I believe the children are the future...

I used the above line to start this because it is true. Yesterday, the President broadcast a speech directed to the children of America. It was basically telling them to stay in school, try hard, be your very best. You know, socialist stuff like that. People were freaking out over the speech before it was even given, with parents keeping their children home from school, and calling their childrens' school to demand that it not be shown.
My question is, what did the children think of the speech? The ones that heard it, I believe, were encouraged. How would I know? I don't, but here is a letter that my daughter wrote to President Obama after the speech. It gave me hope for the future.
Read:

September 9, 2009
Dear President Obama,
I’m writing this in regards to your speech about education. I am an eighth grade student at ****** *** ****** here in *****, Indiana, and would just like to say I found your speech very meaningful and worth the time of everyone that watched it.
My parents had recorded it and told me to watch it that night. Frankly, I was very impressed. I feel that education is a very important factor in a person’s future. All chances of getting a desired job and being able to support a family are contingent on the level of education one can receive and how much effort they put into it. There isn’t an excuse in existence for not at least putting your best foot forward and making an effort to have that job as a doctor, or own that nice car or house. Right now, a lot of kids are dropping out of school, and sometimes if they’re in school they don’t even pay attention. It’s not setting a good path in the least for their future. That’s why I changed schools. In the sixth grade, I went to a different school then I am now. It was a public school that wasn’t exactly in the best neighborhood. That however wasn’t my problem. My problem was I was doing work at a 3rd grade level, and almost never had homework. Plus, the kids at the school weren’t exactly the most properly behaved. I was falling in with a bad crowd because I had so much free time. I still kept my school work up and everything, but both of my parents realized that this couldn’t continue. After one year there, they had just about had it with the school in its entirety. The next year, I went to seventh grade at my current Catholic preparatory school. Here we do college level work and are good at what we do. This school has given me so much as far as education. I never knew I could write until we studied poetry in English. I never knew I could act until I got a major part in the school play. I never knew I could put up a huge argument until I had debate with my theology teacher about the current controversial issues in the political system. So as far as I’m concerned, education is definitely going to get me far in life.
I think it was a great thing of you to do to make a speech about such an important issue right now. And considering how much it will end up affecting the future of this great country, I’d say it’s an immensely important issue. Thank you for addressing it.
Sincerely,
Maddy *****

Well done, Maddy. Daddy is proud of you.