Commencement Addresses
It's that time of year again. Graduation and sending off students in a cheery fashion.
I must confess, I love a good, inspirational, pull out your hankerchief, graduation send-off speech. They touch my soul. I’ve even had the honor to give a few (find one on my old Edublog archive).
But these hokey, ritualistic speeches are a double-edged sword because after and upon reflection — I have this bad taste in my mouth. I feel quite guilty because despite the good cheer, I know the world isn’t all roses and pretty things. These commencement addresses are cheery, conventional, cultural traps - Joni Mitchell would call them “pretty lies”. They also are lying to our students and their own place in the world that is at their feet.
Yes, there is truth in these speeches and they do “pump one up” but take them in with a grain of salt.
Let me outline this genre and why I don’t think these speeches are forthright enough.
The Main Themes Of Convocation Speeches
You can do anything you want. You can become anything you want.
Oh sure, unless you are born into a poor family. Unless you don’t default on the loans you need to keep paying forever (or even if you do - they’ll get you). Unless you can forget about the role chance, fortune plays in richness, that barometer of life, being somebody. Truth is, most won’t end up doing what they want - most graduates end up doing stuff to get by, pay bills and keep from being a total slave. Sorry to say.
Tim Minchin doesn’t buy into it. This is a good graduation speech countering the ultimately false and too cheery meme of “the world is your oyster”.
Embrace your failure. You can overcome all adversity. Keep trying. Never give up. Yes, failure is just part of becoming a success. So don’t worry about your failures, your failing - how the elites keep you down. One day you’ll make it! But most won’t - the data doesn’t lie. Unless you come from money and connections, this is just a myth to blame YOU and not the rightful culprits.
Work hard and great things will happen. Just keep hanging in there. Meritocracy. Whatever you want to do - just do it. Now. Slightly different from the two categories above but very related. It is a message that the world is fair. It helps those who help themselves. If you work hard, are honest, and do all the right things, nothing can go wrong. Hmmm. Not any world I recognize. Swallow this blue pill at your own peril.
You are going to go places. The world is yours. Dream Big. The world needs you.
The Dr. Seuss positive vibe message. Oh! The places you’ll go! Fact is, most won’t get further than a 3-month backpacking trip through S.E. Asia or C.America. And after returning to servitude - will be talking about that over their beers for decades to come. Dreaming, one day I’ll go places again yet never able to overcome the terrible inertia of their lives. - and think of how that inertia is made, who puts it in place? But bless Dr. Seuss’ soul - the convocation speech universe would be poorer without his inspiration.
YOU are the most important person in the world. Believe in yourself. Be positive. Be authentic. Be yourself, true to thyself.
This one really puts the knife in deep. It’s an endorsement of nihilism and egoism. A cheery kind of existentialism with a dollop of epicureanism on top. Ellen DeGeneres’ speech would be a good example. Forget about others. Just focus on yourself. Read all those self-help books, watch all those inspirational Youtube videos, and believe in the ad men and their messages. All just blather to keep YOU picking up the pick and buying things. Life will turn you into an actor, to survive - you’ll never be further from yourself trying to live in the world the people giving the convocation speeches have created.
Fred Rogers gets it right though.
Keep learning. It’s the secret to life. Curiosity = happiness. Hahaha. I’m sorry to say, learning, really thinking and caring about the world is not a road to happiness. One learns and is curious despite the pain it will bring. But it’s a good thought and a start.
Some classics: Steve Jobs - 2005 Stanford. Randy Pausch - Last Lecture. 2008, Carnegie Mellon.
Got a bang on commencement address that hits home? Let us know in the comments!
