Education dreams

An African-American candidate has been nominated to run for president 145 years after slavery officially ended in the United States.

U.S. Senator Barack Obama was officially nominated as the presidential candidate during the Democratic National Convention, which was held over four days in Denver, Colorado.

Obama gave his acceptance speech on Aug. 28, the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech, which was aimed at urging the abolition of discrimination against African-Americans.

Recalling the American dream, which says anybody can make a dream come true through hard work, Obama said he was running for the presidency to encourage the next generation to harbor such dreams.

Obama and his wife Michelle are symbols of the American dream. When Obama was a baby, his Kenyan father left. His mother brought him up alone and at times they had to rely on food stamps. Despite such hardship, Obama’s mother was determined that her son would get a decent education, the very reason Obama is where he is today.

His wife was born into a poor worker’s family in Chicago but she did everything to get educated. Finally she became successful in her career despite her family’s poverty.

In his acceptance speech, Obama said he and his wife were able to get opportunities through education and that every child in the United States should be given same opportunities. If youths are prepared to work to better their communities and the country, anybody will be able to get a college education, he promised.

The American dream that Obama presented in his speech is that opportunities for quality education are given to everybody, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds, sex and class, and those youths who benefit from it will devote themselves to their country and society. Obama emphasized that this is the competitiveness of American society and the right way for survival on the global stage. Although discrimination against African-Americans still exists in America, Obama has overcome hardship of all types and become a major political party’s presidential candidate. This confirms that the American dream is alive and kicking.

How does this contrast with Korea? We hope that our young people will also get the chance to educate themselves so they, too, can have a dream to devote themselves to the country and society.