graduation

The Next Great Generation

by Julian Zelizer

The class of 2020 will be remembered for all that it sacrificed.  

Long considered a high honor, the valedictorian tradition faces an uncertain future

by John R. Thelin

Though the tradition goes back to colonial times, the validity of valedictorian honor is increasingly being called into question. 

The Secret Life of Teaching: Regraduating

by Horace Dewey

In which we see a chronicle of history born anew.

Jonathan Zimmerman: This Graduation Season, Let's Remember the Twentieth Century

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of “Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory” (Yale University Press).Aim high. If you fall, pick yourself up. And, most of all, follow your dreams.Welcome, college graduate, to your 2013 commencement exercises. The speeches are all about you! You should find something that makes you passionate; you should pursue it, as far as you can....But education should help us get beyond ourselves, to transcend the narrow particulars of our interests and wishes and ambitions. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing your passions, of course. But the real question is how they’ll affect the people around you.