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What do you think about this High School Valedictorian Speech?

Hossage

By Hossage
in Off the Wall Archives

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Hossage

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The following speech was delivered by top of the class student Erica Goldson during the graduation ceremony at Coxsackie-Athens High School on June 25, 2010.

 

I am graduating. I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system.

 

Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work.

 

But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer - not a worker. A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition - a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker.

 

While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it. So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost?

 

I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I'm scared.

 

CONTINUED HERE

LongLiveRalph RFA

LongLiveRalph

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I can agree that her heart is in the right place, and her overall message is good- question authority, do not take things at face value. But she loses her way several times in the speech. She discredits teachers. She fails to mention the knowledge she has gained and the opportunities that school has created for her. It is up to each student to get what they want out of school. Even though she was the valedictorian, her speech reads like it's the school's fault she wasn't able think for herself.

 

She says this:

 

We are more than robotic bookshelves, conditioned to blurt out facts we were taught in school. We are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren’t we all deserving of something better, of using our minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than futile activity, for rumination rather than stagnation? We are not here to get a degree, to then get a job, so we can consume industry-approved placation after placation. There is more, and more still

 

In order to be creative, to innovate, to be intuitive...Don't you need a base of knowledge? An understanding of physics or art or language? A basic understanding that can be built, improved on, deconstructed, explored? Or is the chemistry teacher just supposed to tell the students to start mixing chemicals together and hope they stumble on something worthwhile?

 

She says this:

For those of you that work within the system that I am condemning, I do not mean to insult; I intend to motivate. You have the power to change the incompetencies of this system. I know that you did not become a teacher or administrator to see your students bored. You cannot accept the authority of the governing bodies that tell you what to teach, how to teach it, and that you will be punished if you do not comply. Our potential is at stake.

 

So it's due to a lack of motivation on the TEACHERS??? I must say, 98% of the teachers that I know and that I've had would ABSOLUTELY LOVE a classroom full of engaged students who challenge the lessons, demand better answers, and strive for more than just dates and facts. Trust me, the majority of the time, it isn't the teachers who fail to engage.

 

This was a very demeaning statement to a room full of educational professionals, from an 18 year old who apparently wasn't smart enough as a 16 year old to realize that she could get more out of school than just an A on a test.

 

For those of you that are now leaving this establishment, I say, do not forget what went on in these classrooms. Do not abandon those that come after you. We are the new future and we are not going to let tradition stand. We will break down the walls of corruption to let a garden of knowledge grow throughout America. Once educated properly, we will have the power to do anything, and best of all, we will only use that power for good, for we will be cultivated and wise

 

Her line "Once educated properly" is a joke and a slap in the face to people who worked for 4+ years to provide the opportunities that this young lady now has in front of her. The only way she doesn't come off as a real twat is if she majors in Education at college so that she can enter the teaching profession and attempt to right these "wrongs" that she's railing against.

 

Also, not one mention in her great speech of the most important aspect of high school, which is all too often lacking-- social development. Respecting your elders, professionals, teachers, administrators. Respecting those different from you. Developing life-long bonds with friends. Writing. Communicating. Speaking clearly. All of these things are more important than a test, a class, or searching for the "truth." And they're all up to the individual.

 

I'm not sure what type of young lady she is, or how her speech was delivered. But it reads like she's fairly self-important and unappreciative.

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