Reply With QuoteThis should be told to all students....
Edit: Im a winner, my cat told me so.
Teacher tells students: You're not special
SourceAh, high school graduation. Few days stand out as proud reminders of the hope and promise of youth than commencement day. It's usually a time for keynote speakers to instill supreme confidence and triumphant messages in the young minds of today, the leaders of tomorrow.
Sure, a little perspective is necessary, but the straight talk a teacher delivered Friday to the class of 2012 at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts is getting a lot of attention for its buzz-killing reality.
Wellesley English teacher David McCullough Jr. lauded the students for their individual accomplishments that brought them to graduation, pointing out that their gowns were exactly the same and that their diplomas are exactly the same.
“All of this is as it should be, because none of you is special,” he was quoted as saying in the Boston Herald.
Wait, what?
“You are not special. You are not exceptional,” he continued. “Contrary to what your U-9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh-grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you… you’re nothing special.”
Think that's tough love? McCollough, the son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian David McCullough Sr., tore into any sense of entitlement or privilege the kids had managed to hold on to up to that point.
“Yes, you’ve been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble-wrapped. Yes, capable adults with other things to do have held you, kissed you, fed you, wiped your mouth, wiped your bottom, trained you, taught you, tutored you, coached you, listened to you, counseled you, encouraged you, consoled you and encouraged you again,” he said.
Wow, talk about mood-killers. How about this dagger? “Think about this: 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.”
Read McCollough’s entire speech here.
HLN readers, we want to hear your thoughts. Did McCollough needlessly bludgeon one of the most memorable experiences in these young people's life? Or did he deliver a much-needed dose of reality?
This should be told to all students....
Edit: Im a winner, my cat told me so.
OMG snowflakes across America unite!No doubt there's a prize piece of work even now trying to figure out how to get money out of this for someone traumatizing their little baby.
Better yet, just get rid of the "everybody is a winner" mentality and it'll fix itself.Originally Posted by EStrike101
He probably could not cope with the success of his father... or his inability to follow in his footsteps... at least it sounds like it ^^
but at least he tells the truth
I found it amusing. Check out the entire speech.He probably could not cope with the success of his father... or his inability to follow in his footsteps... at least it sounds like it ^^
but at least he tells the truth
People who are told they can be something do better than those who are told they are nobodies. Doesnt mean that everyone is a winner though.
Good speech.
I like the way this guy thinks, I want him at my graduation!
Its true, and he is setting his students up for success by saying so. The fact is high school in America is designed to make students successful. When standardized tests come out, schools cater their curriculum to making students pass. When students fail a class, they can take it again over Summer with little or no penalty.
Graduates are heading into the job market and/ or higher education. Now everything is designed to make the institution successful and the only people who are successful, are those who contribute. Second chances are few. No one cares if you are pretty, volunteer on the weekend or whatever else. Employers care about results and its best that this teacher makes it clear to his students.
That being said, the time to do so was the previous four years, and not this night to rain on everyone's parade. Douchebag.
Both are true. Still, I don't see how sheltering kids from the fact that there is a difference between winning and losing is a good thing. They need to learn that most winners got there because they worked at it, and that just because you lost today doesn't mean you can't win tomorrow. Nope, instead they're fed the bull$hit "you don't need to do nothin' cause momma says you're a winner so you are".
Exactly.
1234577
It is worth reading the entire speech because it is less of an bucket of ice water than the article makes it out to be. Pretty much the "you are not special" comment is more along the lines of the "if everybody wins, can you really call them winners?" argument.
It is not so much knocking the kids down; rather it is telling them to not live and do what they do to be "exceptional" or part of some glorifying statistic (because does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?), but to live for oneself. In the end, it is mentioned that they are still unique, which contradicts some of the statements on this thread.
On a related note, when did wearing graduation robes, mortarboards and tessels become tradition for graduating high school? You wore a regular suit and tie when I graduated high school.
Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else
It's a good speech.
Even if you are one in a million, with 6.8 billion people in the world, there are still almost 7000 just like you.
I watched the video yesterday and a lot of it sounded more like friendly advice rather than, "to hell with you spoiled little bastards". Despite the internet, kids live in small ponds, and now they're jumping in the ocean.
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