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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Pomp and Circumstance Quiz � The Quick and the Ed

Pomp and Circumstance Quiz � The Quick and the Ed

Pomp and Circumstance Quiz

Below are quotes from 2010 graduation speakers. Match the quotation with one of these five speakers: A. Bill Clinton, B. Arne Duncan, C. John Grisham, D. Rachel Maddow, E. Meryl Streep
1. I am or I was an expert in kissing on stage and on screen. How did I prepare for this? Well most of my preparation took place in my suburban high school or rather behind my suburban high school in New Jersey. One is obliged to do great deal of kissing in my line of work. Air kissing, ass-kissing, kissing up and of course actual kissing.
2. Of course, the future is yours. Who else would want it? Take it. You can have it. We’ve had our chance and made a royal mess of things. I’m sure you can do better. I expect you will.
3. Everybody always says around occasions like this, “Life is short.” It might be. If it is for you, I’m sorry a

The Real Value of College

With Jacques Steinberg’s piece in last Sunday’s Times (Plan B: Skip College), the “Is college really worth it?” meme seems to be in full flower, in part because it’s an interesting issue and in part because the media suffers from a fatal weakness for novelty and counterintuition. But most of these discussions suffer from confusion about what question they’re actually trying to answer. In roughly ascending order of importance, here’s how various people are framing the issue:
Is college for everyone? This is a dumb question. Of course college isn’t for everyone. Just last week, thePost profiled 17-year old high school senior Bryce Harper, who definitely shouldn’t go to college. Instead, he should (and will) become a professional baseball player and earn millions of dollars. The number of good career paths that don’t require a college degree is small and shrinking but not non-existent. Some people start families, others aren’t smart or hard-working enough enough to complete college-level work. Defining the question in


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