Tuesday, May 12, 2009
President H. Ray Hoops addresses Class of 2009 Commencement photos
In my 43 years in higher education, starting when I became a faculty member in Michigan in 1966, I have never missed a commencement ceremony of my institution. I can tell you, from memory, who many of the speakers were and something about their usually important messages. For those commencements that had personal significance, it is a different story. I hold a bachelor's degree, two master degrees and a Ph.D. My wife completed her Ph.D. after our marriage and my daughter has a bachelor's and a master's degree. I attended all of those commencements. I cannot, for the life of me, remember who the speaker was at any of those commencements nor can I recall even part of any of the messages. I think, for those who are graduated in commencement ceremonies and their families, whether or not they realize it at the time, it is an emotional period where the importance of the day overwhelms anything a speaker might say. I do not expect to alter that pattern for the graduates and their families today. Nevertheless, it is my assigned task to delay your being graduated for another 10 minutes and I intend to do so. This is a day to recognize the achievements of those to be graduated and the families and friends who supported them. It is also a time to celebrate what those achievements will mean for the futures of these graduates as a group. For making a solid future a high probability, higher education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet. As a statistical average, today's university graduates will be more prosperous will have more stable, satisfying family lives will be healthier, both emotionally and physically will live longer and will be far less likely to commit crime or be dependent on society's resources rather than their own. They also will have the joy of contributing more to their communities, regions, states, and the nation than will the statistically "average" citizen of their age group who does not possess an equivalent educational attainment. However, while what this ceremony represents about what these graduates have achieved is profound, it may well be far more important to all of us, all of society. It would be a rare commencement speech that did not repeat the hackneyed bromide that these graduates are the hope for the future. The reason the statement has persisted for all its lack of originality is that it is profoundly true. John F. Kennedy said, "From those to whom much is given, much is expected." And though we are here to celebrate the achievements of the graduates, much has been given by many to make these achievements possible. Parents and family have sacrificed in almost all cases. University personnel and the faculty in particular, have made theoretical opportunity a reality. The political structures of the state have formed and supported the University of Southern Indiana, making your achievements within reach. The taxpayers of the State of Indiana, the vast majority of whom do not hold university degrees and do not participate in the individual benefits of higher education, have joined individual donors in making your institution the least costly to attend in the State of Indiana. George Peabody said "Education is a debt due from present to future generations." The ceremony here today represents the payment of that debt. But the debt produces a debt. These contributions have been made partly from a feeling of duty to the generation from which these graduates come but, largely, because higher education is a societal good to an even higher degree than it is an individual good. It does not diminish the achievements that the award of degrees here today symbolizes, to say to the graduates, you have been given much and much is expected of you. Your family and friends, your university, and your professors hold high expectations but so does your community, your state, and society as a whole. The future, not just your future, but a much more inclusive future, is about to be entrusted to you. Kennedy's quote came from the Book of Luke 12:48. What I don't think Kennedy included was the phrase which followed, "But even more will be demanded from the one to whom much is entrusted." It's a little scary to have so much responsibility entrusted to you, isn't it? As a group or as that statistically representative individual I described earlier, you are not only up to it, but will perform magnificently. However, no one of you can take any comfort in what the degree you are being awarded here today means for your own individual future. You must make that happen. You must make it happen. As important as the step represented here today is, it is just that...one step. Universities, contrary to popular belief, do not prepare you for a job, cause you to be an ethical person, or even educate you, though all of these often happen as a result of your university experience. First, universities expose you to a lot of information. That is important but not unique. Almost all that information is available to you in any good metropolitan library. The thing that the modern university does uniquely well is to provide you an opportunity for personal growth and development. Your academic community has the responsibility for encouraging - even motivating - you to take advantage of the opportunity provided, but only you can actually seize it and make it a part of yourself. You must continue growth and development for the rest of your life if you are to truly meet your potential, make your contribution, and repay the debt created by the debt payment made to you. But the good news is that, in the human condition, accomplishment builds on accomplishment. The act of your being here today attests to your understanding of that immutable fact. I think you will find this accomplishment will redound as one of the most important of your life for the rest of your life. At this moment, many of you feel insecure about your immediate futures. The economic situation is the most difficult in the memory of the majority of us in this room today. For you, the major issue in your minds may be a job...a job now. It is difficult to offer you comfort on that matter today. However, what is true is that this group of graduates faces a bright future. All the demographics of our nation dictate that there will be more demand for skilled and educated people going forward than there will be individuals to meet that demand. Though I know it is difficult, it is important that you focus on career versus job and on a future longer than the short term. If that is not helpful, and I suspect it is not, I apologize. There has never been a commencement speaker who successfully resisted the temptation to advise the graduating class on how to live the rest of their lives. I shall not be the first. I am going to offer that advice in two ways: first, from my own construction, the "nine notable nevers of childhood. While stated in the negative, I hope you will be able to see them for the positives they really are intended to be. Secondly, from some obvious and some less obvious philosophers, seven sagacious sayings. The first of the notable nevers is Never leave your crayons out in the sun. Treat things of value asvaluable. This is particularly true of relationships. Value in your life must be safeguarded and nurtured. Most importantly, you must recognize what is truly important to you so you can treat it with care. Never pet the dog that just bit Jimmy. If you cannot learn from the mistakes of others, you are doomed to suffer the results of a myriad of ills that need never plague you if you can simply learn by example. Never leave the first grade. If you have ever watched first graders in a classroom, you quickly saw that learning is a joyous undertaking for them. Some people lose that joy in learning. Keep the joy of learning for your entire life. Never pick a fight with a kid nicknamed "Knuckles." When anything in your life announces that it is dangerous, it probably is. There are risks enough which you should take. There is no need to take those which should be avoided. Never jump off the top of the slide. For a child, sliding down the slide itself is a scary adventure. You should expose yourself to some unsettling adventures, but do so in a calculated way. Never watch the tag game all recess. Get involved in the game of tag, don't just watch. Get involved and stay involved in your own life. Never wish for a toy just because you saw it on television. If you have ever watched the toy ads on children's television, you know how misleading they are. You will be bombarded with "toy ads" the rest of your life. Do not be swayed. Never be unkind to your next door neighbor because she's a girl. Not only will she make you really sorry someday, but you must build your relationships on the true character of individuals, not on characteristics unrelated to that true character. Never tell the teacher a fib that you were late because your bicycle had a flat tire. If you do, tomorrow it will have a flat tire. I want to close with the wisdom from some well-known and some not so well-known philosophers. The seven sagacious sayings: 1. Beverly Sills: "There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth taking." True satisfaction, joy, and sense of accomplishment come from tackling the difficult. I would add that it is better to fail to attain an attempted high goal than to succeed in a low one. 2. George F. Davis (great philosopher descended of slave parents and grandfather of the first doctoral student I ever directed): "Don't nothing happen so bad don't no good come of it." Truly successful people, in my experience, turn the unfortunate things that happen to them into opportunities. 3. Winston Churchill: "Always be ready to learn, even if you do not like being taught." ....and Henry Ford: "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." 4. Harry S. Truman: "Some of the Presidents were great and some of them weren't. I wasn't one of the great Presidents, but I had a good time trying to be one." It is the attempt to reach high rather than really getting there that is important. 5. Richard Nixon: "It is easier to do the right thing than to know what the right thing is." Perhaps an unlikely source, but great wisdom expressed. Even for those who have decided that their lives will be ethical and honest, determining what will define that course will require diligence, effort, and study. The corollary to Mr. Nixon's quote is that of James Thurber: "I'd rather know some of the questions than all of the answers." 6. From Stacy Robinson (student worker in my office at another university, a talented wide receiver who later had a fine professional career) when asked if he might be too small for professional football: "I'm supposed to catch the ball, not beat it up." It is important to know what your real objectives are. 7. Jack Welch, then Chairman of General Electric: "Control your own destiny or someone else will." Mr. Welch's quote also comes with a corollary from Will Rogers: "Even if you are on the right road, if you just sit there, eventually you'll get run over." My last sagacious saying, not on my list of seven and aimed at me, rather than the graduates today is from the great philosopher Chi Chi Rodriguez. "No speech can be truly bad if it is truly short." Thank you for being here today. Thank you for listening to me, and thank you for letting me be the president of this wonderful university, the University of Southern Indiana, for these 15 years. View a slideshow of the 2009 Commencement. |
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