Should you really stand in front of a big group of middle schoolers and brutally inform that that the minority kids are doing worse? What does that sound like to a kid? It’s especially harsh since he’s expressing concern not for the personal fulfillment of the individual but for the fact that it’s costing some amorphous “us” a whole lot of money. Students matter not because they are human beings but because — as a group — they are “our future workforce.” They aren’t even workers. They are to be merged into a mass called The Workforce.

When I was a teenager, talk like that stirred rebellion in me. I’m trying to imagine how I would feel if I were not doing well in school and I were a member of a group the President stigmatized as lagging. I’ve got to assume I’d feel more rebellious.