My graduation from college was simple. I asked them to send me the diploma in the mail. Of course, by the time I graduated, I was already in my 40s and weary of liberal dibble, so it wasn’t much to give up on my part.

As a high school instructor, sitting in the stands watching people graduate who can’t read, write, or multiply (mathematically, that is), I particularly enjoyed the motivating speeches by august community politicians and members of the school board. It took every bit of self control to keep from falling down laughing.

To begin with, no one in the graduating class understood a word spoken because there were no expletives. Generally, the speeches had to do with honesty, work ethic, and value systems, which when spoken about by politicians or school board members, rings very hollow. Even the graduating morons were able to pickup on that.

Well, you did ask.
__________________________

In watching the local news, I see that Hillary Clinton was the commencement speaker at Agnes Scott College in the Atlanta area today. Unlike your students, these were totally sucked in by Hillary's speech. They were in a titter (if you can use that word about feminist students) about her presence and could only talk about her becoming president and that "women should rule the world." Well indoctriniated, indeed. The faculty did its assigned job on those poor girls, who will probably hate men the rest of their lives.

Your remarks about students that are getting degrees without earning them or knowing what a graduate should know is very universal.

Woody

Posted by Mustang at May 14, 2005 03:19 PM

I like this one, not for the somewhat veiled and snide remarks about the President and the government (not that there's anything wrong with that) but for the basic message that comes near the end: take life as it comes and strive to be the best at what you choose to do.

http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=3650

Posted by too many steves at May 15, 2005 08:09 AM

What have been your experiences on commencement speakers?

I can recall exactly one word from a total of 12 commencement speakers at graduations I have been in/attended. Exactly. One. Word. And that was a speech given by a fav polysci prof who had fallen into bad company and was governor at the time of the speech. Later, he fell into even worse company when he became a U.S. Seantor... And he's never since regained the esteem I once held him in.

My summation of commencement speakers: boring, useless waste of time.

Who is giving the commencement address at your nearby colleges this year?

No earthly idea. And the one graduation ceremony I might be tempted to attend (my daughter's gradschool commencement) is a no-go, cos she's not going to attend it, anyway.

What are the political persuasions of the commencement speakers?

Does it matter, really? No one will pay any attention, and no one will remember anything they say. They're irrelevant.

N.B. I have _read_ a good speech given at a mid-year commencement. One.
_____________________

David, I might regret asking, but what was the "one word" that you remembered from twelve commencement speakers? I'm going to guess that it was "greetings," at which point you knew it was worthless to listen further. (Twelve commencement addresses? You are a glutton for punishment.)

Woody

Posted by David at May 15, 2005 12:00 PM

Coulter just spoke at St. Olaf and St. Thomas University, two 'liberal' schools?
I'd be interested to know who AIM refers to when they claim that the 'university' paid for Moore, but St. Olaf student speaker group put out the money for Coulter. My suspicion is AIM is cherrypicking its 'evidence' for its belief that universities that are headed by presidents and boards with corporate CEO backgrounds are somehow 'captured' by the 'left'.
_______________

Hi, steve, and thanks for checking in. There could be cherrypicking of evidence. I don't know enough about AIM, but it was on the internet, so it's probably accurate...right? Overall, however, and based upon last year's information, colleges chose liberal (by some definition) speakers over conservative ones by 3:1.

Woody

Posted by steve at May 15, 2005 08:16 PM

And, uhm, hang on, there is some kind of comparision between Hillary Clinton and Ann Coulter? No way. Well, ok, they both supported the Iraq war, Afghanistan invasion, war against Yugoslavia, the Contras, Gulf War 1...maybe they are about equally worthy of being invited...
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steve, Ann Coulter and Hillary Clinton have one more thing in common...neither one sleeps with Bill Clinton!

Woody

Posted by steve at May 15, 2005 08:30 PM

Woody, there's some group like AIM, in terms of political orientation, that is targetting colleges for having speakers like Rudi Giuliani even, that's how wierd this speculation about 'liberal' speakers gets.
When I was an undergrad at Fordham University in the mid-1980's, we had speakers like Cap Weinberger, Jane Kirkpatrick, Koch, G Gordon Liddy, William Casey...invited by the lectures club...the Jesuit University was headed by corporate CEOs, WR Grace and other such criminal institutions...
I'd bet you anything that conservative students who graduated in those years, if asked now, would also believe that Fordham at that time was dominated by liberal speakers!
___________________

steve, I sincerely believe that many on the left offer false protest against colleges and news outlets--claiming that those organizations are not liberal but rather conservative...simply as a means to stamp out any conservative movement. In some cases, it's because liberals think that anything liberal is simply middle-of-the-road, because liberals are the only people with whom they associate. I hope to change that. Come to the other side. Join us. The force is with us.

Woody

Posted by steve at May 15, 2005 09:43 PM

The quip bout sleeping reminds me of the best question thrown at Coulter by the pagans at St. Olaf, "Are you a virgin?"!!!!
Let's just say she sidestepped the question, or so sayeth the Star Tribune.
________________

That's better than other things thrown at her--like pies and crude language. (How did she answer?)

W

Posted by steve at May 15, 2005 09:45 PM

Gosh, I'm just noticing the graduation daughter, congrats!
Tonight I reviewed with my 2 yr. old son every last detail of Rolie Polie evening story as he negotiated falling asleep with himself...He has a fascination with bubbles and guns, and with the bubble gun that Rolie has in the story, he's simply mesmerized...
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Thank you, steve. Now that my daughter has her art degree she can go after all those art jobs in the market place. She actually is extremely talented, but it takes some time to apply that skill to make a profit. She knows better than to apply for National Endowment for the Arts grants as long as she's my daughter.

I remember all the children's stories, but watch out for that Rolie Polie one about guns. You don't want you son to grow up to be a member of the NRA.

W

Posted by steve at May 15, 2005 09:48 PM

Could we simplify the discussion by referring to liberals as "liberals," and conservatives as "specific?" I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but the EU regards "socialism" as conservative, and capitalist nations such as the UK and US as "Anglo-Saxon Liberalism." I know, I know . . . but note that few liberals are ever specific and that's where I think we've got'em. HAH.

HB sends
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Thanks, HB. I'll be sure to switch over to the EU definitions right after I begin using the metric system.

Woody

Posted by Mustang at May 15, 2005 10:09 PM

She just sidestepped the question and refused to answer it, insisting the question was all part of the conspiracy to bring her down...But she's the one who tells women they should be traditional and stay at home, take care of the kids...
I'd love to ask her if she still believes that Canada supplied troops to help the US fight in Vietnam...

Posted by steve at May 15, 2005 10:59 PM

I am a rising senior at Agnes Scott College and I am sorry that you received such a poor and inaccurate representation of our student body. Like all liberal arts colleges, we have a fairly large (and very loud!) population of idealistic democrats that "twitter" when such women as Sen. Clinton speak. Personally, I would call a few of them brainwashed (though not by Agnes Scott); but most of them will change in the near future as financial aid and/or parents stop paying their $28k tuition and they must fend for themselves in a very expensive country.

Nevertheless, I resent the implications that our professors are on an agenda of liberal indoctrination and that we all graduate as man-hating feminists. First off, we have amazing professors. Some 95% of them have PhDs and they all, from my experiences, keep their political opinions to themselves and often play the Devil's Advocate in heated debates.

Second, please do not equate a women's college with being a "feminist" college. Four decades ago, there were over 250 women's colleges in the US; but, mostly for financial reasons, all but a few have turned coed. Single gender education has been proven many times to be an extremely healthy and inspiring environment for young women; it certainly is not some sort of feminazi convention where we rally against men in our frenzy of extremist liberalism.

It is unfortunate that news channels decided only to feature the hardcore Hillary lovers when they interviewed Scottie students. By doing so, they ignored the very large population of conservatives on our campus -- perhaps they, like myself, were boycotting the event so as not to be mistaken as a Hillary fan. Nevertheless, please do not judge my college based on a few overly-excited grads; please, if you must judge us, concentrate on our impeccable academic rankings, community involvement, and the confident, intelligent young women that emerge from each graduation. And just to reiterate, those confident, intelligent young women do NOT hate men and are NOT all indoctrinated by liberal propaganda.

Courtenay Bird

Posted by Courtenay Bird at July 24, 2005 02:35 PM

Hi, Courtenay and welcome to our site. Keep in mind that a lot of our rantings are simply having fun--especially if it involves Hillary Clinton and her admirers. I live in the Atlanta area and worked near Decatur for about 25 years, so I know the school and the area well. I always had very high regards for Agnes Scott.

A few years ago, a friend's daughter worked part-time in our office while she attended Agnes Scott. Her views were wacky enough, but she would bring some of her feminist studies books to work and I got to look at them--once. The course she took essentially taught her that everything wrong in the world was because of men. Very soon, we learned not to discuss politics with her.

I figured that Agnes Scott was turning out just like Emory, where I have spent some time and which is quite liberal or over-the-top. Likely my impression was formed and reinforced because the left is so vocal that it makes them seem to have greater numbers than they actually do.

I'm glad to know that the situation is not as bad as my experience led me to believe. (I still wonder why they invited such an avid socialist to speak to the graduates.)

Please visit us often and ask your conservative friends to speak up more so as to give a more balanced view of the college.

Posted by Woody at July 24, 2005 06:06 PM