A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

President O'Brien, distinguished guests, faculty, graduates, honorary degree recipients, families, students, and friends of St. Mary's College.

Thank you for inviting me to be with you. I am delighted to visit this beautiful campus. Being here makes me appreciate all the more the obvious intelligence of St. Mary's students. Clearly, you made a smart decision four years ago when you chose to live and study in this glorious setting.

I am especially pleased that St. Mary's has made education the theme of this commencement. At no time in history have the level and quality of education had such a profound impact on one's personal and professional success. I believe that when historians look back on this time, they will mark it as a critical point-the beginning of a new "age of education."

A quality education is the new civil right for the 21st century. Americans recognize this, and we have made education a top priority for ourselves and our nation. Our goal is to build a nation in which every child in every community has the opportunity to go to a first-class school and receive an excellent education.

As the U.S. Secretary of Education, my job is to shape federal education policy so that we support state and local efforts to improve our schools. Our actions affect millions of schoolchildren all across the country, and I believe that improving education is critical to our success as a nation. Today, however, I face a bigger challenge: saying something memorable or meaningful at this commencement address.

Recently, one of my advisors gave a commencement address at Winthrop University in my home state. On the flight to South Carolina, a flight attendant asked him what he was writing. He said, "A graduation speech." She laughed and said that she did not remember a single thing from the speech for her graduation.

He kept working on his speech. Thirty minutes later, she came back with a big smile. He was sure that the flight attendant was smiling because she had remembered some pearl of wisdom that he could use in his speech. Instead, she said that she had checked with the other flight attendants, the pilot and co-pilot, and all the passengers in her section of the plane, and not one person could remember anything from a commencement speech.

So my challenge to you is to remember one little nugget from this 15-minute speech. It will be a rare experience, it will give me a thrill, and it will put that flight attendant in her place.

Your years at St. Mary's have been historic. Think about everything that has changed since you started. The centuries changed. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" became the most popular show on TV. And most important of all, you've passed your final exams.

We have seen another change, though, and I'm not sure that this one is for the better. We live in an era of instant "dot-com millionaires and billionaires." A recent survey of college students found that half of them expect to be millionaires by age 40.

At this point in your lives, it's natural that you should be concerned about finding a good job with a decent salary. Making money is great, especially if you use it to support the work of your family, your community, your church and your alma mater.

But a life devoted exclusively to making money can never be a full life. Rich experiences are available to you that have nothing to do with getting rich. I believe that inside you is a force that propels you to seek a higher purpose. The force I'm referring to is the need to connect with others. Putting it simply: "We do better together." And we need to search for the ties that bind all of us together.

In some ways, it seems as if these ties are weakening, and it is ironic that this is happening at a time when technology has enhanced our ability to communicate. Some of us are avoiding face-to-face communication, making it especially difficult to solve problems. Computer communication is fine, but it can never replace person-to-person dialogue. We need to strengthen connections to one another and our sense of community and family. Speaking of families, I want to acknowledge the parents, grandparents and family members who are here today. None of us can ever do enough to thank our parents for what they have given us. I know that you who are graduating today appreciate your parents now, but let me make a prediction: As you grow older, you will be amazed at how much smarter your parents become. You will learn to appreciate them even more. Let's give the family members a round of applause for their love and support.

Your education has given you the power to help others and to give something back to your community. So my message today is: "We do better together." Use this power to bring people together. Let me describe a few ways you could do this.

You could use your education to be a tutor or mentor. I know that many of you have done so already through the America Reads program. I'm grateful to St. Mary's for being an America Reads partner and to all the America Reads tutors.

For those of you who don't know, this program provides financial support for college students who serve as reading tutors to children. It helps children who are struggling to read. It helps make college more affordable. And it helps people your age discover the joy of helping others.

Or you could use your education to become a teacher. As part of her teacher training, one of your classmates, Amanda Drews, taught German to at-risk second-graders.

By the way, earlier this year I called on our nation's schools to establish more dual language programs, which challenge young people to meet high academic standards in two languages. I think it's a great approach for many students. In an international economy, knowing a second language is more valuable than ever.

In an article Amanda wrote about her experience teaching German, she concluded with the words: "This project reached out to 24 students. Let that be only the beginning." I agree, and I hope that for all of you, your success and service here at St. Mary's is the beginning of a lifetime of learning, growing and serving others.

We have two other educators on the stage today-Katherine Daugherty and James Forrest -who are receiving honorary degrees. They have shaped the lives of hundreds, even thousands, of young people. I think they would agree that teaching is a profession that offers tremendous rewards. One of my goals as secretary of education is to elevate the teaching profession by supporting efforts to give teachers appropriate pay and respect.

You could also take inspiration from Pete Rawlings, a Maryland delegate, and Nancy Grasmick, Maryland's superintendent of education. These fine public servants are working to improve education and opportunity for every child in Maryland.

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to recognize another public servant, Congressman Steny Hoyer. He has been a great supporter of education and a leader in efforts to improve schools in Maryland and across the nation.

His late wife, Judy, also worked very hard to help children in Maryland live better lives. Today, at Judy Centers across the state, children and families receive a full range of services at one location-everything from early childhood education to job training. Through this tremendous legacy, Judy Hoyer continues to make a difference for Maryland's families.

I'd like to close with a final thought that I think is especially appropriate for graduates of a nationally recognized honors college. An old saying advises us, "neglect not the gift that is in thee." You have shown that you possess great gifts.

You have a promising future ahead of you. You owe it to yourselves and your country to make the most of your gifts. Now, if you remember one thing from my speech, please remember that "We do better together." Your education has given you the power to bring people together. Now it's up to you.

Thank you very much.