Farewell
Commencement 2000

This is the time in the program when I must say "farewell" to the class of 2000. I must say this is not an easy task. I have great sympathy for the emotions that play in the hearts of the mothers and fathers, friends and relatives who are gathered here today. Each spring I find myself in conversation with seniors, and as the subject of Commencement arises I allow as how I'm considering calling off graduation. Seniors always take this as impossible teasing. But, you know, those diplomas aren't legal until I sign them, and I've been suffering from a touch of carpal tunnel of late! I'm also always reminded at this moment how vastly different a graduation feels to the graduate from the way it feels to proud families and proud faculty. In fact, this is the subject of possibly the oldest graduation joke in history.

I'm sure the adults have heard this story before, but probably not since last June. And members of the class of 2000, I want to be the first to tell it to you. The story involves the college president who discovers on his appointment calendar a graduate back to campus for his twenty-fifth reunion. "I just wanted to take a second," said the graduate, "to thank you for the inspirational advice you gave me at Commencement 25 years ago!" "Why, thank you," replied the college president, who, of course, could neither remember the graduate nor what he had said. "But perhaps you could refresh my memory. What did I say that inspired you so much?"

At that, the graduate leaned forward in his chair, looked earnestly at the President, and said, "I've tried to live my life by these words: You shook my hand and said, 'Keep moving. Keep moving!' "

The last few weeks of school may seem a bit as though we are saying, "keep moving, keep moving," but this is just an illusion. The fact is this faculty will miss you a lot when you are off to college. The faculty and staff who gather around this green have come to know you like family. We have delighted in your successes, your good humor, your energy, your striving to win. We're all ready for summer break, and we're also already looking forward to having you come back to visit us next fall.

Today, in just a few moments you will be graduates of Phillips Exeter Academy. As someone who goes to lots of graduation ceremonies, I often find myself sitting on podiums such as this one, or in folding chairs on grassy who crossed the stage to get his or her diploma got a big handshake from the dean, who proceeded to tell the assembled families what the graduate would be doing after graduation. My effort to guess what people might do from the crumbs of personality they dropped as they crossed the stage was undone. Here was certainty, and I listened carefully.

A depressing pattern became evident. Only one student, a graduate who won the award for community service, was planning to go into teaching. Of the 153 students who graduated after I started taking careful note, there was only one teacher-to-be; 13 were going to work for McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm. The majority was off to dot-com land.

That doesn't suggest, of course, that each of those decisions wasn't the proper individual decision, or that McKinsey & Company and all the dot-coms aren't great places to work. But it did distress me that there was only one who seemed to be going directly into teaching.

I've shared this story over the last year with a lot of folks, and often they have remarked that what I observed isn't necessarily a bad sign. Perhaps all these bright young college graduates are going off to build start-up companies, make scads of money, and retire at age 30 to an extended second career as prep school teachers. Perhaps this will happen, but I think it's unlikely. While more common today than 25 years ago, career changes from the profit sector to the not-for-profit sector are still relatively rare. And teaching tends to be a profession which takes time and flexibility to perfect. It may not be that easy to become a teacher in midcareer.

Let me ask the members of the class of 2000 to reflect for a moment. Think about those instructors you have had at Exeter who have been truly fine teachers, ones who have touched your intellect in a special way. I suspect that virtually all of them are people who have been teaching and going to school, more or less continuously, all their lives.