The President's Speach

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama
Back to School Event

Arlington, Virginia
September 8, 2009

The President: Hello everyone – how’s everybody doing today? I’m here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we’ve got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through twelfth grade. I’m glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it’s your first day in a new school, so it’s understandable if you’re a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you’re in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could’ve stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I’m here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I’m here because I want to talk with you about your education and what’s expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I’ve given a lot of speeches about education. And I’ve talked a lot about responsibility.

I’ve talked about your teachers’ responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I’ve talked about your parents’ responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don’t spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I’ve talked a lot about your government’s responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren’t working where students aren’t getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn’t just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you’re learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You’ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You’ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don’t do that – if you quit on school – you’re not just quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on your country.

Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.

So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. 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 First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life – what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home – that’s no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That’s no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That’s what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn’t speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I’m thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who’s fought brain cancer since he was three. He’s endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer – hundreds of extra hours – to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he’s headed to college this fall.

And then there’s Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she’s on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren’t any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you’ll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don’t feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work -- that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you’re not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won’t love every subject you study. You won’t click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won’t necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That’s OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who’ve had the most failures. JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

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. 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.

No one’s born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You’re not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don’t hit every note the first time you sing a song. You’ve got to practice. It’s the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it’s good enough to hand in.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust – a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor – and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you’re struggling, even when you’re discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you – don’t ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn’t about people who quit when things got tough. It’s about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best.

It’s the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I’m working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you’ve got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don’t let us down – don’t let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

5.898 GPA student NOT valedictorian!

Grapevine student with top grades won't be valedictorian

12:27 AM CDT on Thursday, May 29, 2008
By LAURIE FOX / The Dallas Morning News
lfox@dallasnews.com

Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year.

In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history.

Anjali Datta's GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the Grapevine High School history, but she can't be valedictorian and get a one-year scholarship from the state because she graduated in three years instead of the usual four.
View larger More photos Photo store It's still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state.

Her closest competitor's GPA is 5.64. No one disputes that she's the top student in her class numerically. The problem rests with another number entirely.

Anjali rocketed through high school in only three years. But a school district policy states: "The valedictorian shall be the eligible student with the highest weighted grade-point average for four years of high school."

The dispute over Anjali's status as valedictorian comes down to interpretation: Does four years mean calendar years of school attendance or does it mean completing the credits it takes most students four years to earn?

It depends on whom you ask.

The 16-year-old started taking high school classes in middle school and says her teachers encouraged her to graduate a year early because she had more than enough credits for graduation.

She said a counselor assured her that doing so wouldn't affect her valedictorian status because she earned her four years of high school credit in the district's schools. Officials had no comment about what a counselor may have said.

The policy was created to protect students from others who might transfer into the district close to graduation and usurp the class ranking of longtime students.

Though that's not the situation in this case, the district's attorneys interpreted the policy literally.

So at graduation ceremonies, 18-year-old Tyler Scott Franklin of Colleyville will be the Grapevine High School valedictorian.

Anjali will be "Valedictorian – Three-Year."

District officials said the title was created for this situation.

"We're doing what we can to extend an additional honor within accordance of school board policy," said Megan Overman, a district spokeswoman. "I'm not going to say that this has been an easy situation. This is something that is new for all of us. We've not faced this situation before."

Ms. Overman said the district researched the decision for months.

"There was a lot of thought involved in this. There is no perfect answer," she said.

Anjali says she and her parents are baffled.

"I have not heard of any educational institution penalizing a student for excellence – for completing a demanding set of classes 'too quickly,' " said her father, Deepak Datta. "Anjali's experience will surely send a strong negative signal to other talented students trying to excel.

"They will most certainly be discouraged from trying to do their best – instead will be more focused on gaming the system."

On Tuesday, Grapevine High School principal Jerry Hollingsworth notified the family via e-mail of the district's position that would arrive this week by certified letter.

"The determination of valedictory honor is one that rests squarely on Grapevine-Colleyville ISD board policy," Dr. Hollingsworth wrote. "In determining an appropriate interpretation of our policy, inquiries were made to both the school district's attorney as well as an attorney at the Texas Association of School Boards.

"Both were clear in their opinions that this honor should go to a student who has four school years in his or her high school career. We are compelled to adhere to school board policy," he wrote.

So, Tyler will receive the college scholarship.

His mother, Kathy, said her family didn't raise the issue with the school district. She said someone brought the district policy to her family's attention.

"We feel obviously that the other student deserves recognition as well," she said. "Considering all of the different factors, this was a good solution."

Anjali says she's struggling to understand the move because the Texas Education Agency doesn't even mention the word "valedictorian" when defining eligibility for the college scholarship.

The state provides Texas high schools with an "Honor Graduate Certificate." The certificate is to be presented to the "highest ranking graduate" in the senior class, according to Texas Education Code.

State officials say it is the local school district's responsibility to determine the highest ranking student, and the state has no authority to get involved. At graduation June 7, Anjali will be honored for her perfect ACT score. She will be acknowledged as an honor graduate and allowed to address her classmates.

But Anjali said it still doesn't feel quite right.

"This really diminishes the value of the valedictorian title," she said.

In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school’s history.

It’s still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state.

Her closest competitor’s GPA is 5.64. No one disputes that she’s the top student in her class numerically. The problem rests with another number entirely.

Anjali rocketed through high school in only three years.

But a school district policy states: “the valedictorian shall be the eligible student with the highest weighted grade point average for four years of high school.”

The dispute over Anjali’s status as valedictorian comes down to interpretation: Does four years mean calendar years of school attendance or does it mean completing the credits it takes most students four years to earn?

It depends on whom you ask.

The 16-year-old started taking high school classes in middle school and she says her teachers encouraged her to graduate a year early because she had more than enough credits for graduation.

She said a counselor assured her that doing so wouldn’t affect her valedictorian status because she earned her four years of high school credit in the district’s schools. Officials had no comment about what a counselor may have said.

The policy was created to protect students from others who might transfer into the district close to graduation and usurp the class ranking of longtime students.

Though that’s not the situation in this case, the district’s attorneys interpreted the policy literally.

So at graduation ceremonies, 18-year-old Tyler Scott Franklin of Colleyville, will be the Grapevine High School valedictorian.

Anjali will be “Valedictorian—Three-Year.”

District officials said the title was created for this situation.

“We’re doing what we can to extend an additional honor within accordance of school board policy,” said Megan Overman, a district spokeswoman. “I’m not going to say that this has been an easy situation. This is something that is new for all of us. We’ve not faced this situation before.”

Ms. Overman said the district researched the decision for months.

“There was a lot of thought involved in this. There is no perfect answer,” she said.

Anjali says she and her parents are baffled.

“I have not heard of any educational institution penalizing a student for excellence – for completing a demanding set of classes ‘too quickly,’” said her father, Deepak Datta. “Anjali’s experience will surely send a strong negative signal to other talented students trying to excel.

“They will most certainly be discouraged from trying to do their best – instead will be more focused on gaming the system.”

On Tuesday, Grapevine High School principal Jerry Hollingsworth notified the family via e-mail of the district’s position that would arrive this week by certified letter.

“The determination of valedictory honor is one that rests squarely on Grapevine-Colleyville ISD board policy,” Dr. Hollingsworth wrote. “In determining an appropriate interpretation of our policy, inquiries were made to both the school district’s attorney as well as an attorney at the Texas Association of School Boards.

“Both were clear in their opinions that this honor should go to a student who has four school years in his or her high school career. We are compelled to adhere to school board policy,” he wrote.

So, Tyler will receive the college scholarship.

His mother, Kathy, said her family didn’t raise the issue with the school district. She said someone brought the district policy to her family’s attention.

“We feel obviously that the other student deserves recognition as well,” she said. “Considering all of the different factors, this was a good solution.”

Anjali says she’s struggling to understand the move because the Texas Education Agency doesn’t even mention the word “valedictorian” when defining eligibility for the college scholarship.

The state provides Texas high schools with an “Honor Graduate Certificate.” The certificate is to be presented to the “highest ranking graduate” in the senior class, according to Texas Education Code.

State officials say it is the local school district’s responsibility to determine the highest ranking student, and the state has no authority to get involved. At graduation on June 7, Anjali will be honored for her perfect ACT score. She will be acknowledged as an honor graduate and allowed to address her classmates.

But Anjali said it still doesn’t feel quite right.

“This really diminishes the value of the valedictorian title,” she said.

Student Sues Teacher

Student Suing After Being Awakened By Teacher
DANBURY, Conn. (AP) ― Danbury officials have been notified they are being sued by a student who was awakened in class by a teacher who made a loud noise.

Documents filed with the Town Clerk, a prelude to a lawsuit, claim that a sleeping student suffered hearing damage when his teacher woke him up by slamming her hand down on the boy's desk. in December.

Attorney Alan Barry says 15-year-old Vinicios Robacher suffered pain and "very severe injuries to his left eardrum" when teacher Melissa Nadeau abruptly slammed the palm of her hand on his desk on Dec. 4.

A city official says the matter has been referred to Danbury's insurance carrier.

(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Welcome to the Jungle

ROXBURY, Conn. (AP) ―

A school custodian's impromptu after-hours karaoke performance prompted a police response when a teacher thought she was being threatened over the loudspeaker.
State police say a teacher at Booth Free School barricaded herself inside a classroom Wednesday when she mistook someone singing a Guns N' Roses song over the public address system for a threat.

She was working after hours and thought no one else was in the building. Then she heard someone say over the loudspeaker that she was going to die.

Digg This Story!

Six troopers and three police dogs showed up and found three teenagers, one of them a custodian at the school, who had been playing with the public address system.

Police say one of them sang "Welcome to the Jungle" into the microphone. The song contains the lyrics "You're in the jungle baby; you're gonna die."

The teenagers were cuffed on the ground for about 15 minutes while police investigated. They were released after being questioned and state police Sgt. Brian Ness said they did not realize the teacher was in the school and will not face charges.

"These things happen," Van Ness said. "Luckily it was humorous. You kind of have a gut feeling. As soon as we got there, we spoke to the three kids. They understood."

WTF: Teacher Sex

This isn't a new's article, but I decided to put this rant here because there are so many news articles out there discussing this phenominon. What is the deal with all these female teachers having sex with their teenage students?! I mean, come on! You're an educator, surely you know what is right and wrong! ... stupid teachers, stupid people.

Kinder Care?

Kindergartner Charged With Felony Tantrum
Avon Park, Fla., is a zero-tolerance kind of place.

On March 28, Desre'e Watson, a 6-year-old kindergarten student at Avon Elementary School, had a bad morning. She cried. She wailed. She kicked. She scratched. She hit a teacher. That's what the police say, anyway.

The police? That's right. To subdue the unruly kindergartner, school officials phoned Avon Park's police department ("committed to enhancing the 'Quality of Life' of the community"). When the cops arrived, young Desre'e attempted to resist arrest by crawling under a table. But Avon Park's finest pulled her out, cuffed her, put her in a police cruiser, drove her to the county jail, and charged this 50-pound menace with a felony and two misdemeanors. The police report is below.

"When there is an outburst of violence," Police Chief Frank Mercurio told a local news station, "we have a duty to protect and make that school a safe environment for the students, staff and faculty. That's why, at this point, the person was arrested regardless what the age." Let's hope his message gets across to those brats in the neonatal wards.

Stupid Student Senator

Student Senate director steals, burns Voice newspapers

Posted on: Mar 30, 2007 - 02:57 PM

Writen by: Jennie Oemig, Keighla Schmidt, Beth Dickman and Sarah Packingham

Last week, thousands of issues of the Student Voice went missing from the racks in academic buildings across the UW-River Falls campus.

Tory Schaaf, who is a member of Theta Chi fraternity and the newly-elected shared governance director of Student Senate, admitted to stealing the newspapers from campus and using them for kindling to keep a bonfire going during a party.

Fellow Theta Chi member and Student Senate Ethics Chair Jason Schultz was also identified as an accomplice to the theft of the papers.

One party-goer, Stephanie McPherson, said the missing issues of the Student Voice that had disappeared provided warmth for all those outside the Theta Chi fraternity house.

She said the papers made pretty good kindling for the bonfire.

Schaaf said he took the copies of the Voice, and though the original intention was not to use them to start the bonfire, they were thrown into the flames at some point during the night.

Schaaf claimed to be unaware there was a limit to the number of copies of the student newspaper he could take.

Theta Chi President Ryan Stovern confirmed Schaaf’s role in the theft of the newspapers prior to his admittance of guilt.

“Tory did take the copies,” he said.

In last week’s issue, Schaaf’s name appeared in the police blotter of the Student Voice. On March 19, he was cited $1014 for absolute sobriety and prohibited blood-alcohol content. His blood-alcohol level was .11.

Though he did not admit to his intent for stealing the papers, Stovern said he had an ulterior motive.

“He was upset about [the police report] and didn’t want people to see his name in the paper,” Stovern said.

Student Senate Vice President Derek Brandt said that the matter would be “handled internally” when questioned about Shaaf’s confession.

“It’s unfortunate in general that anyone, let alone a member of Student Senate would do that,” Student Senate Advisor Gregg Heinselman said. “It looks like his judgement was a little off.”

The Student Senate will hold a closed-session meeting in order to deal with this issue, if they find it necessary to pursue the matter further. At that time, Schultz will be asked to step down from his position as ethics chair until the matter is resolved, Heinselman said.

Fellow Theta Chi member Erik Wood said he knew Schaaf was “pissed” about the police report.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the copies were burned,” he said of the actions Schaaf may have taken once he was in possession of the newspapers.

Stovern said although the burning of the papers may have taken place at the Theta Chi residence, it was an individual action of Schaaf’s and was not correlated with any festivities of the fraternity.

Stovern was unclear about when the papers were put in the fire and said it may have happened after the festivities ended or at a different location.

Racks in academic buildings are also set up to hold copies of the New York Times, which are used for certain classes. Students enrolled in those classes are charged $5 for a semester-long subscription.

Schaaf said he didn’t take copies of the Times because he didn’t want to take papers for which students are charged and said he was unaware students, through segregated University fees, pay for the production of the Student Voice.

When first notified last Friday of the stolen newspapers, Public Safety officials said they needed more evidence before they could investigate the theft.

After receiving more information, they were able to take further action. Public Safety is still investigating the matter.

This is not the first time a member of the UWRF community has stolen large quantities of the Voice. In May 2003, Ashton Flinders and two accomplices stole 2,000 copies of the paper and held them ransom in Centennial Science Hall.

An e-mail was sent to the Student Voice staff listing demands and threatening to remove all copies of the paper from the racks the following week.

Flinders was prosecuted for the “prank.” He was put on non-academic probabtion for fall semester 2003 and forced to serve 10 hours of community service for the Student Voice.

Flinders was in direct violation of a UW System statute which stated the University is an “environment that is safe from violence and free of harassment, fraud, theft, disruption and intimidation.”

At press time, both Public Safety and the River Falls Police Department officers were planning to hold a meeting discussing further prosecution of Schaaf.

Possible charges could include theft and vandalism of University property, prosecution from the Student Voice, and since the burning occurred within city limits, the River Falls police can also charge Schaaf.

Cool In School

Tech strikes back against Plaid Avenger
The unorthodox textbook will receive a warning sticker and undergo other changes.

By Greg Esposito and Albert Raboteau
The Roanoke Times

The basic message of the Monroe Doctrine was, "Don't mess in our hemisphere, b------!"

And Portugal "got screwed pretty damn good" in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas.

Those are some of the lessons being taught by "Plaid Avenger's World," the new textbook in a geography course at Virginia Tech.

John Boyer, a popular instructor who wrote the book and teaches the course, said it's an experimental approach aimed at getting students to better learn the material. Chock-full of foul language, recipes for cocktails and more than a few cultural stereotypes, the book features a central character -- the Plaid Avenger -- who travels to different parts of the globe and explains culture and history in 21st-century college student vernacular.

The book made its debut in Boyer's Geography 1014: World Regions course this semester. Boyer said he doesn't like using textbooks in his classes because they're too dry and boring. With help from students, he wrote the book in three months last year.

Boyer, who resembles the avenger in both appearance and dress, said the book has received a positive response from the roughly 600 students in his course. No students or parents have complained to him. The only negative feedback he has heard is from "a few very squeaky wheels" among the faculty, he said.

Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said the administration did hear a complaint about the book from a faculty member a couple of weeks ago. Since the situation arose, some changes have been planned for the book, Boyer said.

A warning sticker will be added to the book noting that some of its language is explicit. A disclaimer, urging underage readers not to drink alcohol and all readers to respect diversity and to stand up for racial and sexual equality, is also expected to be applied.

The university's name appears on the book's title page, implying that the school was involved in the publishing, which is not the case, so that will be concealed with the sticker and removed in future printings.

Boyer said he planned to make some changes in the book for future editions that would make it more marketable.

Hincker said the university does not review the content of textbooks written by its faculty. If a professor assigns a book he or she wrote, the work must be reviewed but "the issue here is not content," Hincker said. "It's to ensure that a faculty member is not setting himself up as a publisher and then requiring students to purchase his book."

Boyer said he receives no royalties from sales of the book, which is published by the Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co. of Dubuque, Iowa. He said he intends to make some changes to the book so it could be peer-reviewed, which would enable him to get royalties from it in the future. Money from the current book's sales may go toward buying more pictures for the textbook or reducing the price of a future edition.

Boyer said the book's unconventional nature made it tough to get it through the publishing process. He said the book came out too recently to tell if it will be used in classes taught by people other than him. A message left at Kendall/Hunt was not immediately returned.

Boyer, who has bachelor's and master's degrees from Tech, has been teaching there since 1998. He received the Student's Choice Award for Faculty Member of the Year in 2005 and Tech's Sporn Award for the best teacher in an introductory subject in 2002. Sporn Award candidates are nominated by Tech students.

"He's the man," freshman Alex Horner said of Boyer while leaving the Geography 1014 course Thursday. "He's a great teacher. The textbook's written the way he speaks."

In explaining different cultures in the book, Boyer disregards political correctness. Describing how people of South America blended their culture with the Catholicism brought over from Europe, he refers to it as "freaky-freaky crap that doesn't look like Catholicism."

And the war crime known as the "Rape of Nanking," in which Japanese soldiers killed thousands of Chinese people in 1937 and 1938, "really sucked for China."

Those words accompany a photo of corpses tied to stakes.

Hincker described the description as "insensitive at best."

Elsewhere in the book, a photograph of an elderly Asian man is accompanied by the words, "Old China sez: "Me Chinese, me play joke."

The book has multiple photos of attractive women with captions that have sexual overtones. The chapter on South Asia has a shot of a woman on a cellphone captioned: "Yes Plaid Avenger, my back office is always open for you ..."

Sophomore Erin Olasz said Boyer tells students they can talk to him if they're offended by the course material. And she enjoys the class.

"I think the book's interesting," Olasz said. "It's actually a good read."

Boyer explained that the main character is similar to James Bond in his love of women and alcohol.

"I understand why that might be troublesome to some, but it is done in a lighthearted way," he said. "And after all, it is hosted by a cartoon character."

Tequila, wine, beer and various cocktail mixes are mentioned as the main character makes his way around different countries.

Hincker, who serves on the university's task force on alcohol abuse, said "anything to do with glorifying alcohol to underage students is a concern for me. I'm speaking for myself, but think I'm speaking for the administration because we are very concerned about alcohol abuse."

Asked if cocktail recipes are appropriate in a textbook largely directed at people younger than 21, Boyer said: "The drink recipes are entirely fictional. I made all of them up. They're not tested or tried, and I actually heartily encourage people not to try those things. They're there to make political points, or comedy points."

He said the "White Russian" and "Red Russian" recipes, for example, are a device to get students to remember the names of the factions in that nation's civil war.

It has been remarked that many of today's youths are more likely to be exposed to current events though the irreverent comedy shows of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than through traditional media. Asked if Stewart was an influence on his teaching style, Boyer said, "I would say I'm doing something similar to him, but I've been doing this [class] longer than he's been on TV, so he's doing something similar to me is the way I look at it."

Boyer scoffed at the notion that the stereotypes in the book might perpetuate racist or insensitive attitudes to other cultures. His object is to eliminate those types of attitudes by giving students a better understanding of different cultures and people, he said.

"We're internationally clueless as a country," he said. "I'm trying to build all of this stuff from the ground up."

Boyer, who was known by students for his unconventional teaching methods well before the book was published, said he has never gone out of his way to draw attention to himself, good or bad.

"I don't really give a lot of thought into trying to offend or trying to create excitement," he said. "I just do what I do. That creates excitement."

Hincker said he had only seen a few photocopies from the book, not the more than 400-page text itself.

He described Boyer as a junior faculty member who "might be a little edgy" and going "a little too far in some areas." But Hincker also said, "I think the important thing is there hasn't been a single complaint from a student. Students love this guy."

Bill Carstensen Jr., the head of Tech's geography department, said today's students "live on MTV and iPods. They don't live on reading the textbooks that I had in school."

Boyer, he said, "is trying to do something that pushes the envelope, but mainly he does it because it makes the whole process more educational for the students."