How Will Current Graduates Respond To The World?

[From article]
The question before graduates is whether they’ll “party on” — accepting a world of imperiled liberties and moral retreat — or whether they’ll Think Again and try to improve it.
[. . .]
our democracy’s founding principle that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom,” as Benjamin Franklin insisted?
[. . .]
Skyrocketing numbers of single households, a struggling middle class and a crisis in higher education have combined to deprive us of citizens with the requisite moral character for self-government.
[. . .]
actor Matthew McConaughey told University of Houston graduates, “Life’s not fair. It never was, isn’t now and won’t ever be. Do not fall into the entitled trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You’re not.” McConaughey echoed Franklin’s maxim: “The Constitution only guarantees you the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.”
http://www.aspentimes.com/opinion/16633851-113/sturm-graduation-advice-for-troubled-times

Sturm: Graduation advice for troubled times
Melanie Sturm
Think Again
June 4, 2015

Cambridge, MA High School Education

Did these students learn about the Constitution and laws which guarantee their freedom to choose what to do with their lives? Did they learn tolerance for other ideas about social justice which may conflict with theirs? Did they learn any perspective in which to place their ideas of social justice?

[From article]
During their time at CRLS, graduates represented youth perspectives on committees and councils, organized and facilitated workshops on racial identity and achievement, questioned the city on opportunities for women during Women’s History Month discussions, collected thousands of pounds of food for local pantries, and they walked out of class on Dec. 1, 2014, to take over Harvard Square in protest of racism after the Ferguson grand jury decision.
“We were the first students in over 20 years to have a walkout,” student body President Sydney Fisher said. “Because of us, not just Rindge, but Cambridge as a whole had to reflect on their inner racism.
[. . .]
CRLS kicked off the ceremony held at the Frisoli Field House by welcoming guests and graduates in 14 of the 20 languages spoken by the members of the Class of 2015, including Italian, Arabic, Haitian Creole, Spanish and Portuguese.
According to Fisher, her classmates are destined for great things. They will work on global warming, fight gentrification and end genocide of trans women and men and the Black Lives Matter movement, she said.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150605/NEWS/150607281/?Start=1

‘We're Falcons' — Cambridge Class of 2015 known for social-justice efforts
By Sara Feijo
sfeijo (at) wickedlocal.com

Cambridge Chronicle

Texas Policeman Who Brought News Of Parents Killed in Motorcycle Crash, Attends Graduation of Their Son

Eric Ellison

[From article]

On May 24, an Orange, Texas, couple named Riley and Emily Portie were riding their motorcycle when they were struck by a drunk driver. The parents of five died at the scene.
Officer Eric Ellison of the Orange Police Department responded to the scene of the crash, and was tasked with breaking the news to the couple’s next of kin. When he arrived at the house, he found their youngest son, Kazzie, home alone.


Facebook: captcornmeal

“It was a very upsetting situation,” Desiree Scales of the Orange Police Department told BuzzFeed News.
Ellison told BuzzFeed News that while he was sitting with Kazzie, the 18-year-old said he didn’t know what he was going to do because he supposed to graduate from Little Cypress–Mauriceville High School less than a week later.
“I said, ‘You are going to walk!’” Ellison told BuzzFeed News. “Your mom and dad will have front-row seats looking down from heaven, and I’ll stand in their place. I’ve got your back.”

Ellison said the accident and the family stayed with him, especially since his own 18-year-old daughter graduated on Friday. When Kazzie accepted his diploma, Ellison was waiting for him at the end of the stage.


Facebook: emily.portie
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/a-cop-who-had-to-tell-a-teen-his-parents-had-been-killed-sho?bftw&utm_term=4ldqpgc#.lnwjW9LJdv

A Cop Who Had To Tell A Teen His Parents Had Been Killed Showed Up At His Graduation
Kazzie Portie’s parents were killed by a drunk driver less than a week before his graduation ceremony.
Originally posted on May. 31, 2015, at 4:15 p.m.
Updated on Jun. 1, 2015, at 9:53 a.m.
Stephanie McNeal

Scalia Notes Ways of Tyrants

[From Speech]
"remember this — neither Hitler, nor Lenin, nor any despot you could name, ever came forward with a proposal that read, ‘Now, let’s create a really oppressive and evil society.’ Hitler said, ‘Let’s take the means necessary to restore our national pride and civic order.’ And Lenin said, ‘Let’s take the means necessary to assure a fair distribution of the goods of the world.’"

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/advice_for_new_grad_weXZe5ZSzYVP0eTDs35xuM

Advice for a new grad
By JUSTICE ANTONIN SCALIA
New York Post
Last Updated: 3:49 AM, June 20, 2010
Posted: 1:06 AM, June 20, 2010