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ERIC Number: ED031245
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1969-Jun-17
Pages: 12
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Graduate in the Midst of a Revolution.
Lombardi, John
This address points out that the graduates have reached a stage in their lives less for rejoicing than for close examination of themselves and of education as an institution. The students themselves have exposed certain shortcomings of higher education, and taxpayers have become reluctant to support it. Activists of all races have not yet announced limits to their militancy; nor have authorities set limits to their reaction. For some time, the confrontation produced an escalating compromise of demand and concession, but lately, as the demands become harsher, authorities become less patient, and the public condemns both. Matters on which students question society at large include the imposition of prolonged adolescence, the widening gulf between the educated and the uneducated, repression (contrary to all civil rights laws) of the Black community, the presence of ghettos and barrios, the acceptance of war as a political tool, and a nationwide atmosphere of hypocrisy and immorality. Most important is the Black revolution, with its new sense of pride and expectation of social and economic fulfillment. The speaker reminds the graduates that, since it is they who have fomented these revolutionary activities, it is they who must suppress, accommodate, or surrender to them. Such criticisms acknowledge the importance of education and the probability that improvement will follow from a belief in legal equality, civil rights, open-door colleges, and the efficacy of an aroused social conscience. (HH)
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Commencement address, Los Angeles Valley College, June 17, 1969.