Valedictorian's Commencement Speech Censored - What Exactly Did She Say?

". . . we get to wear gowns that kind of remind me of a silk version of a Snuggie, and these hats that make every single one of us look absolutely ridiculous. Hate to break it to you, but no one looks good in these hats."

~~~~Only a girl would make fashion comments in her speech. I would have told her to do it again too.

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PLEASE get over this - you will have a chance to VOTE again in a couple of years. Comments such as yours are borings, offer no insight and are usually off-topic.

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...she has more common sense than the "Yuppie" generation had at that age... Fantastic....Will Rogers would of been proud....

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Kathleen: RE: Eagle - Springstead's mascot is the eagle. She was, of course, addressing her peers who wouldn't have thought it was cryptic at all.

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I am sick hearing how teachers are underpaid!! teachers in Pa START AT 35,000 PER YEAR!!AND THEY ONLY WORK 180 DAYS A YEAR!!!!!THE AVERAGE SALARY IS $52,000.THEY HAVE ALL HOLIDAYS OFF,EVERY WEEKEND,AND ARE HOME WHEN THEIR KIDS ARE!!! THEY WORK IN A YEAR EQUIVALENT TO 15 DAYS A MONTH!!!THEY DONT PAY ANY PART OF HEALTH INSURANCE ,LIKE YOU OR I DO,THEIR PENSIONS ARE GARANTEED,THEY EVEN GET INCREASES OF 7-15 PERCENT ADDED EVERY YEAR . I DONT THINK THEY ARE UNDERPAID AT ALL!!!!

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i think she should read it n e ways... there is no such thing as being too real all she was doin was tellin it like it was... if i was her give em a " speach" and say what i want to say... who is she gonna offend?! some over bearing parent tht realy does bathe their kid in saintizer? realy now? wht ever happened to fredom of speach she worked her ass off to get where she is, if they wanted a dull speach then the should have gotten some 1/2 assed grad. to write it

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OK..if one wants to be "real," one must remember that whatever this student wrote was a result of the education which had been received. Thinking about that, it's rather profound. It took all those years and a speach for someone to say, "Oh, there's something wrong."

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HEY Teachers! Leave them kids ALONE!!!

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Apparently, this one of those situations where "The truth hurts"

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I think she should have been able to pretty much write and give her own speech as she was the class rep for the entire class. However, I cannot believe she was in fact the top student and going to harvard. I think she is a good example on how are schools are failing society. A fifth grader could have writen this thing or better. Sounds like she was the victim of pass at all costs.

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I thought the first speech was good. A little humor to lighten up a celebration that has "traditionally" been a bore. Our val. went to Yale, and she was funny and somewhat crude. What we have to remember is that she was smart enough to "dumb down" her speech and make it were she could attract the entire audience.

Our world of trying not to offend everyone is getting to the point of irrational politeness. I'm offended that your trying not to offend me. Someone, somewhere, is going to be offended no matter what. She should be offended that they turned down her speech, we all should be offended that we are not allowed to make our own decision about "if we're offended".

I guess school admins. who probably couldn't get into an Ivy any time in their lives, get offended by students with twice the intelligence of themselves get to have real lives. Well if you can't do, teach. Did I offend anyone? Good.

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You people need to lighten up. It's a Valedictorian speech that's meant for COMIC RELIEF after the grueling 13 years we spend in school. So what if it's funny? So what if it mentions World of Warcraft? (Don't knock it til you try it)

For all us liberal-minded people out there, I found absolutely nothing about her speech "appalling". It's the fact that senior class sponsor and principal are too closed-minded and too old-school to let the girl have a little fun at the end of her high school career.

WAKE UP, PEOPLE!!!! The world is changing! The age of technology is taking over pretty much everything and with Barrack Obama as president, this nation's going to undergo a lot of changes, some good, some bad. YOU NEED TO READOPT YOUR POLICIES IF YOU'RE GOING TO SURVIVE THE NEXT DECADE IN THE U.S. That's just the fact of the matter.

I'm not telling you to change your opinion; I'm just telling you that if you don't become a little more liberal and a little more open-minded, you are simply going to drown in the next few years.

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After I read this article, I was about to move on to other news when I read some of the comments and felt obligated to offer my two cents. When my friends and I graduated from high school we were “kings”. We could drive, we could drink, and we could stay out as long as our parents would allow. We had jobs and obtained, somehow, everything we desired. We were omniscient and were sure we could take on any obstacle life had for us. It was going to be a breeze.

Then we went to college, or should I say, those of us whose family could afford it, went to college (a startling realization for some of us). Lo and behold, we found ourselves at the bottom. We discovered we knew almost nothing and were surprised and sometimes dismayed at how much more there was to learn. Even then at times when the light bulb flickered dimly, we awoke to the fact that the learning process never ends. Even more unbelievably, we were in charge of our own time and watched sadly as some of us couldn’t handle that responsibility.

We were astounded that “homework” and studying now took 3 to 6 hours daily seven days a week. We laid in bed awake worried about tomorrow’s test, “did I study enough and do I know enough?” Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t.

Other thoughts came to mind during those agonizing sleepless nights, “Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?” at which point the agony would turn to terror.

Then graduation and again fear raised its ugly head. The job market, the recruiters, and not the least of concerns, mom and dad. At this point I found myself directionless and was not in charge of my own destiny. “Why did I choose this stupid field?” reverberated in my mind constantly. I watched distantly as peers got jobs and lost them. I listened to friends complain about their boss’s or having to work weekends. I had the displeasure of my business being bought out and watched the necessity of consolidation.

We found credit and the ugliness of the fine print. We learned of the high cost of medical care. Unhappily we experienced “property tax”, “wheel tax”, “county tax”, “state and federal tax”, “sales tax”, “fuel tax”, “tobacco tax”, “alcohol tax” and the most unbelievable of them all …. “occupational privilege tax”. Occupational Privilege Tax, a tax for the privilege of working, we all wondered what kind of deranged mind could conceive of something like that.

Then the marriage and mortgage or in some cases the mortgage and marriage. One has never experienced the true joy of indebtedness until they have an honest to God real mortgage and giving up their soul for 30 years. And then the dreaded fine print again, “I paid $180,000 for my house, what’s this $620,000 figure?” They can’t do that, can they?

Now let’s briefly think about a national unemployment rate in excess of 9%. Foreclosures and Credit Card defaults at all time highs. Gasoline surpassing $3 a gallon again and on its way up. And just in the back of my mind, North Korea with the nuclear bomb and ballistic missiles.

Well, back to the story at hand, could the valedictorian have been too real in her address to her peers and audience? I think not, more likely not real enough.

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damoki your an a-hole. seems to me we have the right of freedom of speech. Seems people don't like the truth or humor.

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Idiotic comment

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Where to begin? The incompetence of the public school administrators? That's universally true, but not the greatest sadness exhibited here......Our public schools are their own countries, with solid walls erected around them. Ever have a problem with a school? Ever go to a meeting to "discuss" your child? The decisions have already been made. Your input is meaningless. This will not change, anytime soon. We need a complete rebuilding of the "system", for our children to receive a decent education. This young lady's talk was fun. Let's bring that back to education.........

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What happen to honesty is the best policy? You're told for 18 years to be honest and when you get to graduation, you are told to lie. Sounds like hipocracy strikes again.

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poor girl had a great speech, too bad she didn't get to read it. As far as the article goes, we can do without the leftist commentary. The person who got killed for doing his job was a job of killing babies (he should be real proud) and do we REALLY need to tell stories to little kids about same sex animals? It is indoctrination, pure and simple, and my 5 year old doesn't need to hear it at school.

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