“You are not special. You are not exceptional,” said Wesselley high school teacher David McCullough during a commencement speech to the high school’s senior class.

It was a message not even I was prepared to hear this past summer, and I’m sure, the speech was met with confused faces – how could this man tell these kids on the day they crossed the finish line of the most useless four years of their life that they are not special? After I watched the over 12 minute speech and let it marinate, I understood and hope he speaks at my commencement for college.

Throughout my entire primary education, my fellow classmates and I have been coddled to a degree unimaginable. Behavior and unwarranted egos have been given a pass because “we’re young” and don’t have to know any better, yet. Adults have unknowingly bred a generation of an entitled youth not willing to work for anything, not because we know we don’t know we have to but because we don’t want to.

We have been convinced through years of pats on the back and stars on our homework that we are the horcrux of the earth. How dare anyone expect anything more than the air that we breathe and the little bit of effort we decide to give. Our generation is convinced we are special because we are continuously being applauded for mediocrity as to protect our self-esteem. As a result, our sensitive, vulnerable hearts are smacked hard by the reality these adults live every day and we do not know how to deal. The reality of work, bills, real relationships and responsibilities that have been blockaded from our lives because “we’re young.” While this speech was directed to high school students, a breed of students who have reached their near-peak in arrogance, this is a message that can be applied to the college elite as well.

There is a profound amount of arrogance amongst college students because the media has convinced us through statistics that we are a hot commodity to our suffering, ill-educated society.  According to The National Center of Educational Statistics, as of 2009, 70 percent of high school graduates went on to a four year college or university. Whether these high school students are prepared for a leap as large as college is a topic all of its own, but a lot of emphasis has been put on going to college and not succeeding in it. This is exactly what McCullough wanted to convince these high school students, that too much attention is being paid to accolade for the deed rather than just doing what you are supposed to do without the expectation of praise. Why do we need to feel validated by this praise? Is it because without it, we do not feel the significance of what we have done, or because we need to feel special from all the rest for our average acts of life? McCullough agrees that it is all of the above.

“…We have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement. We have come to see them as the point – and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.”

The focus is put on what the good deed is doing for us, rather than what the deed is doing for others. Our generation is more concerned with the trophy rather than the lesson, and I’m sure we would be more comfortable with losing at anything life if it meant we got a certificate to frame in the end; we do everything we do for the glory. But what McCullough suggests that I think we should all take away from his filterless message is this: “Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you. Go to Paris to be in Paris, not to cross it off your list and congratulate yourself for being worldly.” I think it is important for all college students to understand that in order for us to gain any life lessons we must appreciate our achievements with a great level of humility, not for self-indulgence.

We should walk across that stage during our commencements not to indulge in the praise of graduating but for what this moment represents as a rite of passage to adulthood. Getting caught up in the glory of our acts distracts us from why we should be engaging in them to begin with. Do not do anything just so you can walk away from it with bragging rights, approach all achievements and successes in life for how they benefit who you are not what you represent.