The Friday of Memorial Day
weekend was my 19th Graduation exercise at La Salle. As I greeted
parents of the Class of 2018, I noted that their child was not alive when I
started at La Salle. Their reaction was consistent: pause…smile…and express
surprise at how fast life passes by. As I think about the last 19 years, I find
myself reacting in a similar manner. In the last 19 years:
- · Four Presidents have occupied the White House (one survived impeachment)
- · Three Governors have presided in Sacramento (one was recalled by the voters)
- · Four Mayors have attempted to manage Los Angeles
- · Three Popes have occupied the Chair of Saint Peter (one was the first to resign the position in over 500 years)
- · 9/11 happened
- · The Arab Spring unfolded
- · Stanley Kubrick died (it matters to Baby Boomers)
- · The US fought two wars simultaneously
- · Disastrous hurricanes became a fact of life
- · The Great Recession nearly robbed us of the capacity for hope
- · Smartphones became a “thing”
- · Major League Football finally acknowledged the game’s impact on the health of its players (while it paid way too much attention to a semi-inflated football)
I could go on, but you get the
idea – we are so busy with the present moment that we fail to notice how much
has happened when we take the time to look in the rear view mirror. We are too
busy to pay attention to the impact national, regional and local events have on
how we live our lives. All of the events noted earlier have shaped our worldview
and form the basis of what teenagers take for granted. By way of example, for
those of us of a certain age, we take for granted that:
- · we will be successful in our world of work, because our parents shaped that expectation when we were young (and a robust economy made it possible)
- · having lived through three unwinnable wars, we tend to be suspicious of any military action
- · achieving middle class stability is a reasonable expectation
- · respect for the other is less an obligation than a function of our independent world view
None of these assumptions (okay,
perhaps the suspicion of military action) can be attached to the worldview of
the Class of 2018. They are about to enter college – and later – the workforce
with little confidence that they will secure meaningful work. They face a world
in which two household incomes are the minimum requirement for a middle class lifestyle.
And, happily, they approach adulthood in which respect for the other is taken
for granted, rather than an obligation (that’s still a work-in-progress if you
live in the inner city).
I became a Catholic school
educator over 40 years ago because I believe (and still do) that Catholic
schools offer the best opportunity for young people to become good students and
good people. And, yet, the world I entered as a 22-year-old teacher is not the
world I occupy as a 63-year-old administrator. I’m not complaining, mind you. Today,
I am far more enthusiastic about the power of Catholic education to shape the
values and perspectives of young people than I was 40 years ago. In many ways,
I find that the Catholic school world teenagers occupy today is far more
conducive to the transmission of Gospel values than what I encountered in the
1970s. Some of that is a product of the course of events which have shaped how
we understand the world around us and some (perhaps, more?) of it is a function
of how our Church has evolved in its ongoing effort to minister to the changing
needs of the folks in the pews. Without
a doubt, I am convinced that how we deliver Catholic education in the 21st
century is infinitely superior to that which I inherited when I first entered a
classroom on the day after Labor Day in 1977.
And, yet, the Class of 2018 faces
an incredibly uncertain world. Even students with a 4.0 GPA cannot assume that
they will be accepted by the college of their choice. Students in the middle of
the GPA spectrum can, happily, count on attending a four-year college, but they
may not assume that their Baccalaureate will translate into a rewarding job
which aligns with their chosen career path. And students who, for whatever reason, do not
go on to matriculate to a four-year college or university, will, undoubtedly
find themselves on the economic margins of society some twenty years later. As of 2016, a third of US citizens had
achieved a Baccalaureate degree – that is the highest percentage in over 75 years.
From an income perspective, graduates of four year colleges and universities
are expected to earn almost double what a high school graduate will earn and
those possessing a graduate degree will earn nearly 50% more than those with a
Baccalaureate. Happily, a whopping 75% of La Salle’s Class of 2010 (the most
recent year for which statistics are available) are in the workforce with a
Baccalaureate degree in their pocket (the national average is 59%).
But this isn’t about celebrating
the value of a La Salle education relative to college and career success.
Rather, what I want to point out is that it was ever thus. High school and
college graduates have always faced an uncertain future. The twelve events I
experienced over the course of the last 19 years at La Salle can be replaced by
twelve other events from 40 years ago and will be replaced by twelve events
twenty years from now. These trends inform and shape our worldview, but they
don’t determine it. The “A” a student received in an Advanced Placement course
doesn’t translate to an “A” in marriage or parenting or service to the
community. Those “A’s” are scored by how our students respond to the challenges
of daily life, which are shaped by what went before and by what will come next.
Obviously, none of us can predict
what will come next; but we can ensure that the young people entrusted to our
care possess the skills and character traits necessary to respond ethically and
dynamically to the unexpected changes the world will throw at them. My prayer
for the Class of 2018 is that they will achieve an “A” in life.
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