Graduation – The Burning Platform

Textual Recollections for the Graduate

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

My oldest graduated from college last weekend so my family and I attended the convocation for the College of Business on Friday and the commencement on Saturday. It was a great few days with us hosting a dinner party for family and friends at a restaurant in the lively college town after the ceremony; and followed by relaxation in and around the hotel pool later in the evening.

With the college courses taken during high school, my graduate finished a semester early with two majors and a minor, Magna Cum Laude (3.89 / 4.00 GPA), and with Honors (i.e. – through the Honors Program); plus, was nominated by the faculty to be a Convocation Student Marshal for the College of Business.

Amidst all of today’s ceaseless millennial bashing and never-ending doom porn, I was reminded this past weekend regarding the relevance of milestones, of personal achievement, and succession, against the larger cincture of generational gyrations; this current Fourth Turning in particular.

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The Biggest Fools on the Planet—–Reflections On A University Graduation Day

Guest Post by Bill Bonner

Gassy Hacks and Big Quacks

Today, we recall the “commencement” at the end of four years at the University of Vermont. The university itself is imposing and a little intimidating. The rest of the world works in warehouses or common office spaces. Academia labors in hallowed “halls” and prestigious “centers.”

vermont The path to the hallowed halls of the University of Vermont

Photo via hercampus.com

People in the Main Street world work for profits… and are subject to market economics. The professoriate is above it all; no profit and loss statements… no profit motives or incentive bonuses… and (for those with “tenure”) no chance of getting fired, no matter how incompetent, irrelevant, or wrong they are. The private sector depends on output and results; academia harbors gassy hacks who may never produce much of anything at all.

The ceremony on Sunday opened with the procession of the university luminati, led by bagpipers of the St. Andrews Society. Ordinary people – even presidents of the United States of America – wear common coats and ties; the academic elite are gussied up with all manner of robes, funny hats, cowls, tassels, honors… and a line of capital letters following their names like baby ducks behind a waddling quack.

“All that brainpower… working on our Justin… it must have done him some good,” parents say to themselves. Then, they have their doubts. Justin seems to think that “diversity” is what really matters, that Bernie Sanders has the right idea, and that eating gluten is a sin.

Privately, they wonder if they haven’t just been the biggest fools on the planet, spending more than $100,000 to put their boy through four years of brainwashing, with no visible improvement in his critical thinking. But this is no time to say anything. It’s too late. So, they take their seats, along with thousands of others. At least, those were the dark thoughts gathering in our mind as we sat in a plastic chair on the green, waiting for the festivities to begin.

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