What stays and what goes

[illusionofjoy]

A Tennessee valedictorian recently had his diploma withheld because of a couple statements he made during his graduation speech. The statements?

• "You have given us the minimum required attention and education that is needed to master any station at any McDonald's anywhere."
• "Although weightlifting wasn't much of a mind-stimulator. But thanks for getting us out of a real class for (four) years, coach (Jason) Scharsch. All of us really do appreciate it."

The student claims that these lines were meant to be humourous and, taken in context, that's what they appear to be. Of course, the problem is that they both violate the unwritten high school propaganda law. You know, the one where any utterance other than "our school rules" only comes from the lips of malcontent freaks who will never amount to anything because they spend too much time reading Sartre and think that a sports team is a less refined version of a cult.

Then there is the other issue of the lines being true. High school is a great way to prepare oneself for the real world...if one's aspirations are no higher than minimum wage. You can bet that weightlifting class will come quite in handy when one has to hand out all of those heavy Big Macs and shakes for eight hours every day.