Comments about ‘What others say: Teacher applauded for brutal honesty at graduation: You are not exceptional’

Nice article. But shouldn't you show a picture of the speaker instead of the speaker's dad?

Mr. McCullough may be correct. If you're a product of California's education system you probably aren't special or exceptional. As a matter of fact you probably are an example of the NCLB dumb down philosophy.

Or as Matt Foley memorably told two young people, "You're probably going to find when you go out there, that you aren't going to amount to Jack Squat."

I read not so long ago that all the undeserved "You did wonderful!" stuff is transparent to most young people. They know when they did well, when they deserved kudos, and when they definitely didn't.

That has been my experience too:

Our son has been sluffing school. He must have a problem with his self esteem. George, tell me, why have you been missing school?

I sluff school because it's more fun to play video games.

(True anecdote)

So I hardly think this speech, refreshing and heartening as it was, is "brutal". The speaker said, obviously, what his audience already knew.

Of course quite a few vainer youngsters do actually believe the flattering hype they get almost everywhere. I like to think they eventually wind up on American Idol or America's Got Talent, and go away bawling when someone tells them they can't sing / haven't got talent.

A really brave speech would be for a politician to say:

We aren't the greatest nation the world has ever known. Perhaps we once were, but what have you suckers done to perpetuate that, to build on the foundation that others built for you?

A little honesty and candid discussion goes a long ways. Well done to the teacher who took a chance and decided to give the kids what they REALLY needed to hear.

It is about time somebody said this. Kids are constantly told how great they are - without accomplishing anything special. No wonder they expect special treatment and automatic praise. Giving trophies to everyone on every team is symbolic of the problem.

THIS is the inconvenient truth.

I am still thinking everyone is missing the whole point of the speech. He wasn't making a statement of this generation. His speech would be relevant to my generation or the one before. None of us were special. And the idea that sense of entitlement etc. is just with this generation is a bunch of hogwash in my opinion. I see plenty of this sense of entitlement with the older generations to make me sick.

But he challenged the students to make their own way, to serve their fellow human beings for the right reasons, as he said, "to climb a mountain to see the world rather than to have the world see you." I saw his speech was hopeful and strong words of encouragement rather than just some "derision" of this generation or these graduates in particular. He wants them to make a difference, but make this difference with for the right reasons.

There will always be those who chose to work and study to get superior grades in school. They are in fact exceptional. They will succeed where others fail. Many who achieve only mediocrity tend to look at those who are exceptional and suggest that they are greedy.

If you are a product of the No Child Left Behind mentality you probably aren't exceptional.

If we are going to compete with China and India for jobs, it is critical that people have very low self esteem. We have seen recently that Conservatives are mocking calls that people should go to college, because laborers don't need to be smart. Most of the money, in the future, will be controlled by a small group of very rick people (our betters) who will provide us with jobs and money (they are already called Job Creators). We don't need special skills, a healthy self opinion or even health insurance, just a good strong back and a strong desire to work 80 hour weeks. This is the harsh reality that the Right is helping us understand today. Thanks guys