Closing Remarks: Underclass Prize Assembly May 2007
We are this evening closer to the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year — Blair’s 160th — than we are to the end of the present year, because at least psychologically you are ready to be a year older than you were last September. You have all the common experience of a full year at Blair — well, other than Alex and Tiffany — and thus know the way Blair works. But you do not know yet how next year will feel, and that is what I hope to help you with this evening: preparing for this new year soon to be spread before us.
I told the Class of 2007 that they were going through a transition time for Blair, a time when even our weakest academic students are growing more capable and self disciplined; a time when our applications are surging and the quality of those accepting our offers of admission are impressive; a time when almost all Blair students have lofty aspirations for Blair careers, for their college aspirations, and for their lives afterwards. And I would emphasize that your attitude is as it should be: Blair expects each of you to have the personal goal of improving yourselves and improving our world. And — because no place is perfect — next year the faculty and I expect you will try to improve this School.
At a recent meeting of the new Class Council for 2008, Mr. Low, Ms. Conforti-Browse and I were impressed with the discussion. There seems to be a general recognition and ready acceptance that leadership at Blair was going to continue to evolve from Friday School Meeting entertainment, and more toward building this community around the positive energy of our student leaders and their thoughtful approach to Blair Bubble issues. In addition to going through the college admissions process this summer, I trust they will consider their roles, their responsibilities, and the hopes for the Class of 2008 during the weeks ahead. All this — this life at Blair — ends sooner than you think, and all of you must do the tasks that are clearly at hand.
But summer is a time to get perspective on where you have been and where you are going, and I want to tell you some of what is going on outside the Blair Bubble, particularly with regard to current opinions about your generation, to include in your perspective getting.
Despite praise for your generation’s continued willingness to engage in community service and to support cultural/racial/and religious openness, the adult world is drawing an increasingly worried opinion of the American high school experience and your approach to life’s demands. The well-known New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman calls American high school students lazy, entitled, and spoiled, compared to ambitions and work habits of high school students of other countries. You may have heard that American high school students rank last in math and science against other industrialized countries.
And listen to this: some years ago a large study of American high school students focused on students who were doing poorly academically to see what factors contributed to their poor performance. Interviewing over 40,000 students, researchers expected to find that these under-achievers were not successful because they thought it was useless, that they had lost hope of succeeding in an American society full of obstacles — racism, class-ism, grinding poverty. However, these reasons were rarely cited. In fact, researchers found that the real reason behind the indifference to academic success was not because it was useless to try, but that it was pointless to try. Rather than having low self-esteem, these students were victims of over-confidence. Researchers found that the prevailing attitude of these students was that academic failure or poor performance in high school wouldn’t make any difference. They would get a job, make money, and do all right anyway. In other words, the study revealed that these students believe there are no real consequences for failure, and if that is true, then the effort to be successful in high school loses its meaning. The whole enterprise would be, after all, pointless.
At the other end of the spectrum, a recent Wall Street Journal article depicts new, well-educated workers---the kind of young college graduate you will be in the next half dozen years—as having little ability to cope with or learn from constructive criticism. Coming to good jobs with diplomas from college, these young workers require constant encouragement and praise from their superiors. According to this article, having grown up in the American culture of putting self-esteem ahead of true merit, our young people have too rarely had to overcome frustration, disappointment, failure and challenging demands to arrive at genuine accomplishment. And the need for constant praise overwhelms the inherent satisfaction of doing a job well or learning to do that job better.
It is, then, against this broad backdrop of the American high school experience that you will return to Blair next year. And you, I must tell you that the faculty and I do not feel you fit the picture that I have just described of your generation. At Blair we have seen you develop and display self-discipline; you have shown the ability to work hard and with determination; you have successfully juggled academics, arts, athletics, leadership, and Saturday classes. And, yes, you have fulfilled the portrayal of your generation of participating actively in community service.
So, the question now is this: can you leave our hilltop for a summer of relaxation and pleasure, fully confident that you are not the picture of the spoiled, lazy, entitled American high school student? And the answer is this: if you leave Blair for your vacation and do nothing purposeful or worthy of this education then you will certainly be much closer to the spoiled, lazy, entitled high school student than either you or I would like. In fact, the faculty and I know from experience that some students leave at the end of May and — over a summer of poor choices and unproductive behavior — return poised to fail, to disappoint their parents and themselves, and to hurt the Blair community. Let me emphatically warn you against that path in the weeks ahead.
Of course, you deserve some time to rest, recover from exams, get reacquainted with your family and friends, and in short take a deep breath. I assure you the faculty and I join you in that. However, here are concrete items of advice on which I ask you to focus: If you do not have any certain plans and you are going to be in one place for longer than half the summer, then go out and get a job, or get a legitimate community service commitment — and really any job will do, so long as it requires you to do real work and offers real structure. Working for your parents is fine as long as you have to get up in the morning, you cannot leave when you want, someone supervises your work, and you get paid as anyone else would for your efforts. And a community service obligation should involve clear expectations and regular involvement, not a one day thing. Frankly, working in high school is a great time to seek out jobs that might not be in air-conditioning or set in some cushy office: my summer jobs included being a busboy in a restaurant, working in a car wash, doing retail in a sporting goods store, refereeing youth sports, delivering papers, camp counseling, and of course baby-sitting — and I learned something slightly different about the world and myself in each one of those jobs.
If you cannot take a job because you are traveling this summer—particularly with some program heading to a foreign country where you are supposed to learn about culture and language---then do all you can to put your American self in a mental closet and have the courage to try to develop a “self” that is part of that country, language, and culture. So, if you are traveling with other Americans—even with a Blair friend—make an agreement to keep English to a minimum if you are trying to learn another language. Showing the maturity and self-discipline to work on this, even when others are looking to have fun, will bring you back to this country, your home, and this school a more thoughtful, confident person.
And, of course, for our international students — well, what can I say — study for your SAT’s — at least that is what you are telling me is on your agenda, but do take some time to enjoy yourselves too…
Let me say, too, that the American youth culture is awash in alcohol and filled the possibilities of drug and substance use, and we all know that. However, it is also true that the longer you delay entering that world — if you enter it at all — the more likely it will be that alcohol and substance problems will not be part of your adult life. You should know that, in my June letter to your parents, I shall ask each of them to raise the issue of alcohol and drug use with you over the summer, and I hope and trust that you have enough confidence and openness to engage in an honest discussion when they do. Of course, you might just go ahead and take the issue up with them yourself, because that discussion is perhaps your best protection against peer pressure, poor choices, and starting on the dismal path of deception and dishonesty with your parents. Have that conversation, be honest about the issues, and be confident that it will be one of the best things you do this summer.
I would also encourage you to please read, preferably daily. There is so much going on in the world that a review of the newspaper each day is nearly required to be an informed person, and frankly — regardless of your political leanings — The New York Times is widely available and worth the effort to get. Perhaps the best life skill you can develop is writing well, but you cannot write well unless you can write in your head as well as on paper. To develop that, you need to read good books — whether non-fiction or the new Harry Potter this summer. So, in addition to your Blair reading, do a bit more — and enjoy it.
I shall close by noting Sam Peretore’s comment to her classmates that for four years she was a “Blair kid,” someone whose identity was connected to this place, her classmates, and the community. More than anything I hope all of you will increasingly yield to that idea, that part of your identity is that of a “Blair kid,” and that being a Blair kid does not mean you are perfect or better than others, but that you are aware of this School’s values and hopes for you. And let me say again, that our hope for you is that you leave Blair, diploma in hand, ready to make this world better. To ask anything less of you is to under-value this wonderful opportunity.
So, I leave you with the reality that in fifteen Tuesdays from today, you will be back in class in your new definition as senior, junior, or sophomore, and still very much a “Blair kid.” Have a safe, happy and purposeful summer. Go out and get that perspective and call or write if you need us.
Thank you.
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