Editor’s note: This column is the text of the writer’s “Greetings from the Faculty” speech delivered May 25 at the Asnuntuck Community College commencement.
When presenting a “Greetings from the Faculty” speech, it’s tempting just to say “Greetings, everyone!” and then sit back down. This is a long ceremony, after all. But that would be fake. You’ve worked too hard to get here tonight. You deserve better than a fake speech. You deserve something real.
I’d like to begin with a real quote from a commencement speech just one short year ago. Then-President Barack Obama said to the graduating class at Rutgers University, “Ignorance is not a virtue. It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about.”
It’s fashionable these days to say that formal education isn’t part of the “real world,” to imply that your experience at Asnuntuck is somehow less real compared with the world outside our college classrooms, labs, hallways and social spaces. That’s just not true. Of course, the world outside formal education is a great teacher as well, but your work here has been far from fake.
Let’s talk about the virtue of some real moments that real students in tonight’s graduating class have shared with me regarding their time at Asnuntuck.
One student told me about a moment when his instructor kept going on and on about something called “critical thinking” — the skill of actively and objectively analyzing and evaluating the subject matter of your studies. Meanwhile, this student was innocently trying to memorize some facts and concepts that he thought might be on the midterm exam. But suddenly he saw how some of those facts fit like matching puzzle pieces with the concepts in a class he took last year that he thought he had forgotten, and those connections exploded like fireworks in his mind.
That’s the result of critical thinking — that exhilarating mental explosion when he saw connections he didn’t know existed. That’s not fake. That’s real.
Another student told me about a time last fall when she overheard friends arguing about the claims of … well … let’s just call this person, “a famous politician.” She visited the fact-checking websites her professors had told her about and searched the scholarly databases our Asnuntuck librarians suggested, and she discovered that the famous politician’s claims were more fake than the plastic ferns at her dentist’s office, and she felt like an engaged citizen for the first time in her life.
Her basic research with credible sources, an open mind, and without a preconceived agenda led her to base her vote not on fantasy or fear but on verifiable facts. That’s not fake. That’s real.
Critical thinking and basic research skills are admirable and necessary on their own, but the best education is about developing into fully rounded human beings. So when some students in tonight’s graduating class saw some of their fellow students missing meals while attending multiple classes and studying and writing papers, they combined empathy with critical thinking and research to discover that food insecurity is a major reason that community college students struggle. So they got together and created the Asnuntuck Food Pantry to help feed hungry students during their days on campus.
The Food Pantry is one of the most beautiful and touching and loving student projects I’ve seen during the quarter century I’ve been teaching at Asnuntuck. That’s not fake. That’s real.
Human beings need food and water. We need air and sunshine. We need love and kindness and empathy, and we need critical thinking and basic research skills. What our planet needs more than anything right now is educated, engaged citizens who understand that we’re all in this life together. We need people who can think and research and who can apply what we’ve learned to help each other and to make this world a better place.
Nothing about your work at Asnuntuck is fake. Your education here will be real for the rest of your life. You made this real. The admiration all of your faculty members have for all of tonight’s graduates and your loved ones is very much real.
So … greetings, everyone. Greetings and congratulations.
I’d like to finish with another quote, this one from a great contemporary philosopher. “The Most Interesting Man in the World” says, “Stay thirsty, my friends.” On the surface, he’s trying to sell us all some beer. But on a deeper level, just like President Obama, he’s telling us not to stay thirsty for what’s fake, not to stay thirsty for ignorance.
Instead, stay thirsty, my friends, for the virtue of what’s real.
John Sheirer is an author and teacher who lives in Florence. His most recent book is, “Donald Trump’s Top Secret Concession Speech.” Find him at JohnSheirer.com.