Erica Goldson A Different Graduation Speech
Erica Goldson gave a very different speech at Coxsackie-Athens High School Coxsackie, New York. The class valedictorian gave the commencement address many students over the years claimed they would make if they ever got the chance. She began by stating that her goal in school was to get out as soon as she could.
I should look at this as a positive experience, especially being at the top of my class. However, in retrospect, I cannot say that I am any more intelligent than my peers. I can attest that I am only the best at doing what I am told and working the system. Yet, here I stand, and I am supposed to be proud that I have completed this period of indoctrination. I will leave in the fall to go on to the next phase expected of me, in order to receive a paper document that certifies that I am capable of work. But I contest that I am a human being, a thinker, an adventurer – not a worker.
A worker is someone who is trapped within repetition – a slave of the system set up before him. But now, I have successfully shown that I was the best slave. I did what I was told to the extreme. While others sat in class and doodled to later become great artists, I sat in class to take notes and become a great test-taker. While others would come to class without their homework done because they were reading about an interest of theirs, I never missed an assignment. While others were creating music and writing lyrics, I decided to do extra credit, even though I never needed it.
So, I wonder, why did I even want this position? Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared.
I am so happy that another valid-victorian decided to give a big hypothetical middle finger to the superiors of the school system! I, most certainly was not anywhere near close to being valid-victorian, but somehow, I did grajumate with honors! And, one of my best good buddies was Val-Vic………………….and lets just say, he rocked the boat!
Erica,
Thanks for a very insightful valedictory speech. I am an elementary teacher of many years, now retired. You have become painfully aware of the very dilemma for students that I see. Let me quote you, if I may:
Sure, I earned it, but what will come of it? When I leave educational institutionalism, will I be successful or forever lost? I have no clue about what I want to do with my life; I have no interests because I saw every subject of study as work, and I excelled at every subject just for the purpose of excelling, not learning. And quite frankly, now I’m scared.
Graduating from high school and not knowing in which direction to go for your lifework is, in my opinion, the unforgivable tragedy we call Public Education.
Now let me tell you in just a few words how we remedy this terrible situation. Each and every child is born a learning machine. And we humans are the masterpiece of learning machines on this planet. You cannot not learn. There is no off button. So who is it that knows just exactly what children should be learning. It’s not the school board, it’s not the principal, it’s not the teacher, it’s not even your parents. It’s is YOU my dear. You know what is best for you to learn and you are driven by your desire and curiosity. You are perfectly capable at any age of deciding what is right for you to learn. And that is precisely what Public Education does not understand. And that is why, in its misguided use of curricula and standards, Public Education kills desire and curiosity, and, in so doing, is detrimental to the intellectual growth and development to all children.
This is the statement that I want to see inserted into the United Nations Children’s Bill of Rights: All children have the right to choose what they want to learn and how they want to learn it.
There it is pure and simple. From the day you step through the doors of any school anywhere you need to choose. Your desire and curiosity and all your innate tendencies will guide you to what will become your lifework, that one thing that you are meant to do in this world – I call it your gift. Sadly, in its ignorance, Public Education has denied you that opportunity and now you feel lost and afraid.
The teacher’s job, and his or her only job, is to create the environment in which learning can take place. That’s it. You tell her what you want to learn and she provides the materials or projects to help make it happen. The principal’s job is to support that effort and the school board has to provide the funds. You would spend most of your elementary career exploring until you begin to get an inkling of the direction you might want to go. You keep narrowing your choices down until by the end of high school you can feel very confident that you know where you are headed.
So what can be done right now to begin to change Public Education? Parents and teachers can’t or won’t change it. School boards and administrators can’t change anything. Politicians won’t do it. So who can? Students. Students are the only ones who can do something to open a new dialogue regarding true and meaningful change. The change is coming anyway. Technology will help bring it about. But for now what can students do?
The place to start is with No Child Left Behind and all those stupid standardized tests that do little else than to waste an inordinate amount of a student’s time. Schools spend so much time preparing for, administering, and reporting and analyzing test results that there is precious little time for learning. Many, many administrators and teachers will tell you this.
So, here is what students can do. And it isn’t illegal or destructive, no windows or laws are broken. If ten percent of the students at any grade level refuse to fill in the bubbles on these outrageous tests or fill in the wrong bubbles, it would force schools to stop, look, and listen to students, which they should have been doing all along. A case of “the pen(cil) is mightier than the sword. Think of the multi-billion dollar vested interests behind the testing industry. They would soon have their lobbyists at work trying desperately to make it illegal to refuse to take the tests. Still it wouldn’t work if students stick to their pencils.
Erica, I know this approach to reforming our public schools doesn’t apply to you. Your task now is to decide what you want to do with your life. As your Zen story implies, education is not a quest. It’s not the final destination, but what happens along the path, that is critical. Your job is to create the person you are to become. You may want to explore further, but it will be time well spent. Your speech shows you have good instincts. You can trust them to help you build the person you want to be.
I have written a book, so far unpublished, about all this. If ever you would care to read it, I would be happy to make it available to you. I wish you all the luck in the world and truly regret that school failed you and so many, many others.