It dawned on me one day last week, as I sat at my desk in my teacher clothes and shoes, a stack of ungraded essays calling to me from a rather tall and depressing pile, that I hadn’t missed a high school graduation in 33 years. I guess that since I’ve seen thousands of kids walk into my classroom over those years, I could at least be there to say goodbye to 60 or 70 of them as they leave it for the last time.
Graduation ceremonies haven’t changed much over that time. It seems that no matter how much our language, or the width of ties, or technology changes, what goes on in school gymnasiums and assembly halls all across the state on warm May Saturday afternoons seems to be timeless. It’s kind of comforting.
Looking toward a classroom window, I actually began to hum a bit of Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance,” which is only the most famous of five marches of that name that the English composer wrote between 1901 and 1930. The best-known part, otherwise known as “The Land of Hope and Glory,” was first played for a graduation ceremony in June 1905 at Yale University. Of course, my graduating seniors couldn’t have cared less about Elgar or his tune, or the stimulating lecture I might have delivered on the subject; to them, the melody just sounds like freedom.
Of course, graduation exercises have changed some in the past few decades, because we have changed, and schools reflect that, perhaps more than any other institution we have in this country. As usual, we’ll hear the salutatorian and valedictorian as they address the audience, their quaking legs hidden by the podium, and there will be at least one baby who will interrupt the ceremony with a voice of wet-diapered displeasure. Until just a few years ago, we always listened to the senior members of our choir sing “The Halls of Ivy,” some performing it with tears in their eyes and lumps in their throats. Our school has never had ivied walls, but it was always nice to hear the kids sing that last line: "Oh, we love the halls of ivy that surround us here today. And we will not forget, though we be far, far away.”
Shaking off that nostalgic mood, I sat and thought of a few pieces of advice I could give to our graduating seniors — to all of them, if they’ll listen. I know I’m no expert on education, but I have been a teacher for a long, long time now, which should count for something. Besides, I tend to believe that it’s the experts who have helped put schools in the shape they’re in now.
First of all, I’d tell our graduates to keep learning, to set it in their heads to be lifelong learners. Education is a lifelong process — no one says it has to end when they walk down the aisle of their graduation ceremony; in fact, it is just beginning. Ask any parent, any grandparent, any adult, if their educations stopped when they graduated, and I’m certain they’ll say that life after high school has been the biggest, toughest classroom they’ve ever had.
Second, I would ask them to be advocates for the arts, both in and out of school. Art education is being cheated in this country, and I don’t mean just school painting and pottery budgets. We have, for some reason, suddenly placed music and theater, and so many other disciplines, like cooking and dance and photography and philosophy, on the educational back burners because we often don’t consider them serious subjects. “You can’t put much money in your pocket with those,” you’ll hear many folks say, but I believe that a country that does not appreciate the arts is doomed as surely as one that has ignored research and development in technology and its own military defense. When we ignore our own artistic expression, we eventually pay by becoming the kind of people no one around the world much likes, or respects.
Third, I’d ask these young people to be agents of change for good in public education. Students are not appliances and schools are not factories, and we have to change our thinking soon about what constitutes an educated person. It isn’t just someone who can pass a multiple-choice test or get by in an online class. I would hope that our kids get involved and advocate positive changes in public education, not intellectual handcuffs for its teachers and even more assessments. Public education has been the foundation of this country; virtually every great leader and scientist and actor and engineer this nation has ever produced were products of public schools. We should take pride in that.
Fourth, I’d hope our young people help take better care of the Earth. We’re not doing a very good job of sustaining our planet; we’re trashing our own back yards. For some reason, many of us think that conservation and recycling and planting trees and curbing our own consumptive desires are someone else’s jobs. I hope this generation shows mine how it’s done. As Allen Young put it, “There is a real connection between the healthiness of nature and the healthiness of society.”
Fifth, and I realize I’m uttering real blasphemy here, I’d advise our seniors (they can ask their parents to do this, too) to put their cell phones down, turn off their computers, mute the TVs, and read books. It is that simple. Read; stay informed; self-educate; put books in your own hands, and, eventually, into your children’s hands; even in the hands of people you don’t know. You have to live in this world, and there’s no reason it should be filled with ignorance. Abigail Adams once told her son, John Quincy, who was brilliant, “With all of the advantages you have had, how terrible it would be if you were to turn out to be a blockhead.” Think about that: With all of the advantages this graduating class has had, it would be too bad if the students in it, or their children, turn out to be blockheads.
Finally, I’d remind our seniors to pay back what they owe. Historian David McCullough has said, “History teaches that there is no such thing as a self-made man or woman, that we are all shaped by the influences of others, including so many we’ve never seen because they are back there in history.” I couldn’t agree more; I want our seniors to think of the parent who sacrificed for them, the friend who helped them through a rough patch, the teacher who cared, even the stranger, who for some reason, was compassionate enough to have taken the time to lend a hand. Perhaps the worst thing any of our kids could be as they graduate and leave school is ungrateful.
That’s it. My last lecture for this year’s graduates. No notes needed, no test right away. Good luck…
Mike Lunsford can be reached by email at hickory913@aol.com, or c/o the Tribune-Star at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN 47808. Visit his website at www.mikelunsford.com for information about signings and speaking opportunities. He is currently working on his fourth book.
Local & Bistate
THE OFF SEASON: To the seniors, one last lecture before you go …
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