My youngest just graduated from High School last Friday night. During the ceremony I reflected on one of Neal's best points of his speech I had listened to just that morning on the radio.....
the importance of the "INDIVIDUAL": At my middle son's commencement at University of Georgia several years ago, we sat through numerous lengthy pompas speeches and personal introduction of each of the faculty members on the stage. Then at the end, rather than have the graduates come forth and be named to receive their hard earned diplomas, they merely called the name of their seating section designated by type of degree, had that section stand as a group and pronounced them "graduated".
Contrast this to the ceremony at younger son's High School Friday night.... they had the faculty march onto the football field and line the pathway, then the honored graduates walked that pathway as their proud teachers looked on and "saluted" them with their smiles and nods and even tears I am told. They dispensed with he pompass speeches, only having a very short 3 minute comment from a student elected by the Senior class to address them, and a 3 minute comment from the Valdictorian. This then allowed them the time to have EACH graduate walk across the stage, individually as his name was called and family and friends applauded. None of that, "hold your applause till all have been called" rot.... each kid was honored individually.
Neal is, generally speaking, right about the horrible state that our public schools are in, but he is wrong on one account... there still are schools that hold to some standards and there are still some teachers out there who hold to conservative ideals. I have to admitt that Milton High School showed this and and much to Dr. Tesh's credit (the principal), Friday night it was the INDIVIDUAL WHO COUNTED!