Graduation Speeches

In 1971 I had my doctoral graduations and I went to the MIT one. Now 1971 was not a great year. There were no jobs at all posted in the NY Times, no one came to campus to recruit, really, and my only firm offer was to work as an electrician for my father. I had a $20 bill in my wallet, a dead VW bug, threw a rod, a bunch of degrees and well it was challenging. The good news was graduation was short, no speaker, no awards, no free degrees, just show up, shut up and get your degree. Then clean out your living quarters for the next group. Vietnam was still going wild, the Pentagon Papers were just on their way out, Nixon got us off the gold standard, he raised tariffs on imports, and overall the economy was a mess.

But the issue here is commencement speakers. In my humble opinion they are a waste of time. They seem all now to bring some political position to the fore, advocate their own interests, and overall miss the mark for what this day is for, the graduates, and for many, their parents who may have paid for this. As for awards, well you got a degree, what else is there. MIT in my day never had cum laude etc, just graduating was a statement in itself, we were not Harvard, they needed the distinction to identify those who really worked.

The list of some recent speakers included:

2018    Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook

2017    Tim Cook, Apple

2016    Matt Damon, Actor, Filmmaker

2015    Megan Smith, Chief Technology Officer of the United States

2014    Ellen Kullman, DuPont

2013    Drew Houston, Dropbox

2012    Salman Khan, Khan Academy

2011    Ursula M. Burns, Xerox Corporation

2010    Raymond S. Stata, Analog Devices, Inc.

2009    Deval Patrick, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

2008    Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director, Grameen Bank

2006    Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve

2005    Irwin Jacobs, QUALCOMM

2004    Elias Zerhouni, National Institutes of Health

2003    George Mitchell, Former United States Senator from Maine

Now I am certain that they are all fine folks, interesting speakers and the like, but after lost of time and effort all most students want is the piece of paper and finding a job. Are speakers a benefit to the Administration, more contacts and the like. They are little if any benefit to the graduates, at least short term.

I am very happy that Prof Wiesner decided to just make it short and sweet. Then again there were always those bomb threats from the anti-War types. I thought that bomb threats from anti-War protesters were a bit of an oxymoron. But we had a few. They did keep the speakers away though!