Hefei school sparks controversy after asking students to study Obama speech

A Hefei middle school has become embroiled in controversy after ordering its students to study a 2009 speech by US President Barack Obama.

All 3,000-plus students of Anhui’s Hefei Shouchun Middle School were given a translated copy of Obama’s speech to study on the third day into the new term on Wednesday.

The idea to study the president’s speech was proposed by the school’s deputy principal Sun Yeqing, according to the Anhui official news portal, Anhuinews.com. “His speech was concrete, vivid and lacked empty words, which is very easy for students to digest,” Sun said.

Neither the school’s principal nor deputy principal was available for comment on Thursday, but a staff member working for its administration confirmed the report for the South China Morning Post.

In the speech, Obama stressed that everyone had the responsibility to discover his or her own talents through education so they can better contribute to their own country.

He also said that receiving an education was the only way to decide one’s own fate. “Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future,” Obama said.