On Sunday, May 21st, political commentator and presidential advisor, David Gergen gave the commencement address at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
In his speech Gergen stressed, "This country - all of us here - need you to leave here and step up to become leaders in a generation that will save America. You have earned a right to make a great living; now you must make a great life."
FULL TEXT BELOW:
President Larson, Trustees, Faculty, Staff, Families, Friends, and best of all, Members of the 2011 Graduating Class from Bentley University!
What a privilege to join you on this occasion as we celebrate these graduates - 1005 strong. Those of you in cap and gown should be very proud:
Through hard work and talent, you earned a right to come here to one of the nation's finest business universities, increasingly recognized the world over.
Through hard work and talent, you have now earned a Bentley degree that will serve as a calling card for decades to come - a sturdy foundation upon which you can build a career, a family, a life.
Through hard work, talent - and perhaps a little luck - you have also found what many others in your generation are still seeking: jobs. Within six months, nearly every single graduate will be working or heading to graduate school.
Warmest congratulations to one and all!
You are surrounded here today by family members who have lovingly supported you through these years - and are more relieved than you know to see you graduate. In appreciation for their support, may I ask all of the graduates to rise, turn and give your families a Bentley cheer!
I won't detain you long today. We have research from the department of psychology at Harvard that if a college commencement speaker drones on for more than 15 minutes, only about a quarter of students continue to pay attention; another quarter drift off the sleep; and the other half - these being undergraduates - engage in sexual fantasies. So, let's keep it short.
My message to you today is simply this: this country - all of us here - need you to leave here and step up to become leaders in a generation that will save America. You have earned a right to make a great living; now you must make a great life.
Exactly a half century ago this month - May 25, 1961 - another son of Massachusetts - John F. Kennedy - issued a call to greatness for his generation. Americans, he declared, would become the first people in the history of the world who would put a man on the moon. And they would do it within 10 years. It would be "a great new American enterprise".
Experts scoffed - they said it couldn't be done, that we didn't have the science and technology, and it would take decades. Well, we not only succeeded but we did it in eight years. The world was astonished.
That mission to the moon represented the true spirit of America - we are by nature a restless people, dreamers who believe that we can climb any mountain, reach any frontier.
I hardly need remind you how many giants arose here in Massachusetts - from John Winthrop to John and Abigail Adams; from Thoreau and Emerson to Alcott and Longfellow; from abolitionists to inventors, scientists, and business leaders. Because of their efforts, Boston today is a vibrant world center for high tech, finance, biotechnology and many other industries - industries that many of you will one day lead.
As graduates this morning from Bentley, you are the rightful heirs of the spirit of America and the traditions of Massachusetts.
But as you leave this university, you know as well as I do that growing numbers worry that the American spirit is dying, that our dreams are fading, and we are drifting into decline.
With reason, people worry whether our political leaders still have the courage and wisdom to pull us out of our slide into a debt crisis. Today the federal government must borrow 40 cents out of every dollar it spends; foreigners now own nearly half of our public debt and China has become our biggest single creditor.
With reason, people worry whether we can create enough middle class, well-paid jobs in the future. In the 1990s, we created more than 20 million new jobs in the 1990s; in the past decade, we have created less than one tenth as many.
The story of men and jobs is jarring: among men 25-54 today, one in five is looking for a job; when the recovery takes hold, says economist Larry Summers, we will still have one in six men looking for work. Now consider this: forty years ago, only one in 20 males of that age were looking for work. Something has gone badly amiss.
With reason, people worry whether we can close the growing gap between the rich versus everyone else. Even as multi-million bonuses are returning to Wall Street, we live in a nation where 40 percent of babies born today are eligible for Medicaid, the program for the poor.
With reason, people worry whether we are educating our kids for the future. A third of our children fail to finish high school, a third finish but are not ready for college or a 21st century job; you are among the top third who have made it through college, but think how many friends of yours from high school are already adrift.
For the first six decades of the 20th century, Americans were the most educated people in the world, but today, we rank anywhere from 10th to 15th to 25th among nations in international education scores. As citizens of this commonwealth, we are rightly proud that Massachusetts has the best school scores in America. But think of this: if Massachusetts were a country, we would rank only 7th or 8th in the world - and we're the best in the U.S. By contrast, if Shanghai were a country, it would be number one in the world - and blowing everyone else away.
When you were born, America was supreme. Scholars said that not since the days of ancient Rome had any people been as powerful in economic strength, military strength, political strength and cultural influence. By the time many of you reach 30, the International Monetary Fund says that China may pass us by as the number one economic power.
Nations do not become great because they are lucky; they become great because their citizens work hard, pull together, and care about their children. And when they go astray, they can go down fast. Consider the fall of Britain. When Queen Victoria celebrated her golden jubilee in 1898, every person who lived within the British Empire was given the day off in her honor. No less than one out of every 4 people on the face of the earth took the day off - that's how big and sprawling its reach was. But Britain went astray - it allowed its schools to deteriorate, it drifted into marginal wars, and it sank deeply into debt. Sound familiar? It should because that also describes America, too. And guess what: a half century later, Britain had become a second class power - poof, it vanished from greatness.
Some think we don't really have to worry. After all, as Bismarck once said, God looks after fools, drunkards and the United States of America. But that was back in the 19th century. I am not sure China, India, and Brazil pay much attention to Bismarck these days. They are gaining on us, and gaining fast.
I would like to think that my own generation can rise to this challenge, that we can rebuild America, but I am not as hopeful as I once was. We know what great leadership looks like: we are the sons and daughters of the World War II generation, the one Tom Brokaw called the greatest generation. But somehow we have never lived up to the standards we inherited: many of us were spoiled as kids, we splintered apart during the 1960s and 1970s - a few served in Vietnam, many others protested and ducked; we are now deeply polarized in our politics. I keep hoping that we will grow up as a generation and turn things around. But I am not holding my breath.
What is clear, however, is your generation represents rising hope for America. I believe you are different: that you care about changing we way we live, that you think this polarization is stupid, that you want to pull together, that you are determined to turn over a new America to your own children. Not all of you, but enough of you to count.
I see your generation bringing a renaissance in the American spirit.
Your generation showed what you are made of just a couple of weeks ago when helicopters full of young men, not much older than you, flew as Navy Seals into the heart of darkness. There, deep into Pakistan, they masterfully found and dispatched the world's leading terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. It was an extremely dangerous mission, but they showed the courage and grit of a new generation of Americans.
Across America, college students poured into the streets, joyful, proud, chanting "USA! USA!" Some were offended by the demonstrations, arguing that we should not be proud of taking another life. But the critics got it wrong: these students - many of whom, like you, were in 7th grade on 9/11 -- were cheering because America had once again shown it had the resolve and the know-how to accomplish another great enterprise.
Across the country, many other young people are showing that same determination and devotion to country as they volunteer in droves to serve as teachers, mentors, and helpmates to young children. This spring, Teach for America is selecting some 4600 graduating seniors to start working in public schools this fall. What a hard selection it is because
Teach for America has received applications from no less than 47,000 outstanding seniors from universities everywhere, including Bentley.
Indeed, I see a renaissance of the American spirit right here at Bentley among those of you graduating today. Your president, Gloria Larson, is immensely proud of you - as are your faculty - for the promise that you hold.
You should hold your head high as you enter business - because you will be the producers of this society, people who create new jobs as well as goods and services. We live in a day when an estimated half of our population receives more from government than they pay in. It is morally right to support those in need, but it's time we also honor those who create the jobs and the wealth that makes compassion possible. As Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas told us, it doesn't make sense for anyone to love employees and hate employers.
Gloria Larson points out that because of your education at Bentley - the way you integrate the liberal arts with business classes, ethics with accounting and finance -- you are also a generation setting out to redefine the role of business in society. You understand that business does share in the responsibility for the devastation wrecked upon millions of families by our recent financial crisis. There was too much greed, too much recklessness.
Yours is the generation that must bring fresh leadership to business -leadership that is socially responsible and accountable. Many of you have shown a social commitment here at Bentley. No less than 1350 Bentley students were working this past year in almost 100 community service projects right here in Waltham and in other sites. Bentley is the first university in the country to partner with City Year, a marvelous national service organization started here in Boston. I am also very impressed and pleased that Bentley is launching a Center for Women and Business and that President Larson has had the wisdom to recruit a dear friend and former colleague, Betsy Myers, to become the founding director. Betsy is a ball of fire who will prepare thousands of Bentley women to play leading roles in years to come - as they should!
So there is much to celebrate here at Bentley this morning. Right here in the heart of Massachusetts, you are helping to revive the American spirit.
A little over a century ago, another son of Massachusetts, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. reflected on his own generation. Holmes had volunteered for the Civil War, and was wounded three times; he went on to become Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court and then a famous member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Looking back, Holmes said of his generation: "Through our great good fortune, in our youth, our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing."
Members of the Graduating Class of 2011: You are entering a world that is deeply troubled, a world that worries whether America still has the right stuff, whether we could embark on an impossible dream like going to the moon. But your generation, I believe, is one in which hearts are again touched with fire. All of us here today wish you well and hope, fervently, that you will become the country's next great generation.
Good luck and God speed!