With the announcement of the Class Day speaker comes the annual bitch-fest surrounding it. Last year, Matthew Fox CC’89 gave the Class Day speech and despite the controversy surrounding the choice and the ridiculous attempts to try to rescind the invitation to him, Fox came out with a great speech.
This year we have Joel Klein, CC’67, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.
Wow, now that was anti-climactic.
President of Class of 2008 Neda Navab wanted “someone who is almost like a rebel.” Although I question Chancellor Klein’s rebelliousness, he is nonetheless a good choice despite his seeming obscurity. The Spectator reports that:
“As the head of the largest public school system in the country, Klein oversees more than 1,400 schools and 1.1 million students.”
Rebellion need not be limited to the streets! Klein really is a bad-ass, causin’ trouble among parents and fellow educators:
“In this role, he has often found himself at the center of controversial moves to improve students’ test scores, some of which have drawn praise from—or for—Mayor Michael Bloomberg and some of which have been criticized by parents and principals who contend there are other ways to measure a student’s or school’s progress.”
And more recently, Klein fired education analyst Toquir Choudhri for excessive web use.
Okay, so even if he isn’t the most thrilling of Class Day speakers, there may be some wisdom into looking at how these speakers are chosen. The catch is that Class Day speakers must be willing to come and talk for free. The trend with speakers is that the higher profile they are, the more valuable their time is. Wouldn’t it be worth having money aside for Class Day speakers? Or is CCSC too busy throwing parties at Havana Central?
My suggestion for next year is Nicole Lapin. She attended the reputable LA County High School for the Arts and majored in ballet and modern dance; she graduated with summa cum laude and as valedictorian from Northwestern; she studied European Union politics at L’Institute d’Etudes Politiques de Paris and also attended Harvard and Columbia.
She now works as an anchor for CNN and spokesperson for Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation. Born in 1984.
Not mention that she’s absolutely stunning.
Yeah, I’m also kinda sad Mandy Moore was not the final pick.
Still optimistic the speech will be quality, however.
Said Meghan Mannion,
On March 27, 2008 at 9:20 pm: