Posted on 06/08/2012 5:46:21 AM PDT by j_tull
For those of you who have long since gotten sick of the trend among education experts toward “self esteem” rather than actual learning, this story will be extremely cathartic.
Wellesley High School teacher David McCullough, Jr. (son of historian David McCullough) had apparently had enough of feeding blithering platitudes to his students and decided to tell the truth. The result sparked controversy among the parents, who didn’t like hearing their children accused of being cosseted and pampered little brats who believed they were special for no reason. But sometimes the truth hurts. Read the greatest hits below:
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
I’m sending it to my high-school graduating kid.
The tide is turning....once again....
New HS, in the library, the last names of famous literary figures are carved into the molding or the like.
"Obama" is one. My guess is that they just took a reading list from Oprah, rather than spending any effort looking at what classics still resonate with readers decades after publication.
After all, how long did it take for people to know that Obama wrote that he was a dog eater?
Quite true.
It struck me recently how many movies of the last three decades or so end with the hero being lauded by the crowd, as if nothing else could possibly be more important.
Which ties in, of course, with our "famous for being famous" culture.
The “self esteem” movement has always been part of the agenda to devalue human life anyway.
McCullough is an existentialist—he believes our identity is defined by our actions.
Of course merit is important, but it’s not the ultimate definition of man.
This is extraordinary- have sent to Rush and Drudge... worthy of a viral explosion.
Thank you very much for posting this.
I was there for my niece’s graduation, except my daughters and I showed up an hour late, and then hung out under the bleachers watching “King of the Hill” on my Droid until my niece’s name was called.
Don’t tell my sister!
I’m LOL over this because my semi-liberal sister teaches in precious Wellesley and this must have shocked her.
I hope you are right. I'm praying Wisconsin is the signal of a general wake up call.
Not the ultimate definition, agreed, but pretty high on my list!
This is what the lib is actually saying: “You’re not capable of taking care of yourself. Socialism will take care of you.”
This guy must be getting tarred and feathered by parents in Wellesley.
Great speech.
That makes her a conservative around here, if grading on a curve.
"...if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless".
Someone ought to have taught that to Obama, but they were busy trying to spread socialism - the philosophy of value-destruction and leveling - in place of properly raising a child.
Imagine the audience as he spoke...the squirmming, the shuffling, the throat-clearing and general unease..
Comedian Daniel Tosh gave a high school commencement speech and he gave a blunt speech too. He said something to the effect of, “When I look out here, I don’t see future doctors and lawyers. I see criminals. Some of you will die in a DUI accident tonight.”
The logic of this depends on whether or not Christian doctrine is true.
If the Bible is just a fairy tale, then the most likely explanation for the universe is probably naturalism, in which case we can believe that life on earth is all that matters, and the Nietschean superman and his “will to power” is a good example of what the ideal life might be. In other words, achievement through merit is of primary importance.
But if Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead and Holy Scripture is true, then nothing we do on earth—actions, work, merit—has any primary meaning. Everything is defined by what we believe and earthly achievement is only secondary.
I’ll bet that went over like a turd in the punchbowl.
I've never liked or believed that. It has also been used to justify the actions of our enemies.
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