But I was lucky.
01:21I got a lot of second chances and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams.
01:28My wife, our first lady, Michelle Obama, she has a similar story.
01:32Neither of her parents had gone to college and they didn't have a lot of money.
01:37But they worked hard and she worked hard so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
01:43Some of you might not have those advantages.
01:45Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need.
01:50Maybe someone in your family has lost their job and there's not enough money to go around.
01:55Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe.
01:58Or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.
02:03Maybe you could be a great writer.
02:06Maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper.
02:10But you might not know it until you write that English paper, that English class paper that's assigned to you.
02:17Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor.
02:20Maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or the new medicine or vaccine.
02:25But you might not know it until you do your project for your science class.
02:30Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice.
02:36But you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.
02:42And no matter what you want to do with your life, I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it.
02:48You want to be a doctor or a teacher or a police officer.
02:52You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military.
02:56You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers.
03:02You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job.
03:07You've got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.
03:12And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future.
03:16What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country.
03:22The future of America depends on you.
03:25What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.
03:34You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS
03:41and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment.
03:45You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies
03:50to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free.
03:57You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies,
04:02that will create new jobs and boost our economy.
04:05We need every single one of you to develop your talents and your skills and your intellect
04:10so you can help us old folks solve our most difficult problems.
04:16If you don't do that, if you quit on school, you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.
04:24I know it's not always easy to do well in school.
04:28I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
04:34I get it. I know what it's like.
04:37But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life, what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have,
04:45what you've got going on at home, none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school.
04:54That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school.
04:59There is no excuse for not trying.
05:04Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up.
05:08No one's written your destiny for you.
05:10Because here in America, you write your own destiny.
05:13You make your own future.
05:16That's what young people like you are doing every day all across America.
05:21That's why today I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education and do everything you can to meet them.
05:28Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending some time each day reading a book.
05:38Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity or volunteer in your community.
05:45Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look.
05:52Because you believe, like I do, that all young people deserve a safe environment to study and learn.
06:00Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.
06:05But whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it.
06:09I want you to really work at it.
06:12I know that sometimes you get that sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work.
06:17That your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star.
06:25Chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.
06:29The truth is, being successful is hard.
06:34You won't love every subject that you study.
06:38You won't click with every teacher that you have.
06:42Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right at this minute.
06:50And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.
06:56That's okay.
06:58Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures.
07:03J.K. Rowlings, who wrote Harry Potter.
07:08Her first Harry Potter book was rejected 12 times before it was finally published.
07:15Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.
07:19He lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career.
07:24But he once said, I have failed over and over and over again in my life, and that's why I succeed.
07:31These people succeeded because they understood that you can't let your failures define you.
07:37You have to let your failures teach you.
07:40You have to let them show you what to do differently the next time.
07:45So if you get into trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker.
07:49It means you need to try harder to act right.
07:53If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid.
07:56It just means you need to spend more time studying.
08:00No one's born being good at all things.
08:04You become good at things through hard work.
08:08You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport.
08:12You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song.
08:15You've got to practice.
08:17The same principle applies to your schoolwork.
08:20You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right.
08:24You might have to read something a few times before you understand it.
08:27You definitely have to do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.
08:34Don't be afraid to ask questions.
08:36Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it.
08:38I do that every day.
08:41Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength.
08:44Because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something,
08:48and that then allows you to learn something new.
08:52So find an adult that you trust.
08:54A parent, a grandparent, or a teacher, a coach, or a counselor,
08:58and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.
09:03And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged,
09:06and you feel like other people have given up on you,
09:10don't ever give up on yourself.
09:13Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.
09:18The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough.
09:22It's about people who kept going, who tried harder,
09:24who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.
09:29It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago
09:33and went on to wage a revolution, and they founded this nation.
09:37Young people.
09:39Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago,
09:42who overcame a depression and won a world war,
09:45who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon.
09:49Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago,
09:52who founded Google and Twitter and Facebook
09:54and changed the way we communicate with each other.
09:57So today, I want to ask all of you,
10:00what's your contribution going to be?
10:03What problems are you going to solve?
10:06What discoveries will you make?
10:10What will a president who comes here in 20 or 50 or 100 years
10:13say about what all of you did for this country?
10:18Your families, your teachers and I are doing everything we can
10:21to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions.
10:26I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms
10:28and get you the books and the equipment and the computers you need to learn.
10:32But you've got to do your part too.
10:35So I expect all of you to get serious this year.
10:40I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do.
10:44I expect great things from each of you.
10:49So don't let us down.
10:51Don't let your family down or your country down.
10:53Most of all, don't let yourself down.
10:57Make us all proud.