Saturday, February 22, 2014

Right Track - Principal's Speech

I'm grateful to my friend Don in Orange County for sending me this suggested speech for a school principal.


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 care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could 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 -- 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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