So what shall I tell them, these graduates, as they stand before me, cloaked in their impressive red graduation regalia, proud that they have completed this period of schooling and, let's face it, a certain amount of indoctrination along the way. Most of them will leave today's ceremony to go on to the next phase of schooling, in order to receive another paper document that certifies that they are capable of work. Inevitably, some of them will become like my Westeel Rosco buddy Joe, someone who is trapped within repetition, who's main objective in life is to get through each working day doing something unfulfilling that can only result in a slow, inexorable death of one's soul. Not that all workers are Joes, but what makes my Joe sad is the regrettable wasting away of his life at working at a job he finds meaningless. But most of these kids standing in front of me today are not Joes; they are thinkers, adventurers, and risk takers. They are above all dreamers who, unlike many of us boomers when we were about to set out to conquer the world 40 years ago, are firmly grounded in a realistic, pragmatic mindset regarding their ambitions, plans, or goals when sketching their personal blueprint of the next 70 years of their lives.
So what shall I tell them? When asked about his early schooling, Albert Einstein said, "The only thing interfering with my learning, is my education." But these graduates do not need to hear that from me, especially at this time, their big day. Especially these kids, who's country is on the threshold of a much needed major overhaul of it's educational system, a school system that is still reminiscent of schools when I was a kid, schools that shape and fashion out graduates praised with high grades but deficient of the ability to connect with the world in which they find themselves. Luckily, these graduates who stand before me today have surely benefitted from attending our school, one of the many international schools (last count was 125) that have opened in the Kingdom. These contemporary and progressive international schools are naturally leading education reform in the land of Siam and their proliferation cannot but have a major positive impact on the education of the country's youth.
So what shall I tell them? By accepting to deliver this speech, I have accepted to offer all the inspiration, hope, information, humour, idealism, common sense or advice I can summon. I sense their confidence and optimism, but I also feel their insecurity and fear. I do not want to stifle their confidence and optimism, but I also feel compelled to warn them about the sometimes wicked world that is out there, where money is often the only motivational force, a world that is guided by fear, a world that is often steered by the greed and ruthless madness of corporatism and narcissistic materialism. These kids are more than human data based androids, programmed to blurt out facts they've collected over the span of their 12 years of schooling. They are all worthy of something better, of using their minds for innovation, rather than memorization, for creativity, rather than fruitless apery, for cogitation and deliberation rather than indifference and antipathy?
But then, probably these guys have already figured all of this out by themselves. That is what is so great about this GenZ generation; they are so much more grounded, wiser, and less egocentric than their generational predecessors. So, where does that leave me, and what shall I tell them?...
.......
"At our school, we have tried our best at giving you important life skills. Your Science teacher did not stop at teaching you the parts of a flower, but also taught you how to appreciate its beauty. Your English teacher did not limit herself to teaching you how to recognize a certain literary device in a poem; she also showed you how to be affected by it. In IT, we might have shown you how to program a computer, but more importantly, we have also shown you how to judge the validity of an opinion you may have found somewhere in cyberspace.
The end product of our school are graduates like yourselves, thoughtful young people and well-informed citizens that have the confidence to question facts, the reasoning power to understand them as well as to judge them, and the wisdom to make a value judgment. That is what we have tried to give you at our school.
I do not need to remind you that your journey of learning does not end today, it will continue tomorrow. But always remember, life doesn't usually follow the plans you lay out for yourself. You will all experience the highs and lows of life, the difficult and the easy and unfortunately, there may be times of too many difficulties and just not enough smooth sailing. But, in the end, your true success will be defined by how you handle both of these times.
The important thing is you have already taken the initial steps needed to build a more promising future. Every class you've taken, every lab, every essay written and every grade you've earned, they have all been preparing you to adapt to change and challenges. But as you know, it's a tough world out there - nothing will be handed to you - you have to earn it - and it will mean more to you because you will earn it.
Let me leave you with this thought from Ralph Waldo Emerson. “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail.”
You're now armed with one of the most important tools needed to forge your path ahead. It's not the diploma itself that counts - it's about what you've learned along the way and what you do with the education you've gotten in your journey to graduation today. So dear graduates, my message and my words of wisdom to you this morning is the following: Be innovative, dare to try new ideas, learn by adversity, and especially, do not worry about failure and embrace challenge and error. Look upon error as a natural stepping stone in the life long process of learning and personal growth.
Your future is in your hands - no one else's. Seize every opportunity and savour every moment.. Best of luck to all of you."
So this is what I told them. My words may not have reached them as well as if Oprah would have said them, but again, I am no Oprah.
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