Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling

College Confidential Community
1

<p>*I came across an interesting speech lately and felt the need to discuss it in a greater context -- and felt this was the most appropriate place to do so.</p>

<p>The speech can be found here:
Valedictorian</a> Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech by Erica Goldson</p>

<p>There is also a YouTube video if you plug the title of this thread into Google/YT, but I won't link it here directly.</p>

<p>Here is the text itself:*</p>

<p>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</p>

<p>Here I stand</p>

<p>There is a story of a young, but earnest Zen student who approached his teacher, and asked the Master, "If I work very hard and diligently, how long will it take for me to find Zen? The Master thought about this, then replied, "Ten years." The student then said, "But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast – How long then?" Replied the Master, "Well, twenty years." "But, if I really, really work at it, how long then?" asked the student. "Thirty years," replied the Master. "But, I do not understand," said the disappointed student. "At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?" Replied the Master, "When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path...."</p>

2

<p>I got mixed messages. At times, I felt she was making a great statement by encouraging everyone within the system to change their mindset and improve the system. But whenever she said directly that she was condemning the system, I cringed. Since she read this to an audience of parents so proud of their children’s accomplishments, wouldn’t it have been better to say, “The system has many flaws”?</p>

<p>Then at the end of the speech she uses many figurative devices and concludes with “But first, let’s go get those pieces of paper that tell us that we’re smart enough to do so!” It confused me. Her entire speech was about the flaws within the education system and the meaninglessness of those pieces of papers and her title. Why would she end the speech in a different direction?</p>

<p>I do agree with her judgment of the system’s flaws and I’m glad she is pointing out everyone’s capacity to achieve even if they don’t have the same title she does. There are kids at my school who say “You’re number 1? I wish I were you!” to the current valedictorian at my school. She has never spoken to this person and it bothers her that people care more about a number than they do about her tastes or personality.</p>

3

<p>There’s an extensive thread on this in HSL</p>