The White House has released the text of Obama’s speech to the country’s schoolchildren. On the whole, it is far better than I had feared it would be, and in fact I agree with much of it — particularly the parts about the student’s responsibility for their education. He (or his speechwriters) couldn’t refrain from putting in the setpiece success stories and smarmy comments that typify his speeches, however, and depending on how well he manages to deliver it, “when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country” may well become a humorous quotation bandied about the classroom. (Don’t expect high school students to swallow this sort of thing blind — most of them have a quite healthy cynicism about them.)