Members of the School Board: I have taken a couple of days to reflect on the worst commencement speech ever given. In stark contrast to the brilliant and eloquent valedictory remarks that were flawlessly delivered by one of our graduates, your president rose to offer the most narrow-minded, provincial, anti-intellectual and anti-democratic utterance ever heard on academic ground. Josephine Posti actually told our graduates that they should surround themselves only with sycophants and "walk away" from voices not completely consistent with their own. Really? Is that sound advice to rising university students who are about to embark on the greatest period of intellectual discovery for them since they left their cribs? Actually, and unfortunately, it is an accurate statement of Ms. Posti's own state of mind--and a reflection of the very reason this school board has failed to inspire this community to a common rallying point. Can such nonsense truly reflect the official education policy of the Mt. Lebanon School Board?
President Posti's remarks were written (she even told us herself what great writer she is), and I encourage her to publish the full and exact, unedited, text of her commencement remarks for the whole community to read - and judge - for themselves. Beyond droll (which may only reflect her lack of public speaking ability)--her remarks were banal, uninspired, and even thoughtless. The policy content -- to avoid dissenting voices -- was unworthy of academic tradition and unacceptable coming from an elected official. I doubt she will publish her full remarks on the local blogs (all of them, I suggest) because she is probably ashamed of what she said in the cold light of the "morning after." I trust that each of you is equally embarrassed by such a misguided theme.
I call upon the school board to adopt a resolution separating itself and the policy of this school district from the remarks of President Posti. You are on record, whether you vote or not, as endorsing what she said if you do not condemn it, or of shared responsibility for her parochial polemic by actively approving it. Either way, unless you formally reject the unfortunate commencement "advice" of your president, you reveal yourselves. One thing to be said about President Posti's remarks is that they were entirely consistent with the conduct of the school board during the Act 34 process, which you mocked exactly by following her advice to the graduates, totally ignoring all voices not your own or supportive of your preconceived notions (and we all know how that turned out). It is time for our school district to change course: stand up for respect for differing opinions; stand up for the open-minded exchange of ideas; stand up for the democratic principle; and, stand up for the power of genuine intellectual inquiry in the search for truth (and it is a search because we must always admit the possibility that any of us could be wrong on any issue). Therefore, I call on you to act in the face of the overt threat of anti-intellectualism and anti-democratic tendencies on our elected school board.
Respectfully. Steve Diaz
4 comments:
Posti went completely out of her way to walk away from voices not completely consistent with her own when she wrote a letter to the editor of the Almanac condemning the advice of the district's structural engineer. It will be interesting to see the cuts in academics and staffing in future years resulting from Jo's narrow-minded view of this high school project.
Unfortunately, her behavior has support from interest groups who know how to manipulate school board decisions.Jo is not the only misguided voice on the board.
John Ewing
As a student at the high school, I was completely offended by the speech that Ms. Posti gave at graduation. She basically told us not to follow our dreams, for they may be crushed and we might fail. That is not the type of speech a person should give to high school graduates. Graduation is a celebration of achievement, not a lecture for the future.
Surely, somebody has a recording of the speech. Can we get a copy? I'd like to hear what was actually said.
Cheers,
Tom
I am a current Lebo student and was listening from the bleachers at graduation. My entire section was exchanging shocked looks throughout the speech. It was condescending and bigoted; she basically told students that despite their lofty goals in life, ultimately they should come back and serve Mt. Lebanon. Completely inappropriate.
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