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In Cambridge, students fidget while watching Obama speech

E-mail|Link|Comments () September 8, 2009 01:28 PM

By Peter Schworm, Glob Staff

CAMBRIDGE -- Students at the Morse School watched the webcast of Obama's speech in their classrooms, then discussed what it meant to them. In one class, where posters of Langston Hughes and Malcolm X hung on the wall, eighth-graders grew fidgety as the Internet feed kept freezing, but fell still when the president's words rang clear.

"These people succeeded because they understand that you can’t let your failures define you -- you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time," Obama said. "If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying."

"Amen," said Jeffrey Tabb, an eighth-grader.

Administrators had urged instructors to seize on the president's speech as a "teachable moment," and afterward, teacher Latrice Bates asked students what Obama had said about going to college.

"He said that it doesn't matter where you come from, you can still go," said Grace McCabe.

"That's right," Bates said. "You can do anything if you put your mind to it."

It was the first day of school, and students seemed eager to leave the darkened classroom for the late-summer sun. When the bell rang, they bolted. Time for recess.