美高中“你並不特別”畢業致辭引熱議

Social media was buzzing about a Boston-area high school teacher's blunt commencement speech that told students they "are not special."

Wellesley High English teacher David McCullough Jr. told graduates "You are not special. You are not exceptional," quoting empirical evidence:

"Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That's 37,000 valedictorians ... 37,000 class presidents ... 92,000 harmonizing altos ... 340,000 swaggering jocks ... 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs," he said in the speech published in the Boston Herald.

He added: "Even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you."

McCullough makes a statement on parents who overdo it in a modern society focused on collecting achievements. "You've been pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble wrapped ... feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie." But he adds in a video on Wellesley Channel TV YouTube page, "You see, if everyone is special, then no one is. If everyone gets a trophy, trophies become meaningless. ... We have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement."

McCullough's address does push students to recognize real achievement: "The fulfilling life, the distinctive life, the relevant life is an achievement," and he encourages graduates "to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance."

Many expressed their approval of the message on Twitter:

This is awesome. I don't remember my HS commencement speech. I think I would remember this one. — S.L. Gray

Fantastic speech which sums up the neglected duty of so many Americans in 1 phrase: "Be worthy of your advantages." — Benjamin Yee

The greatest commencement speech ever. — Neil Raden

My new hero. Tells grads "You're not that Special ... when everyone gets a trophy, the trophy doesn't mean anything." — Jason Dobrolecki

The Boston Herald also reported that McCullough's words were very well received by attendees. The teacher, a father of four, admitted he's guilty of the actions he pokes fun at in his speech.

But near the end of the address he says, "The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you're not special. Because everyone is."社交網站上正在熱議美國波斯頓一所高中的畢業致辭，致辭的老師很直白地告訴學生說他們“並不特別”。

韋爾斯利高中的英語老師小戴維•麥卡洛告訴畢業生說：“你們並不特別。你們並不非凡。”他還引用實例爲證：

“現在全美3.7萬所高中至少有320萬高年級生畢業。其中有3.7萬名致告別辭的學生代表……3.7萬名級長……9.2萬名合唱團的男高音和女低音……34萬大步走路的學生運動員……還有218萬5967雙羊皮靴。”這一演講發表在《波士頓先驅報》上。

他還說：“就算你是百萬裏挑一的人才，但是地球上有68億人，這意味着有近7000人和你一樣優秀。”

現代社會中父母們都注重收集孩子的成就，對於那些做得過了頭的父母們，麥卡洛還說道：“你們（畢業生）一直被嬌慣着、縱容着、溺愛着、呵護着、受到層層保護，總是有人款待、奉承你們，叫你們甜心寶貝。”但是，他在YouTube上韋爾斯利電視臺的一段視頻中還說：“想一下，如果每個人都是特別的，那麼就誰也不特別了。如果每個人都得到獎盃，獎盃將變得毫無意義……近來我們美國人越來越喜歡讚美而不是真正的成就，這對我們是不利的。”

麥卡洛的致辭確實促使學生們意識到什麼是真正的成就：“充實的、與衆不同、有意義的人生是一項成就”，他還鼓勵畢業生們“去做任何你想做的事，不爲別的，就因爲你熱愛而且相信它很重要。”

許多人在微博Twitter上表達了對這一致辭的認同。

S•L•格雷：“這太震撼了。我已記不起我高中時的畢業致辭，但我想我會記住這一個畢業致辭。”

本傑明•葉：“這一精彩的演講用一個短句就概括了這麼多美國人忽略的責任：‘不要辜負你享有的優越條件。”

尼爾•雷登：“這是有史以來最偉大的畢業致辭。”

傑森•多布羅雷基：“他是我心目中的新英雄。他告訴畢業生們‘你們沒那麼特別……如果每個人都得到獎盃，那麼獎盃就沒有任何意義’。”

《波士頓先驅報》還報道說，麥卡洛的致辭非常受在場者的歡迎。這位有四個孩子的男教師承認說，他對自己在演講中開玩笑的行爲感到愧疚。

不過在致辭快結束的時候，他說：“人生中最美妙的樂趣，在於意識到你並不特別。因爲每個人都是特別的。”