Purdue News
Purdue News
December 21, 1997
Purdue President Steven C. Beering used Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s novel, Timequake , to illustrate how people appreciate uncertainly in their lives. "Part of the author's premise is that a quirk of destiny causes the last 10 years of the 20th century to be repeated. Everyone is forced to re-live the entire decade exactly as it happened -- fully aware of its redundancy, but unable to change anything.
"It does not take very much reflection to come to the conclusion that the uncertainty we live with every day is indeed one of our great gifts," Beering said. "We can make rational assessments about what result a simple action might produce, but as soon as we move into fairly complicated issues, life gets unpredictable, and we strain the limits of intellect and creativity. That is why subjects like science and art and love are so interesting.
"You men and women who will receive your diplomas here today have pursued college degrees in part because of a desire to gain some control over your own destinies. By learning something about the world about you, by preparing for a career that you expect to be financially and emotionally rewarding, you hope to achieve security and a certain quality of life, and I do hope that is exactly what lies in store for each of you.
"But the other side of your achievement is that you actually have made your future more difficult to predict by expanding your possibilities. In Europe of even 50 years ago, it was expected that if your father was a craftsman, you became a craftsman. And the women all became housewives and mothers. It was very straightforward. Thanks to the human miracle of education and particular higher education, you have a greater capacity to learn, horizons that are broader and deeper than they were just a few years ago. You are able to dare to try more things.
"In fact, other people will expect a great deal of you. They will say, 'She went to Purdue. She must be good.' So instead of being in full control of things, you may find yourself out on that edge of your own ability, worrying whether you can live up to those expectations.
"And isn't that a wonderful thing? You may have prepared yourself at Purdue to be a teacher or a pharmacist or a specialist in some other field and you may be utterly confident in your abilities. But life brings surprises and unexpected challenges. The amazing thing about a great education is that it prepares you for the unexpected, for things that neither you nor your professors nor your parents nor your friends ever dreamed of.
"The learning processes and the discipline required to get through a Purdue-tough curriculum will stay with you. You should by now also have acquired a sincere respect for the innate worth of education and an understanding of the need for lifelong learning.
"Those insights and habits will be your tools and your allies, and they will make living in an unpredictable world not only worthwhile and successful but also exciting and fun."
About 2,750 students were eligible to receive degrees during two commencement ceremonies today in Elliott Hall of Music. Among them were about 20 graduate students in the International Management Center Executive Masters program who earned joint degrees from Purdue's Krannert Graduate School of Management and the Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Rouen (ESC Rouen) in France.
Source: Steven C. Beering, (765) 494-9708
Writer: J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail, mike_willis@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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