commencement speakers altogether?
Let's face it...in most schools, just reading the names of all the graduates is time-consuming (and mostly boring) enough. By the time you add in welcoming remarks, recognition for special academic achievements and usually a speech from the valedictorian, your butt is numb, your mind is a million miles away and you're wondering if you're going to make it to the restaurant in time for your reservation. And what do most commencement speakers say? You did it, blah blah blah. Use what you've learned to make a difference in this world, blah blah blah. Remember the support your family and friends have given you over the years, blah blah blah. Remember the faculty here and the great times you had, blah blah blah. Go get 'em, Tiger, blah blah blah.
I've been to two college graduations in the last three weeks. At the first, the commencement speaker was a Tony award winning actress who spent the first 10 minutes droning on about herself. At the second, a politician kept making political comments that, while I didn't disagree with what he said, I could see he was making a lot of other people (mostly parents) uncomfortable and/or irritated. This year so far, I've heard about Harrison Butker making comments that shouldn't have been in a commencement speech (IMO). I've heard about the commencement speaker at Ohio State leading people in sing-alongs and stretching exercises and performing magic tricks. I've heard about Jerry Seinfeld upsetting people with his mere presence at Duke's commencement this year.
Maybe it's time to say goodbye to commencement speakers? Bff and I agree we can barely remember who the commencement speaker at our graduation WAS, let alone what they said (it was the mayor of the college town; all I remember from her speech was some comment about our lives being like a patchwork quilt and we're going to stitch all our experiences together and make a beautiful life, or something like that). Honestly, the only commencement speaker I actually enjoyed was the person who spoke at my nephew's first college graduation from UNC: Bishop Desmond Tutu. I only enjoyed his speech because it was funny (graduation was on Mother's Day; BDT wished the moms in the audience a happy Mother's Day and then cheekily told the crowd to thank the dads because they helped make the moms mothers) and because it was relatively brief.
