a teacher who tells it like it should be told..

[Steve]

Forget carpe diem. This high school commencement address was more like carpe downer.

Or so it seemed, at first.

"None of you is special. You are not special. You are not exceptional," English teacher David McCullough Jr. told graduating students as he began his commencement address at Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Mass.

Instead, McCullough continued, "You've been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. ... You've been nudged, cajoled, wheedled and implored.

"Absolutely, smiles ignite when you walk into a room, and hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet. Why, maybe you've even had your picture in the [local paper]! And now you've conquered high school....

"But do not get the idea you're anything special. Because you're not."

Those are bold statements to make, when one is speaking to 300 or so students and the parents that raised them.

"If everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless.

'Embrace the challenge'

"We have of late ... to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement.

"No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it.... Now it's 'So what does this get me?'

"Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view.... Exercise free will and creative, independent thought not for the satisfactions they will bring you, but for the good they will do others....

"The sweetest joys of life ... come only with the recognition that you're not special. Because everyone is."

After nearly 13 minutes, the speech ended to hearty applause. There was, however, no standing ovation.

I have often heard teachers complain of the sweet darlings they have to deal with, daddy's angel, momma's little prince.. ect in private and looking over their shoulder out of fear of offending someone.. but frankly it is about time to tell our children they ain't all that great...

they are blessed to be born in a great country with great opportunities..

but beyond that.. it is on their shoulders to take that opportunity..

 

[Steve]

link
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061137286

McCullough rattled off statistics, saying numbers were stacking up against the graduating class. He said half of the class would be divorced and life wasn’t going to revolve around their every whim.

"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," McCullough said in his speech.

He added: "Even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you."

Near the end of his speech, he urged the graduates to use that revelation as a springboard to a fulfiling life:

"The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you're not special. Because everyone is."