A SPEECH EVERY AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SHOULD GIVE!
May 7th, 2011 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 — e pluribus 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
lucky — 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.
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 — e pluribus 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
lucky — 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.
