Note: there is some editing in this speech, but only with proper nouns, so none of the speech was actually changed. -ed.
"Greetings to the Bored. Greetings to my fellow workers, the teachers of the St. Louis Public Schools, American Federation of Teachers, Local 420.
To the Bored: Hello. My name is Nick Normal. I am a senior at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.
The point that I would briefly like to raise this evening is funding, for the students, the teachers, and for the institution of education.
Fundamentally speaking, 'We Need More!' Every year budgets are cut, and in some places funding stops for good.
At Central, I am an Advanced Visual Arts Major, and would you believe that it has been three... three years since we've gotten in a shipment of pthalocalynine blue, a vital color for any painting. For myself and for fellow peers, as well as teachers, we must buy supplies to be used in the classroom with our own paychecks because there isn't enough funding to obtain all of the necessary supplies.
Meanwhile, certain PEOPLE, sitting in certain OFFICES or on certain COMMITTEES, are making six-figure salaries. It just doesn't make sense.
To add to that, it's blatantly obvious that if you were to increase funding for schools, for the classrooms, for the teachers... undoubtedly teaching morale will go up, which would encourage teachers to teach more, which would improve learning and comprehension among students, and you wouldn't have the 50% dropout rate that you currently have.
'We Need More!'
To quote Jello Biafra, a 1988 San Francisco Mayoral candidate, "uneducated timebombs are a very poor investment as a future workforce..."
Also, for the teachers, the workers, even a 3% increase in pay every year isn't enough to keep up with the rising tide of inflation.
'We All Need More!'
Un daņo a un de nosotros es un daņo a todos los demas.
An Injury To One Is An Injury To All.
Thank you."