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Commencement, Part II: When do we begin?
(by Walt Brown - June 04, 2008)
It was noted four weeks ago that "commencement" does not mean the end, but rather the beginning, and that cliche will no doubt resound in the days to come.
If it's a beginning, why do they have it at the end?
"Commencement" was brought to mind in a recent political juxtaposition that involved a "commencement" of sorts. 192 noted historians were polled regarding the historical merit of the current administration in
Washington – an admittedly unfair and unreasonable act, as "history" is written well after it happens. Notwithstanding, 98 percent of the historians voted "failure," the lowest ranking, and 61 percent voted "worst ever." At virtually the same time, however, a "citizens' poll" ranked the current administration 10th overall – a good score out of 43 possibles.
A historian and friend called me and asked for my thoughts on the disparity of the numbers. My comment was that most "citizens" have no idea who the 43 presidents were, and the ones they know are the icons, plus a couple of "recents," so 10th place might not have been such a good score.
But the idea bothered me, so I "tested" my 70 college students on their knowledge of basics. I gave them a map and asked them to identify as many states as possible. The average score was nine states. Some did not get New Jersey correct, and some had South Carolina above
North Carolina .
On the back, they were asked to name as many Presidents as possible, and again, the average was nine, and that overlooks some mistakes that would be funny if not tragic (Presidents John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Ben Franklin and even Hillary Clinton). When asked to cite Constitutional Amendments, the math was much more simple: one. They listed three – freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion, but that is all the First Amendment, and on a subsequent quiz, when asked which is the first freedom guaranteed, nobody stated "religion."
It was, to say the least, disheartening. Two separate classes full of college students who knew very little about their own history and surroundings.
I would suggest that at "commencement" there be issued a dedication to "begin" because, as studies far more serious than my experiment proved, we're not graduating well-prepared citizens.
Let's "commence" – and soon, please.
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