Monday, September 21, 2015

America The Beautiful by Dennis Prager : Stand and Deliver

What a great way to address the general public on what America means and what a privilege it is to be an American and live in America. This address is to students but it is a play book for all us to make our lives better and America again the land of the free.
 
Read this and understand all it will take is believing it can be done. Just say yes and believe.
 
A Speech Every American High School Principal Should  Give.
 By  Dennis Prager .
 
 To  the students and faculty of our high school: I  am your new principal, and honored to be so.
 There is no  greater calling than to teach young people.
 
 
I  would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I  am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the  ideas  that have dominated public education in America have worked against you,  against your teachers and against our country.
 
First ,  this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care  less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could  not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or  European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave  ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this school will  recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship,  your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is  American.
 
This  is an American public  school, and American public schools were created  to make better Americans. If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or  religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will  end all ethnicity, race and non-American nationality-based celebrations.  They undermine the motto of America , one of its three central values --  epluribus Unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America  's values. This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs  that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language,  religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a  society divided by political correctness.
 
Your  clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or  other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an  unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of   education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that  transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages  you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular  activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic,  racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really  interests you.
 
Second ,  I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only  interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and  writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united  America 's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school.  It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always  come to be one country. And if you  leave this school without excellent  English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you  will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will  learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only  speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language  rather than in English, this is not your school.
 
 Third , because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor , everything in this school  will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things,  that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our  society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school.  These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a  formal dress code at this school.
 
 Fourth ,  no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property --  whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak  without using the f -word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the  words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as  "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or  "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that  by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to  instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy  and the obscene.
 
Fifth ,  we will end  all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will  be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided  otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is  that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
 
Sixth ,  and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from  politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about  smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global  warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching  you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue... There  will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you  are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will  have failed if any one of you  graduates this school and does not  consider him or herself inordinately fortunate -- to be alive and to be an  American.
 
Now,  please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our  country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them  out to you.
 

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