State of the Union Address

While watching the State of the Union Address, I found myself considering not only the words of President Obama, but also paying attention to the entire dynamic of the room as the speech was going on. His focus for this particular State of the Union Address was unity and the importance of the country coming together in a time of need; putting aside all differences to work towards a common goal. In order to further drive this point, the representatives from each state sat together instead of the routine Democrats on one side and Republicans on the other. All attendees of the speech wore ribbons showing their support of the Tucson shooting that had happened prior to the speech and there seemed to be senses of comradery among the group as they listened to our President speak.

At first, I jumped into my normal critique of the president because I personally feel that President Obama has a tendency to promise too much to the country. Rambling off a list of ten agendas is setting the White House up for failure. I would much rather hear about three or four solid and realistic goals for the upcoming year that I as a citizen can be confident will be accomplished as opposed to knowing that only three from a list of ten were achieved; I will be left disappointed that the other seven were not equally as successful. Aside from the normal banter about what has been done and what still needs to be improved, I noticed that President Obama put an extreme emphasis on education and the importance of improving, maintaining, and excelling towards a greater education system with less flaws. This promise was one that I was particularly interested in because as a student, we are often told here at Deerfield how great we have it. To be honest, in middle school and even through my first couple years in High School I could tell you everything that was wrong with our school and a number of ways that all of these problems could be remedied. However, it is important to understand that there aren't thousands of Deerfield High Schools covering our nation. There are schools with outdated materials, not enough funding, little to no parent support, lack of motivation from kids, issues with violence, drugs, attendance, graduation rates; the list goes on and on. It is important to recognize those schools like Deerfield, but far more important to not only acknowledge, but to take a stand for those schools who find themselves to be the polar opposite of Deerfield. I know that I cannot take my education for granted because not everyone is as fortunate and the need for a good education is in constant demand. We need educated students to find themselves at universities in order to grow up and help our country grow and learn. We need education to help our students further our nation because without education, there is no way to move forward. Barack Obama made sure to announce and pledge his devotion to improving education and I for one am happy he did.