OPENING DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL
This speech was given by a new H.S. principal in Florida 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
againstour 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 interesting 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.
THIS PRINCIPAL SHOULD BE IN CHARGE OF
ALL OUR SCHOOLS!!
