Hey grads, you're not special

Love this. After covering nine commencement ceremonies in three weeks and hearing "we're the best class ever," "we did it" and "it's not an end, it's a beginning" more times than I cared to, this guy's speech is refreshing.

"Wellesley High English teacher David McCullough Jr. told graduates "You are not special. You are not exceptional," quoting empirical evidence:

"Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That's 37,000 valedictorians ... 37,000 class presidents ... 92,000 harmonizing altos ... 340,000 swaggering jocks ... 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs," he said in the speech published in the Boston Herald."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/high-school-graduation-speaker-tells-students-not-special-145709954.html

 

His father, the Pulitzer prize-winning historian and Ken Burns narrator. gave the commencement speech at my college graduation.

Out of habit, I kept waiting for him to start talking about the civil war or baseball during the speech.

 

I take issue with one thing -- based on the way some schools now view the word "valedictorian," there are probably more like 100,000 or more valedictorians at the 37,000 schools. In my area, the paper once printed bios of one school's 26 valedictorians.

 

You now have kids claiming 4.5 GPAs on a four-point scale. That's just darling.

 

One of the districts I cover makes anyone with a 4.0 GPA a valedictorian, meaning some schools have more than 20.

It also puts the kids who excelled in AP courses in the same pool as the ones who took basic classes and managed to get all As.

 

This CEO says you should travel and follow your passions. Too bad you can't do that on a barista salary.

http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/05/12008767-ceo-advice-for-grads-travel-learn-follow-your-passion?lite

 

There were three million high school graduates in 2011.

If everyone is special, then no one is.

 

In our district, an A in an honors class is 5 points, and, in an AP class, it's 6.

 

It'd be 3,200,001 were it not for some kid in Texas.

 

Also: Wear sunscreen.

 

My son's school was the same way, and I kind of like it that a kid who takes regular classes and gets all As can get listed as a valedictorian, too.

That's harder than getting a 4.0 or better when you have a dozen classes worth 5.0.

 

The kids who don't take AP classes try just as hard ...