9月8日，奥巴马总统在弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡（Arlington, Virginia）韦克菲尔德高中（Wakefield High School）对全美中小学生发表讲话，强调上学读书的重要性，激励学生努力学习。以下是讲话全文，由美国国务院国际信息局（IIP）翻译。
（全文开始）
白宫新闻秘书办公室
2009年9月8日
总统对全美中小学生发表讲话
弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡韦克菲尔德高中
东部夏令时中午12:06
总统：大家好！谢谢你们。谢谢你们。谢谢你们大家。好，大家请就坐。你们今天都好吗？（掌声）蒂姆·斯派塞（Tim Spicer）好吗？（掌声）我现在与弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿郡韦克菲尔德高中的学生们在一起。美国各地从小学预备班到中学12年级的学生正在收听收看。我很高兴大家今天都能参与。我还要感谢韦克菲尔德高中出色的组织安排。请为你们自己热烈鼓掌。（掌声）
我知道，今天是你们很多人开学的日子。对于进入小学预备班、初中或高中的学生，今天是你们来到新学校的第一天，心里可能有点紧张，这是可以理解的。我能想象有些毕业班学生现在感觉很不错——（掌声）——还有一年就毕业了。不论在哪个年级，你们有些人可能希望暑假更长一点，今天早上还能多睡一小会儿。
我了解这种感觉。我小时候，我们家生活在海外。我在印度尼西亚住了几年。我妈妈没有钱送我上其他美国孩子上的学校，但她认为必须让我接受美式教育。因此，她决定从周一到周五自己给我补课。不过她还要上班，所以只能在清晨四点半给我上课。
你们可以想见，我不太情愿那么早起床。有很多次，我趴在餐桌上就睡着了。但每当我抱怨的时候，我妈妈都会那样地看我一眼，然后说：“小子，这对我也并不轻松。”（笑声）
我知道你们有些人还在适应开学后的生活。但我今天来到这里是因为有重要的事情要和你们说。我来这里是要和你们谈谈你们的教育问题，以及在这个新学年对你们所有人的期望。
我做过很多次有关教育问题的演讲。我多次谈到过责任问题。
我谈到过教师激励学生并督促他们学习的责任。
我谈到过家长的责任，要确保你们走正路，完成家庭作业，不要整天坐在电视前或玩Xbox游戏。
我多次谈到过政府的责任，要制定高标准，支持教师和校长的工作，彻底改善不能为学生提供应有机会的、教育质量差的学校。
然而，即使我们拥有最敬业的教师，最尽力的家长和全世界最好的学校——如果你们大家不履行你们的责任，不到校上课，不专心听讲，不听家长、祖父祖母和其他大人的话，不付出取得成功所必须的勤奋努力，那么这一切都毫无用处，都无关紧要。这就是我今天讲话的重点：你们每个人对自己的教育应尽的责任。
我首先要讲讲你们对自己应尽的责任。你们每个人都有自己的长处。你们每个人都能做出自己的贡献。你们对自己应尽的责任是发现自己的能力所在。而教育能够提供这样的机会。
你或许能成为一名出色的作家——甚至可能写书或在报纸上发表文章——但你可能要在完成那篇英文课的作文后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名创新者或发明家——甚至可能设计出新一代iPhone或研制出新型药物或疫苗——但你可能要在完成科学课的实验后才会发现自己的才华。你或许能成为一名市长或参议员或最高法院的大法官——但你可能要在参加学生会的工作或辩论队后才会发现自己的才华。
不论你的生活志向是什么，我敢肯定你必须上学读书才能实现它。你想当医生、教师或警官吗？你想当护士、建筑师、律师或军人吗？你必须接受良好的教育，才能从事上述任何一种职业。你不能指望辍学后能碰上个好工作。你必须接受培训，为之努力，为之学习。
这并非只对你个人的人生和未来意义重大。可以毫不夸大地说，教育给你带来的益处将决定这个国家的未来。美国的未来取决于你们。你们今日在校学习的知识将决定我们作为一个国家是否能够迎接我们未来所面临的最严峻挑战。
你们将需要利用你们通过自然科学和数学课程所学到的知识和解决问题的能力来治愈癌症、艾滋病及其他疾病，开发新的能源技术和保护我们的环境。你们将需要利用你们在历史学和社会学课堂上所获得的知识和独立思考能力来抗击贫困和解决无家可归问题，打击犯罪和消除歧视，使我们的国家更公平、更自由。你们将需要利用你们在所有课堂上培养的创造力和智慧来创办新公司，增加就业机会，振兴我们的经济。
我们需要你们每个人发挥你们的聪明才智和技能，以便帮助老一辈人解决我们面临的最棘手问题。如果你们不这样做，如果你们辍学，你们不仅仅是自暴自弃，也是抛弃自己的国家。
我自然知道要做到学业优秀并非总是易事。我知道你们许多人在生活中面临挑战，难以集中精力从事学业。
我明白这一点。 我有亲身感受。两岁时，我父亲离家而去，我是由一位单亲母亲抚养成人的，母亲不得不工作，并时常为支付生活费用而苦苦挣扎，但有时仍无法为我们提供其他孩子享有的东西。有时，我渴望生活中能有一位父亲。有时我感到孤独，感到自己不适应社会。
我并非总是像我应该做到的那样专心学习，我也曾做过我如今不能引以为豪的一些事情，我曾惹过不应该惹的麻烦。我的人生原本会轻易陷入更糟糕的境地。
但是，我当年际遇不错。我有过许多第二次机会，我有幸能上大学，上法学院，追求自己的理想。我的妻子，我们的第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马，也有着类似的经历。她的父母都未曾上过大学，家里很穷。但他们非常勤奋 ，她也是如此，因此她得以进入一些美国最好的学校。
你们中有一些人可能没有那些有利条件。或许你们生活中没有成年人为你们提供你们所需要的支持。或许你们家中有人失业，经济非常拮据。或许你们生活在使你们感觉不安全的社区，或有朋友逼迫你们去做你们知道不对的事情。
然而说到底，你们生活的环境、你们的肤色、你们的原籍、你们的经济收入、你们家中的境况等等，这一切都不能成为你们不用功或不努力的理由。你们没有理由不服从你们的老师、逃学、或辍学。没有理由不付出努力。
你们目前的状况并不决定着你们的未来。没有人决定你们的命运，在美国，你们决定自己的命运。你们掌握自己的未来。
这就是像你们这样的年轻人每天都在做的事情，全美各地都是如此。
来自得州罗马城的贾兹敏·佩雷斯（Jazmin Perez）就是一个例证，她刚开始上学时并不会说英文。她的父母都没有上过大学。然而，她非常勤奋，成绩优秀，获得了布朗大学的奖学金，她如今正在读研究生，攻读公共卫生专业，不久将成为贾兹敏·佩雷斯博士。
我想起了加州洛斯阿尔托斯城的安多尼·舒尔茨（Andoni Schultz），他从三岁开始就一直与脑癌进行抗争，他不得不忍受各类治疗和手术带来的痛苦，其中一项手术曾影响了他的记忆，因此他花在功课上的时间比一般人长得多，要多出数百个小时。然而，他从未落后。他今年秋季将迈进大学。
我还想起家乡伊利诺伊州芝加哥市的尚特尔·史蒂夫（Shantell Steve）。她曾在芝加哥最困难的社区生活，寄养于多个不同的家庭，但她最终在一家地方医疗中心找到工作，并开始了一项帮助年轻人远离流氓团伙的计划，她即将以优异成绩从中学毕业，紧接着将上大学。
贾兹敏、安多尼和尚特尔与你们中间的每个人没什么两样。跟你们一样，他们在生活中面临种种挑战。在某些情况下，他们的处境比起你们许多人更差。但他们拒绝放弃。他们决定要为自己的一生、自己的教育负起责任，为自己设定各项奋斗目标。我期待你们大家都会这样做。
因此，我今天呼吁你们每一个人为自己的教育设定目标，并尽自己的最大努力来实现这些目标。你的目标可以是一件十分简单的事情，例如完成家庭作业、上课专心听讲、或每天花一点时间读一本书。也许你会决定要参加课外活动或在你的社区提供志愿服务。也许你会决定挺身而出保护那些因为身份或长相而受人戏弄或欺负的孩子，原因是你和我一样认为所有的年轻人都应该享有一个适合读书和学习的安全环境。也许你会决定更好地照料自己，以便有更充沛的精力来学习。顺便提一下，除了这些事情外，我希望大家要勤洗手，身体感到不舒服的时候要呆在家里不去上学，这样我们能防止人们在今年秋冬季节染上流感。
但无论你决定做什么，我希望你保证去做。我希望你脚踏实地地去做。
我知道有时候你会从电视上得到这样的印象：你不用做任何艰苦的工作就能发财致富并取得成功，唱小调、打篮球或成为真人秀明星是走向成功的途径。但实际情况是：你可能不会成为其中的一员。
事实上，取得成功不是轻而易举的事情。你不会喜欢你学习的每一门课目。你不会与你的每一位老师都很投契。不是所有的家庭作业似乎都与你眼前的生活完全有关。你第一次尝试做每件事的时候，不一定成功。
这些都没关系。世界上最成功的人士中有一些是遭遇失败最多的人。作者J·K·罗琳（J.K. Rowling）所写的系列小说《哈利·波特》（Harry Potter）第一部在获得出版之前被退稿12次。迈克尔·乔丹（Michael Jordan）曾被他的高中篮球队除名。在乔丹的篮球生涯中，他输过数百场比赛，有成千上万个球没有投中。但他曾说过：“在我的一生中，我失败了一次又一次、一次又一次。这就是我成功的原因。”
这些人士获得成功，因为他们懂得：你不能让失败来限制你，而必须让失败来开导你。你必须让失败向你展示下次如何以不同的方式去做这件事情。因此，如果你遇到麻烦，那并不表示你是麻烦的制造者，而意味着你需要更加努力去把它做对。如果你有一门课分数低，那不表示你比别人笨，而只表示你需要花更多的时间学习。
没有一个人天生擅长做各种事情。你通过勤奋而变得擅长于各种事情。第一次从事新的体育项目时，你不可能是一位主力队员。第一次唱一首歌曲时，你不可能唱准每个音。你必须练习。同样的道理适用于你的学业。你可能要把一道数学题做几次才把它做对。你可能要把一些材料阅读几遍才能理解。在交出一篇优美的作文之前，你肯定需要打几遍草稿。
不要害怕提问。不要在需要帮助时害怕请求别人帮助。我天天请求别人的帮助。请求帮助不是软弱的表现，它是力量的标志，因为它表明你有勇气承认自己对某些事情不懂，这样做会使你学到新的东西。因此，请确定一位你信任的成年人，例如家长、祖父母或老师、教练或辅导员，请他们帮助你遵循既定计划实现你的目标。
即使当你苦苦挣扎、灰心丧气、感到其他人对你不抱希望时，也不要对你自己丧失信心，因为当你自暴自弃时，你也抛弃了自己的国家。
书写美国历史的不是在困难时刻退缩的人，而是坚持不懈、加倍努力的人，他们对国家的爱促使他们全力以赴。
书写美国历史的是250年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们后来进行了独立战争并创建了这个国家。还有75年前坐在你们的位置上的年轻人和学生，他们走出了大萧条并打赢了一场世界大战；他们为民权而奋斗并把宇航员送上了月球。至于20年前坐在你们的位置上的学生，他们创办了谷歌（Google）、叽喳网（Twitter）和脸谱网（Facebook），改变了我们交流沟通的方式。
而今天，我要问问你们大家，你们将做出什么贡献？你们将解决什么问题？你们将有什么发现？20年、50年或100年后来到这里讲话的总统将会怎样评价你们大家为这个国家所做的一切？
你们的家人、你们的老师和我正在竭尽全力保证你们接受必要的教育，以便回答上述问题。我正在努力工作，以便你们的教室得到修缮，你们能够得到学习所需的课本、设备和电脑。但你们也必须尽自己的努力。因此，我希望你们大家从今年起认真对待这个问题。我希望你们尽最大努力做好每一件事。我希望你们每个人都有出色的表现。不要让我们失望。不要让你们的家人或你们的国家失望。而最重要的是，不要辜负你们自己，而要让我们都能[为你们]感到骄傲。
非常感谢你们大家。愿主保佑你们。愿主保佑美国。谢谢你们。（掌声）
巴拉克·奥巴马总统演讲的英文原稿：
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN DISCUSSION WITH 9TH GRADERS
Wakefield High School
Arlington, Virginia
11:01 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. So this is the first day of high school?
STUDENTS: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Wow. I\'m trying to remember back to my first day of high school. I can\'t remember that far back. But it is great to see all of you here. I\'m really proud of my Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who is just doing a great job trying to create an environment where all of you can learn. And I know it\'s a little intimidating with all these cameras around and all this --
SECRETARY DUNCAN: Don\'t pay any attention to them.
THE PRESIDENT: -- so just pretend that they\'re not there.
Here\'s the main reason I wanted to come by. As Arne pointed out, when I was growing up, my dad wasn’t in the house. We weren’t poor, but we weren’t rich. My mother had to work really hard, so sometimes my grandparents had to fill in. And my wife, Michelle, who all of you have seen -- the First Lady -- her dad worked in a -- as a -- basically in a blue-collar job, an hourly worker. Her mom worked as a secretary. And they lived in a tiny -- they didn’t even live in a house, they lived upstairs above her aunt\'s house. And so neither of us really had a whole lot when we were growing up, but the one thing that we had was parents who insisted on getting a good education.
And I want you all to know that despite the good home training I was getting, that when I was in 9th and 10th grade, I was still kind of a goof-off and I didn’t study as hard as I could have. I was a lot more concerned about basketball. I made some mistakes when I was in high school, wasn’t as focused as I should have been. But the fact that my parents -- that my mother and my grandparents had emphasized education allowed me to make up for some of those mistakes and still get into a good college. And when I got to college, I was then able to really bear down and focus on education.
Michelle, she was a good student the whole time. She was sort of a goody-two-shoes. (Laughter.) And she just did well in high school, and then she went to college and then she went to law school, and she just was always really organized and together.
But the point is, is that both of us were able to succeed not because of who our parents were, not because we came from a lot of wealth or because we had a lot of connections, but it was mainly just because we ended up getting into good schools and we worked hard and we did well.
All of you are in that same position. And as I look out at this class, I say to myself, you guys remind me of me and Michelle. And you\'re in the same position that we were. We were no different. You have the same opportunities that we had. The key is for you to seize those opportunities.
And the reason I wanted to come by to talk to students -- and then we\'re going to talk to students all across the country -- Arne is working really hard to make sure that your schools are well equipped; we\'re trying to get more money in the budget for things like computers, and we want to make sure that we\'re getting the very best teachers and that they\'re getting all the training they need -- we\'re doing everything we can as adults to give you a good learning situation. But ultimately, we can\'t force you to learn. Not even your parents can force you to learn. Ultimately, you\'ve got to want to learn. You\'ve got to realize that education is your ticket. And that education is not going to happen just because you show up, although showing up helps, so I want to make sure everybody --
SECRETARY DUNCAN: We\'re glad you\'re here.
THE PRESIDENT: We\'re glad you\'re here. You\'ve got to be hungry to want to learn more -- whatever the subject is. And if you have that hunger and that drive and that passion, you\'re going to do well. And if you don\'t, you know, you\'re just going to do okay, you\'ll be mediocre. And I don\'t think that\'s what any of you want for your lives.
So that\'s the main message that I wanted to send is, take advantage of the opportunity. If you are hungry for learning, you will find teachers that want to help you. You will -- your parents will be there for you. The community will be there. You will be able to finance college. You will be able to get a good job. You will be able to have a successful career. But you\'ve got to want it. And that\'s the main message that we wanted to send.
So, with that, we\'ve got about 20 minutes just to go back and forth. And I know, like I said, it\'s a little intimidating having these folks around. But it\'s not every day that you get a chance to talk to the President. (Laughter.) I\'m not going to call on anybody. Just whoever has a question or a comment, a suggestion, an idea about what you think would make school better, things that you think make it tough for some kids, even if it\'s not you, but things that you\'ve heard that you think we should know. Questions about Bo, my dog, that\'s okay, too. (Laughter.) Whatever comes to mind.
So who wants to start off? I know -- there you go. That\'s what I\'m talking about. We got a mic, so everybody can hear you. Introduce yourself.
STUDENT: How has your life changed?
THE PRESIDENT: What\'s your name?
STUDENT: Jimmy.
THE PRESIDENT: Jimmy. How has my life changed?
SECRETARY DUNCAN: That\'s a good question.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, when you announce that you\'re running for President -- first of all, I was a U.S. senator before I was President, so people already sort of knew me but just in Illinois, in my home state, in Chicago. And when you announce that you\'re running for President, suddenly a lot more people know you. And then slowly you get Secret Service. And then when you win the nomination you get more Secret Service. And then when you become President, then everything just shuts down. And so one of the biggest changes in my life is that I can\'t just do things normally like I used to be able to do them. And that\'s hard sometimes. I mean, I can\'t just get in my car, go to the store, pick up some -- whatever it is that I feel like picking up. I can\'t go take a walk without shutting down a whole bunch of roads and really inconveniencing a lot of people. (Laughter.)
And so in terms of my own personal life, I think the biggest change is that I\'m inside what\'s called the bubble. I can\'t just do things on the spur of the moment. And that\'s actually the toughest thing about being President, because you want to just be able to interact with people normally, right? And these days either people are waving and really happy to see me, or they\'re booing me, saying -- (laughter) -- you know. But nobody just kind of interacts with you in a normal way.
The good thing about being President is I\'ve got this really nice home office called the Oval Office -- (laughter) -- and it means that I don\'t have a commute. Basically I walk downstairs, I\'m in my office, I\'m working, and then I can leave to get home in time to have dinner with my family. So I\'m spending a lot more time with my kids now, and my wife now, and having dinner with them every night. That\'s a lot better than it was before when I was traveling a lot and commuting back and forth between D.C. and Chicago. So that\'s really good.
Now, obviously the other way my life has changed is just I have so much more responsibility. But that part of the job I really enjoy. I mean, I really like meeting smart people who are passionate about their work; trying to figure out how do we get the schools better, how do we provide health care for people who don\'t have it -- the policy work of thinking through how can we make changes in the country that will give people more opportunity, better jobs, better education. That stuff is what I spend most of my day doing and that\'s really interesting. I really enjoy it.
All right, who else? Right here.
STUDENT: Hi, my name is Brandon. I was wondering, you said that your father wasn\'t really in your life. That\'s kind of like me -- my parents were divorced. But how do you think your life would have been different if he would have been there for you? Like, if -- how would your education have been and would you still be President?
THE PRESIDENT: It\'s an interesting question. You know, you never know exactly how your life would turn out if there was a change in circumstances as big as your dad being around. I think that -- I actually wrote a book about this, called \"Dreams For My Father,\" where I tried to figure out what was he like, who was he. He was a very, very smart man, but he was sort of arrogant and kind of overbearing, and he had his own problems and his own issues. So my mother always used to say that if he had been around, I probably would have been having a lot of arguments with him all the time.
I think that I was lucky, though, that my mother always -- she never spoke badly about him, which I think since I was a boy, knowing that even if your dad wasn\'t around, that you still were hearing good things about him I think probably improved my own self-confidence.
When I look back on my life, I think that -- Michelle\'s dad was around, and Arne I think knew him. Just a great guy. Wonderful, wonderful man. And he actually had multiple sclerosis, so he had to walk with canes, but went to every basketball game that my brother-in-law played in, was there for every dance recital Michelle was in, was just a great family man. And when I look at her dad, I say to myself, boy, that would be nice to have somebody like that that you could count on who was always there for you.
On the other hand, I think that not having a dad in some ways forced me to grow up faster. It meant that I made more mistakes because I didn\'t have somebody to tell me, here\'s how you do this or here\'s how you do that. But on the other hand, I had to, I think, raise myself a little bit more. I had to be more supportive of my mother because I knew how hard she was working. And so, in some ways, maybe it made me stronger over time, just like it may be making you stronger over time.
Let\'s get a young lady in here. Go ahead.
STUDENT: Hi. I\'m Lilly. And if you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Dinner with anyone dead or alive? Well, you know, dead or alive, that\'s a pretty big list. (Laughter.) You know, I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine. Now, it would probably be a really small meal because -- (laughter) -- he didn\'t eat a lot. But he\'s somebody who I find a lot of inspiration in. He inspired Dr. King, so if it hadn\'t been for the non-violent movement in India, you might not have seen the same non-violent movement for civil rights here in the United States. He inspired César Chávez, and he -- and what was interesting was that he ended up doing so much and changing the world just by the power of his ethics, by his ability to change how people saw each other and saw themselves -- and help people who thought they had no power realize that they had power, and then help people who had a lot of power realize that if all they\'re doing is oppressing people, then that\'s not a really good exercise of power.
So I\'m always interested in people who are able to bring about change, not through violence, not through money, but through the force of their personality and their ethical and moral stances. And that\'s somebody that I\'d love to sit down and talk to.
STUDENT: Hi, my name is Alexis. And I was just wondering what were your main goals before you graduated college, what you wanted to achieve in life?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, as I said, when I was your age, I\'ve got to say that I was a little bit of a goof-off, so my main goal was to get on the varsity basketball team, to have fun. And when I was younger, my aspirations were to be an architect, maybe to be a judge. And then I went through this phase where I was kind of rebelling -- this was part of not having a dad around. I think I sort of was trying to work through my issues. But by the time I got to college, A, I realized I was never going to be a pro basketball player. Arne never realized that. (Laughter.) He still doesn’t.
SECRETARY DUNCAN: Still trying.
THE PRESIDENT: We played this weekend. But so I realized I wasn’t going to be a world-class athlete. I realized that I was good with writing. I was good in sort of analyzing how the world worked, whether it was politics or economic or -- that those were my strengths. I was pretty good at math, but wasn’t great at it. And the problem was the four years in high school that I let my math skills kind of go, it\'s hard to catch up with math once you’ve -- which is why, by the way, we need more scientists, we need more engineers, and if you\'re good at math stay with it and really focus on it. That\'s something that I regret, is having let some of that go, because I was good at when I was young.
So I think I figured out at that point that I wanted to be in some sort of job where I was helping people, that -- I was never that interested in just being rich. That wasn’t my -- that wasn’t really my goal. My goal was more to do something that I thought was meaningful. And so in college I became interested in public policy and urban policy. And I started doing some stuff off campus around different issues, which is something -- and doing community service type of work.
And I don\'t know what the opportunities here are at Wakefield, but one of the things that is a really great learning opportunity is to -- if there\'s a community service program here, or if you want to do it through your church or your synagogue or your mosque or some other community group, you can really learn a lot about the world not just in the classroom, but also outside of the classroom.
Now, you\'ve got to focus on doing what -- your top priority has to be your classroom work. But I found in college that some of the work I did in the community actually opened my eyes and gave me a sense of how I might be able to help people. And that was really important.
STUDENT: Why did you decide to come to Wakefield instead of, like, Yorktown or Washington?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, Wakefield has a wonderful reputation; this is a good school. I think when I look around the room, I really like the fact that it\'s a diverse school, that there are just people from all different walks of life here. I think that\'s part of the strength of America. And this is basically what America increasingly looks like, people from all different walks of life, different backgrounds, different religions, different ethnic backgrounds. And so we thought that this would be a good representative sample of students. And your questions have proven me right.
STUDENT: Hi, I\'m Sam. And I was just wondering how you motivate yourself to do all the work that goes along with your job.
THE PRESIDENT: That\'s a great question. You know, some of it -- I\'m just going to be honest with you -- some of it is just you don\'t want to fail. Right? A lot of people are counting on me. And so even when I\'m really tired or things aren\'t going exactly the way I thought they would be going, or there\'s just a lot of problems that are landing on my desk, I think about all the struggles that a lot of people are going through around the country and I say to myself, it\'s such an honor to be in this job; I can\'t afford to get tired; I just want to make sure that I\'m doing the best that I can do for those folks.
And one of the things that we started doing as soon as I came in -- we get thousands of letters -- I think it\'s 40,000 letters a day -- letters or e-mails -- a day from people all across the country, on all different subjects. And one of the things we started doing was trying to get 10 letters every day, sort of a sample of letters that I read personally. So at the end of my day, along with my big briefing book of things I have to read to prepare for the next day -- education policy, or health care, or what\'s happening in Afghanistan -- I have these 10 letters from ordinary folks.
And you read these letters and some of them are really inspiring. People talk about how they\'re the first in their family to go to college, and they\'re having to work full-time but they\'re sure that they are going to get a better job and a better career, and so they\'re sticking with it even though that it\'s hard.
Some of the stories are really depressing. You hear about people who are sick but don\'t have health care, and suddenly they get a bill for $100,000, and there\'s no way they can pay for it, and they\'re about to lose their house.
And you\'re just reminded that the country is full of really good people who sometimes are going through a hard time. They just need a break. They need a little bit of help. Maybe the way things are set up right now isn\'t always fair for people, and that motivates you, because you say, well, I can\'t make everything perfect, I can\'t prevent somebody from getting sick, but maybe I can make sure that they\'ve got insurance so that when they do get sick, they\'re going to get some help.
I can\'t make everybody in an inner-city school suddenly not have problems with drugs on the street corner, or maybe parents who aren\'t really parenting well, but I can at least make sure that if they do show up at school that they\'ve got a teacher who is well trained. So that really, really motivates you a lot. That\'s what gets you up in the morning.
SECRETARY DUNCAN: Last one. Last question.
THE PRESIDENT: Who\'s got the mic? Well, he already had the mic, so we\'ll give two last questions. These two right here. Go ahead.
STUDENT: Hi, Mr. President, my name is Jessie. When I grow up, I would like to have your job.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay.
STUDENT: Is there any advice you can give me, or career paths that I -- things I need to know?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me give you some very practical tips. (Laughter.) First of all, I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook -- (laughter) -- because in the YouTube age, whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life. And when you\'re young, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff. And I\'ve been hearing a lot about young people who -- you know, they\'re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job and somebody has done a search and -- so that\'s some practical political advice for you right there. (Laughter.) That\'s number one.
Number two, look, obviously, doing well in school is hugely important, especially if you don\'t come from some political family where they\'ve got you all hooked up. If you\'re going to succeed it\'s because people are going to think that -- they have confidence that you can do the job. So really excelling in education is important.
Number three, find something that you\'re passionate about and do that well. There are a lot of people who decide to go into politics just because they want to be important or they like the idea of having their name up in lights or what have you. The truth is, is that I think the people who are the best elected officials are the people who they found something they\'re good at; they get really -- whether it\'s they\'re a really good lawyer, they\'re a really good teacher, they\'re a good business person -- they\'ve built a career and learned something about how to organize people and how to motivate people. And then they go into politics because they think that they can take those skills to do some more good -- as opposed to just wanting to get elected just for the sake of getting elected.
And we have a lot -- I\'ll be honest with you, I mean, there are a lot of politicians like that who, all they\'re thinking about is just, how do I get reelected, and so they never actually get anything done.
But that\'s not just true in politics; that\'s true in life. I think even if you didn\'t want to be President, if you wanted to be a successful -- successful in business, most of the most successful businesspeople I know are people who, they were passionate about some idea about a product or a service, and they really got into that. And then the money was a byproduct -- the money came because you really did something good, as opposed to you just thinking about how do I make money.
You talk to somebody like a Bill Gates. That guy was just fascinated with computers, and that\'s everything he was thinking about. Now, he got so good at it that he then ended up being a very good businessman, as well. But his focus was on how do I create something that actually helps people or is useful to them. And I think you should have that same attitude, whatever it is that you decide to do.
All right. Okay, last question.
STUDENT: Hi, my name is Sean. And my question is, currently 36 countries have universal health coverage, including Iraq and Afghanistan, which have it paid for by the United States. Why can\'t the United States have universal health coverage?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that\'s the question I\'ve been asking Congress, because I think we need it. I think we can do it. And I\'m going to be making a speech tomorrow night talking about my plan to make sure that everybody has access to affordable health care.
Part of what happened is that back in the 1940s and \'50s a lot of -- most of the wealthy countries around the world decided to set up health care systems that covered everybody. The United States -- for a number of different reasons -- organized their health care around employer-based health insurance. So what happened was, is that you basically got your health insurance through your job. And you can see some problems with that. Number one is if you lose your job, then you don\'t have health insurance. The other thing is some employers may not want to do right by their employees by giving them health insurance, and then they\'re kind of out of luck.
And so what happened was, is that the majority of Americans still have health insurance through their job and most of them are happy with it, but a lot of people fall through the cracks. If you\'re self-employed, if you start your own business, if you are working in a job that doesn\'t offer health insurance, then you\'re -- you have real problems.
So what we\'re trying to do is set up a system where people who have health insurance on the job, they can keep it, but if you don\'t have health insurance for the job, if you\'re self-employed, if you\'re unemployed, that you\'re able to get health insurance through another way. And we can afford to do it and it will actually, I think, over time save us money if we set that up. All right?
Well, listen, guys, these have been terrific questions. I can tell you guys are going to excel in high school. You guys are going to do great. And your teachers are lucky to have you. And just remember that -- my only other piece of advice is stay focused, do well, apply yourself in school -- but also understand you\'re going to make some mistakes during your teenage years and you can recover from them. Just make sure that if you do make a mistake that you learn from it and you\'ll be fine.
All right. Thank you guys for taking the time.
SECRETARY DUNCAN: Thanks, guys. Have a great school year. (Applause.)
END
来源：美国国务院国际信息局
