Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Advice for the Class of 2008

Let the commencement addresses begin! Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough and political satirist P.J. O'Rourke offer two very different takes on life beyond school. From McCullough's speech at Boston College:

"With dismay, McCullough cited a survey finding that one-third of college-educated Americans had not read a single novel in the past year, and he called on graduates to "read, read, read!"

"Read the classics of American literature that you've never opened. Read your country's history. . . . Read about the great turning points in the history of science and medicine and ideas."

He also pleaded with graduates to rid the vernacular of a "verbal virus": the rampant use of "like," "you know," "awesome," and "actually."

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