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I applaud this Teacher!!

kmk420kali

kmk420kali

Freedom Fighter
Veteran
"You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. ... We have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement."
I agree with this guy 100%!!


Social media was buzzing about a Boston-area high school teacher's blunt commencement speech that told students they "are not special."
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.
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."
McCullough makes a statement on parents who overdo it in a modern society focused on collecting achievements. "You've been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble wrapped ... feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie." But he adds in a video on Wellesley Channel TV YouTube page, "You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. ... We have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement."
McCullough's address does push students to recognize real achievement: "The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life is an achievement," and he encourages graduates "to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance."
Many expressed their approval of the message on Twitter:
This is awesome. I don't remember my HS commencement speech. I think I would remember this one. — S.L. Gray
Fantastic speech which sums up the neglected duty of so many Americans in 1 phrase: "Be worthy of your advantages." — Benjamin Yee
the greatest commencement speech ever. — Neil Raden
My new hero. Tells grads "You're not that Special ... when everyone gets a trophy, the trophy doesn't mean anything." — Jason Dobrolecki
The Boston Herald also reported that McCullough's words were very well received by attendees. The teacher, a father of four, admitted he's guilty of the actions he pokes fun at in his speech.
Click to expand...
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/high-school-graduation-speaker-tells-students-not-special-145709954.html
 
K

KSP

Good address, I liked this part:

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?&articleid=1061137286&format=&page=1&listingType=Loc#articleFull

As you commence, then, and before you scatter to the winds, I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about, lest you too find yourself on the wrong side of a Baltimore Orioles comparison. Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages. And read... read all the time... read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you’ll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.
 
HempKat

HempKat

Just A Simple Old Dirt Farmer
Veteran
Perhaps he could have made it a little more encouraging by adding something like, "But although you're not special now, you now have all the tools you need to be special by going out there in the world and doing whatever you do to the best of your ability and taking pride in knowing you do try to always do your best, to give it your all and not wait and hope that someone just hands you everything"?

Overall a very good message and one that will serve the listeners more then alot of empty praise. All the young people I know that are doing well and have promising futures are those who don't feel entitled and who have worked hard and legitimately got themselves where they have a bright future.
 
DiscoBiscuit

DiscoBiscuit

weed fiend
Veteran
kmk420kali said:
"You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. ... We have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement."
Click to expand...


Then stop teaching to tests.

This is baloney folks. Everybody got participation trophies in sports, scouts or whatever. It's an achievement thing. Anybody who equates trophies exclusively to first-prize apparently only recognizes Rhodes scholar degrees.
 
Stoner4Life

Stoner4Life

Medicinal Advocate
ICMag Donor
Veteran


dang! any time I tell someone they're not special I get a boatload of thumbs down 'Unhelpful Post' clicks, must be my deodorant.......

 
C

Cheerful

Active member
DiscoBiscuit said:
Then stop teaching to tests.

This is baloney folks. Everybody got participation trophies in sports, scouts or whatever. It's an achievement thing. Anybody who equates trophies exclusively to first-prize apparently only recognizes Rhodes scholar degrees.
Click to expand...

What on earth are you talking about? Back in my day there was no such thing as a Participation Trophy!!! L.M.F.A.O.!!! This is a recent invention.
 
I

Iron_Lion

When you give out trophies for losing you end up with a nation full of self-entitled pussies.

I applaud this teacher for keepin' it real.
 
ShroomDr

ShroomDr

CartoonHead
Veteran
My favorite part

"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."

P'OWNED
 
mpd

mpd

Lammen Gorthaur
Veteran
"There is no better character building exercise than to fight the good fight with all of your talents, abilities and latent advantages and come up short. Winning is everything, but losing builds character and allows one to appreciate - nay, to truly savor - the hard-earned victory that is sure to come..."

-- MPD --
 
ShroomDr

ShroomDr

CartoonHead
Veteran
in my two years of grade school basketball i scored a grand total of 1 point, and i got a trophy.

(it was an overtime free throw in the playoffs; no one was more shocked than me!)

Ill be 30 this year.
 
DiscoBiscuit

DiscoBiscuit

weed fiend
Veteran
Those little dollar two-fifty trophies end up in the landfill but they give ideologists more baloney to chuck.

I played on first-place teams and I played for bad news teams. The bums got bum trophies and first place actually read, "FIRST PLACE", "Champions" of whatever the fuck applied. Doesn't matter, they were still bullshit trophies.

We also got a cheapo steak at the cow palace and our pic in the newspaper. Big fucking deal but the only peeps making it a big deal are sucking on a microphone.

There is such a thing as spoiling kids into thinking they're something they're not. Dime store trophies are the last thing to give kids the big head. It's like ice cream and pinata's at birthday parties - kids aren't duped into thinking they earned it, they just like it.
 
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