President Barack Obama's second term officially began yesterday when he took the oath of office in a private anniversary surrounded by his family unit, using a Bible given to Offset Lady Michelle Obama'southward grandmother by her begetter. Today, every bit he is publicly sworn in on the solar day the nation also celebrates the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the president will identify his hand on a Bible that belonged to Dr. King, which itself will be stacked atop President Lincoln's inaugural Bible.

President Barack Obama takes the official Oath of Office, Jan. 20, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson).

President Barack Obama takes the official Adjuration of Office, Jan. 20, 2013. (Official White Firm Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

The symbolism of this act goes across the obvious.  For all three leaders, public education has been ane of the leading civil rights issues of their time.

President Lincoln signed the Morrill Act of 1862, establishing the framework for the nation'due south public universities and colleges. In 1890, a second law, the Morrill State Grant Human activity, extended accessibility to African Americans.

Lincoln's views on public education were formed early in his life.  At age 23, when running (unsuccessfully) for his commencement political part in Illinois, the Sangamo Periodical published his campaign statement, which included the following:

Upon the bailiwick of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting information technology, I can merely say that I view it equally the nearly of import subject, which nosotros equally a people tin exist engaged in. That every man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our complimentary institutions, appears to exist an object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say naught of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. For my part, I desire to see the fourth dimension when education, and past its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry, shall become much more general than now, and should exist gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy period.

Dr. Rex, too, began shaping his vision of pedagogy as a young homo. In an often-cited essay, The Purpose of Education, published in the Morehouse College student newspaper during his junior year, he wrote:

Photo: Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.

Photograph: Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University.

Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to call up for one's self is very difficult. We are prone to permit our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great bulk of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not requite u.s. objective and unbiased truths. To save homo from the morass of propaganda, in my stance, is one of the master aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction. 

The office of education, therefore, is to teach one to call up intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may show the greatest menace to society. The about dangerous criminal may exist the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.

When President Obama discusses the value and importance of education, he speaks from personal experience. On September viii, 2009, in a nationally broadcast dorsum-to-school speech from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, the president admitted to not having been the near enthusiastic student – at first.

At present, I know it's not always easy to do well in schoolhouse. I know a lot of y'all accept challenges in your lives right now that can arrive difficult to focus on your schoolwork.

I become it. I know what it'south like. My father left my family unit when I was two years one-time, and I was raised past a unmarried mom who had to piece of work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't e'er able to give us the things that other kids had. There were times when I missed having a begetter in my life. There were times when I was lone and I felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'1000 not proud of, and got in more problem than I should take. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our Start Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't take much. Only they worked hard, and she worked difficult, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Perhaps you don't accept adults in your life who give you the back up that you lot need. Perchance someone in your family has lost their chore, and there's not enough money to become around. Mayhap you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel prophylactic, or accept friends who are pressuring you to practise things y'all know aren't right.

But at the terminate of the twenty-four hours, the circumstances of your life – what y'all look like, where you come from, how much coin you have, what you've got going on at home – none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school. That's no alibi for talking back to your teacher, or cut class, or dropping out of schoolhouse. There is no alibi for non trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll cease up. No ane's written your destiny for y'all. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You lot make your own future.

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