Tech Tuesday: APP + A Media Monday Extension

You have probably already heard the high school graduation speech by David McCullough (son of famed author). But, just in case, I am extending Media Monday and adding it here. Of course, all of our children are special to us. But, I agree with Mr. McCullough, that we do them an injustice if we don't teach them that they are competing with a world of graduates with all kinds of talents. We don't help our children if they think that life is easy, and we are always making them win. They will be competing with the best of the best and must know to succeed in this world. It is time to put all the "honorary" awards aside. I am not saying that we can't help children find their way, but we are not fooling them by making it easy for them.  Anyway, if you did not hear the speech you can listen below or just read the highlights.

NOTE: None of the above applies to grandparents or great-grandparents. That is a totally different scenario. (Unless you are the one raising them, I guess)

'You are not special,' English teacher tells graduating Massachusetts students By Sevil Omer, msnbc.com June 11, 2012, 3:55 pm

MSNBC.msn.com

One English teacher had a message for this year's graduates of Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Mass.: They aren’t special.

In addition to exhorting the Class of 2012 to pursue distinctive lives, Wellesley High School English teacher David McCullough delivered some sobering words: “None of you is special. You are not special. You are not exceptional.”

The educator called the graduating students “pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, bubble wrapped... nudged, cajoled ... feted and fawned over and called sweetie pie.” 

“Contrary to what your U9 soccer trophy suggests, your glowing seventh grade report card, despite every assurance of a certain corpulent purple dinosaur, that nice Mister Rogers and your batty Aunt Sylvia, no matter how often your maternal caped crusader has swooped in to save you … you’re nothing special,” he said in his speech, published in the Boston Herald.

McCullough rattled off statistics, saying numbers were stacking up against the graduating class. He said half of the class would be divorced and life wasn’t going to revolve around their every whim.

"Across the country no fewer than 3.2 million seniors are graduating about now from more than 37,000 high schools. That's 37,000 valedictorians ... 37,000 class presidents ... 92,000 harmonizing altos ... 340,000 swaggering jocks ... 2,185,967 pairs of Uggs," McCullough said in his speech.

He added: "Even if you're one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you."

Near the end of his speech, he urged the graduates to use that revelation as a springboard to a fulfiling life: 

"The sweetest joys of life, then, come only with the recognition that you're not special. Because everyone is."

Now for Tech Tuesday. Let's say you are driving down the street in any town in the USA, and you spot a house that you like. It may or may not be for sale, but you are interested in knowing more about it. There is an app called HomeSnap. All you do is snap a photo of a home, and you will receive information on its estimated worth, size, schools, etc. If the home is For Sale, you will receive the real estate listing, photographs, and comparable homes and sales in the area.

The app, of course, works on your smart phone's GPS. It is free and fulfills the Gladys Kravitz in some of us.