So… let me ask the CC community what a “traditional” valedictory speech is? My daughter’s speech was rejected, and they want her to rewrite a “traditional” one. All these time, the principal has expressed how much she liked the speech, but somehow today it was rejected. The rejected speech incorporated participation of the student body.
A traditional valedictory speech is blah blah blah about speaker. D gave one recently where she talked about her peers teachers and their shared future. I expect any speech that does not actively involve “participation” will be acceptable. Too much chance for a negative out come or a rogue contributor I imagine.
Search the internet. Wikihow has a whole page, including some samples. Seriously.
Schools just want things to be smooth and forgettable. Memorable is not a good thing much of the time, as even the best high school talk is not going to stand the test of time. If your administration is being difficult maybe turn in a fake Madlibs-style doc with actual font differences to indicate it was cut-n-paste, then try to meet and talk in detail about what was wrong with her initial version. Depending on what was rejected, find out where it made them uncomfortable. She could find a middle path where a few changes could save the bulk of the speech.
Hand this in and if they like it, then don’t bother speaking
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeanlucbouchard/generic-graduation-speech
If I were your D I would ask whoever rejected the speech exactly what the problem was with the first speech so she can make the necessary adjustments. I wouldn’t spend time and energy writing a second draft until I got this information.
At my daughter’s school, all the (unprecedented number of) 4.0 students will have the opportunity to speak. From what I could tell, nobody’s speech in this group was censored, just supported for revision. Then 2 more student speakers were chosen from a pool of 5 or 6. Things became more interesting here. Her friend’s overtly activistic speech was rejected; my daughter believed that this one was the best.
My son (salutatorian) noted at the beginning of his speech how he came to arrive at what he was lovingly calling Speech #3. He has a dry sense of humor and I thought his speech was funny and poignant, and yes also a good bit like the generic speech but with specific examples his classmates could relate to. It was targeted to his fellow classmates not the rest of the audience which is as it should be imho.
Also, the assistant principal was following along with a copy of the speech and had told them (salutatorian and valedictorian both speak) that he would turn off their mic if they veered from the pre-approved copy. S was so tempted to test that theory, but did not.
“At my daughter’s school, all the (unprecedented number of) 4.0 students will have the opportunity to speak.”
OMG… as if two hours wasn’t already long enough. Bring a pillow and some snacks.
I totally agree, @Groundwork2022! All I can say is thank goodness it won’t 90 degrees here like it was during my graduation.
The 4.0 students should create one speech together and just give parts of it