The Audacity of Hope: Blog 3

In this section, Obama writes, "Sometimes we need both cultural transformation and government action - a change in values and a change in policy - to promote the kind of society we want." (p 63) Obama values a good education for children. He says that inner city schools need most of the attention. I think that we could dump tons of money in these schools and it wouldn't make much of a difference if parents don't teach their kids the value of hard work. Obama said that often when he was running for president - that it is important for parents to be involved. Schools can't do all the work, but we also can't expect children to succeed in old schools that are falling apart, don't have ample supplies, or teachers that don't have experience. Every student deserves a school like Ours. They deserve good teachers, the right material, and a learning environment that is bent to suit each student according to their needs.
Obama values the idea that TV and cable industries should create better standards to control what is viewedby children. This should include both programming and commercials. Some people feel that government has no right to interfere, they say that we have a right - freedom of speech. Even with the 1st amendment, parents need to get more involved in what their children watch. Even passing laws would be helpful even if it was fining the stations that break these laws. Obama believes that our values "demand deeds and not just words". (p69) He means that words without action don't mean anything. For values to have any usefulness they must influence how we live and treat other people.