Essay om "Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama: Back to School"

Uddrag

Education has always been a key issue in politics. Politicians are always concerned with the quality of their countries' educational systems because education is the backbone of society. Having a strong and well-functioning educational system is an investment in the future because society depends on apt students, who can fill the various positions a country needs in order to function and compete in a global age. Also as a political cause, education is a place where votes can be won. President Barack Obama is also concerned with the issue of education and in his speech, “Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama: Back to School Event” held in Arlington, Virginia, 2009, he stresses the importance of education and responsibility to America's students. His main focus lies on how the students themselves carry the responsibility for doing well in school, not only for their own sakes, but for their country's sake. But how do you communicate such a matter to such a broad target group of youngsters?

In his speech to the nation's students (kindergarten to 12th grade) President Barack Obama tries to stress the importance of getting an education and the responsibilities students have themselves. Addressing children ranging from 6 years to 18 years of age is a difficult task and Obama employs various strategies in order to get his message across to as many as possible. First of all, he talks directly to his listeners and makes sure they see him as a peer they can identify with and not only as the President of the United States. Secondly, he uses an informal style, a simple language, many repetitions, plenty of diverse concrete examples they can relate to, and he speaks to their patriotic feelings and their sense of responsibility.

Obama's main challenge with his target group is their size and diversity, and he therefore has to employ several strategies in order to reach as many as possible. In order to quickly get his listeners' attention, he starts out by speaking directly to them, “Hello everyone – how's everybody doing today?” (p.1, ll.1). A key element in getting the message across is that he gets the students' attention, and that he then holds on to it. One way of doing this is by addressing them at eye level. He gets them to identify with him, respect him and deem him credible and then shows them that he genuinely cares about their situation. Obama does this by beginning the speech with anecdotes from his own life. He tells them how he was raised by a single mother, who couldn't afford to send him to the same schools as the other children, and how she homeschooled him at 4.30 in the morning. He also tells them how he got into trouble and did things that he is not proud of. By sharing these rather personal stories of struggle and adversity, Obama uses an ethos argument, meaning he gains credibility in their eyes. Listening to someone who you respect and who you believe is credible makes it a lot easier to accept the messages and values that they speak of.
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