Fwd: New High School Principal's speech to students.

[Zenaan Harkness]

My kinda speech,
Zenaan

---
New high school principal

A Speech Every Australian High School Principal Should Give.

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 Australia have worked
against you, against your teachers and against our country.

First, this school will no longer honour 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
Endeavour 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 Australia.

This is an Australian public school, and Australian public schools
were created to make better Australians.  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-Australian
nationality-based celebrations.  They undermine the motto of
Australia, one of its three central values -- epluribus Unum, "from
many, one."  And this school will be guided by Australia'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 Australia'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 Australian job market.

We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most
Australians 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 endeavour, 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 Horse Racing 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 "Abbo," 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 fortunate -- to be alive and
to be an Australian.

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.