<p>Maybe you will read it here. :)</p>
<p>@ Glanton, I completely understand the perspective from which you are coming from. To address your questions:
- How do you think it reflects on Choate that they accept students like Luke Matarazzo?
Please point me to where in the application there is thorough personality assessment as well as a prophet that tells the admissions office every decision that the applicant has made in the past and will make in the future? It is impossible to know every single thing about every single student that applies to anything. Unless someone has a tangible record, like a police report or something that reflects character. This speech is a snapshot in time of Luke’s development of character. As you can tell by reading it, his character evolved from acceptance into Choate up until his senior year. His character is even evolving now. That is because Choate is not a corporation it is a high school. Albeit the students that attend Choate are above average. We are above average when it comes to academics, athletics and all of these tangible characteristics. But we are still teenagers and we are still human. I’m not sure your intent in highlighting Luke’s speech, perhaps to indict Choate into letting in someone that outwardly shows he isn’t perfect? I am not sure. The reality is that for those who expect Choate kids to be superhuman and above the natural inner workings of the world is ridiculous. We are teenagers, the school knows this. This is why they have full time psychologists on campus, easily accessible to the students. Within Choate, adolescent development is still at play. I will admit, some experiences I had this year made me question the role of the school in the students’ lives. But this summer it seems as though I went through an epiphany. Choate is strict in what they expect from its students because they want to build good character in us. They understand that stumbles will emerge but they are willing to help us pick ourselves up. But they know that 9 times out of 10 we know better. So perhaps from your point of view, Luke’s speech shines Choate in a bad light. I disagree, I think it shines Choate in a light of reality. Luke’s speech is real, it doesn’t sugarcoat the thoughts that most teenagers have. If this wasn’t reality there wouldn’t be a myriad of books written about adolescent behavior and development. I missed the moment when Choate became a utopia. It is a real, living breathing institution whose sole purpose is to educate and build character in adolescents. </p>
<p>2) How do you think it reflects on the judgment of the Choate faculty that they (the 6th-form dean anyways) chose Luke Matarazzo to give a senior speech?</p>
<p>I think that the Choate faculty or 6th form dean wanted to offer a sense of reality to the students through Luke’s clear understanding of it. From my perspective, Luke’s speech offered a dose of reality. He wasn’t afraid to tell the truth. Quite refreshing if you ask me. In fact, pay close attention to the end of his speech. His advice has to do with accepting Choate for what it has to offer and taking advantage of these opportunities. The advice at the end of his speech, “Put on a complete front if you have to, because the more people you have on your side, and the more people you befriend over the years, the easier life will be, especially at Choate” refers to characteristics of adulthood. When you are being nice to someone that you don’t like or disagree with it’s not called “being fake” it’s called growing up. Can you see how Luke’s advice could help an adult in corporate America when dealing with their boss? Even if someone is smarter and possesses more ingenuity than their boss, they can’t “buck the system” and show their disdain for the person that writes their paycheck, they have to suck it up and put a smile on their face and work hard. In this, they can climb the ranks and find success. What do you think would happen if they told their boss to shove it? They would be fired and sure their point would have been made but at what cost? But this analogy doesn’t even fully apply to Choate, because Choate does not make and enforce the rules it does just for fun or because they just want to wield control over people, Choate has rules because it cares about us. The school wants us to grow into strong, smart, hard-working, rule-following individuals. Sure there is room for a little non-conformity, and they account for the stumbles that arise from our need to rebel. But to a point. Glanton you graduated but can you say that you didn’t learn from your time from Choate? Whether you view this as positive or negative you grew. Even in your ability to critically think about your time at Choate you grew and learned from your time there. You now walk with an awareness that you gained from Choate, whether positive or negative. So I respect the faculty that gave Luke a speech.</p>
<p>3) How do you think it reflects on the academic and social education provided by Choate that, after three years of it, Luke Matarazzo wrote a speech like that?</p>
<p>I think the above explains the academic and social education that Choate gave Luke. Luke now goes to a great liberal arts college and I think based on the very structure of his speech it is clear that he grew during his time at Choate. I could cite child psychology all day, the facts remain the same. Choate is not a perfect institution. Do they do a darn good job of educating people? Obviously. I could reference all of the famous alumni that came out of the school but most notably, I think that Choate produces critical thinkers. Case in point? You, Glanton. </p>
<p>P.S. I realize after rereading your original point you didn’t really show a bias in your questions so sorry if I come off as extremely argumentative. Choate has also taught me how to care about issues and debate.</p>