<p>I thought I’d share this with you all; you may have fun weighing in on it. My D is valedictorian of her HS and they graduated this morning. A couple years ago, a former V embarrassed the school, so now the V has to submit the text of his/her remarks for administrative approval - I can understand that. D got back a rewritten and “suggested” version of her speech that was no longer in her natural voice - that seemed unnecessary; she was the state runner-up in Essay, so her writing ability isn’t an issue. I told her “if it’s just a suggestion, say thanks and ignore the suggestion - make it your own words.” When she showed up this morning, they had a copy of the “suggested” rewrite for her to give. She said, “I can’t give this; I practiced and memorized my own version.” So the administrators looked over her version and found it OK - except for the last line.</p>
<p>D had planned to end her remarks with “Congratulations and best of luck to you all - I love you guys.” She was told she couldn’t say “I love you guys.” “Why?” she asked. “It doesn’t sound appropriate” she was told. “But I’ve gone to school with them all my life” she said, “why can’t I say ‘I love you’?” “It doesn’t sound like something a soon-to-be-Harvard freshman would say,” she was told. “I’m pretty sure the students at Harvard have friends too” she said.</p>
<p>So finally she gave her remarks and ended them “Congratulations and best of luck to you all” followed by a smile and a dramatic pause. Thank God she didn’t humilate the entire school by suggesting that she loves her classmates.</p>
<p>If she felt strongly about it, she could have simply proceeded with her script, with no adverse consequences. Her preferred ending to the speech is so benign that if any administrator attempted any sort of disciplinary response (really what could they do?) they’d be exposed as idiots.</p>
<p>An example of how political correctness has made bureaucrats afraid of their own shadows.</p>
<p>Another thought! This was the administration’s last shot at exerting control over a young person who is rocketing into a future they can only dream about.</p>
<p>gadad, Congrats to your great D. The school’s response sounds absolutely idiotic. They must not usually have Harvard-bound freshmen, or they’d be more apt to know how “they” speak. ;)</p>
<p>Argh… .In her shoes, I would have ended with “I love you guys.” What could they do to her? Withdraw her diploma? Scold her in front of students and parents?</p>
<p>Congrats to D2, and down with idiotic school administrators. She’s done. She’ll be saying “I love you guys” when she graduates from Harvard. Harvard, the site of Love Story…</p>
<p>Surely the local newspapers will be covering the speech and what she said, after editing, sounds much more professional.</p>
<p>She is being taught to play the game. Nothing to come back and haunt her and the school. Imagine how that “I love you, guys!” could be edited into a soundbite when she is running for President.</p>
<p>I think it’s a damn good thing they deleted “I love you” from her speech before she goes out into the real world. I mean, what type of country would this be if people just told people “I love you” whenever they felt like it? Shameful, that’s what. My God – she was going to say this to girls, too? Thank God the administration prevented that.</p>
<p>I completely agree with your D and like dtex50, think these administrators are over the top. She’s a graduating 12th grader and her final line is entirely appropriate. Besides, I’m sure her writing skills are far better than those administrators anyway.</p>
<p>"
D had planned to end her remarks with “Congratulations and best of luck to you all - I love you guys.” She was told she couldn’t say “I love you guys.” “Why?” she asked. “It doesn’t sound appropriate” she was told. “But I’ve gone to school with them all my life” she said, “why can’t I say ‘I love you’?” “It doesn’t sound like something a soon-to-be-Harvard freshman would say,” she was told. “I’m pretty sure the students at Harvard have friends too” she said."</p>
<p>Funny, I’m a Harvard alum, and I think your D’s original ending was perfectly appropriate. I think your D should proceed in ending her speech as she chooses. There’s nothing the administrators could do about it, and the ending would warm lots of hearts.</p>
<p>That’s too bad. I think it would have been fine to say “I love you guys,” if that is what she felt. I don’t get the rationale behind taking it out. Very odd to say “that isn’t what a soon-to-be Harvard freshman would say.” Wouldn’t the “soon-to-be Harvard freshman” know exactly what she would say? I wonder what they think Harvard freshman are supposed to be like, anyway?</p>
<p>I think this is the one the more ridiculous things I’ve heard in a while. Too bad she didn’t say it.</p>
<p>VeryHappy got it right in her tongue-in-cheek post.</p>
<p>Too bad the administration doesn’t have the class and smarts of your D. I’m pretty sure none of the were Harvard frosh.</p>
<p>But this wasn’t the first time nor will it be the last time that your D had and will have more vision, insight and emotional generosity than those “supervising” her and judging her.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your wonderful D and best wishes for what I am sure will be a wonderful future.</p>
<p>God, the stupidity of some school administrators just boggles the mind…:rolleyes: Bet your D is soooooo glad to be done with the petty and controlling elements of high school life. My kids sure were.</p>
<p>I would have suggested that she sign it. The rebel in me would have wanted to organize the entire class to stand and respond in unison “We love us too!”</p>
<p>Oh man, how ridiculous! Your D would have been perfectly justified in saying it.<br>
OT, but you might appreciate this … principal just got in trouble for plagiarizing his speech, from a former student who is now a teacher in the school. </p>
<p>They edited my speech pretty heavily when I graduated from high school… They wouldn’t let me call Hec Ed (where University of Washington basketball plays its games) a “gymnasium”. I asked the principal, “but don’t they have basketball hoops and a court where we’ll be walking?” They wanted me to change it to something pretentious, like “edifice”.</p>
<p>Of course, once you’re on the stage, you can say whatever you want. And I did. Administrators need to learn to pick their battles a little more wisely.</p>
<p>“She should have said what she wanted to say. The power was all hers!”</p>
<p>^ Probably not. We live in a small town, and the same people who are school administrators serve with you on the church council and have their kids in the same Scout troup as yours. People wear many different hats and find themselves alternating between being at cross-purposes on one issue and later needing the other’s support on something else. And then, D had to consider her younger sibling who has yet to go through the same school. In small town settings where people interact with one another over and over again, discretion is sometimes the better part of valor.</p>