EDUCATION/CIVIL RIGHTS/WOMEN’S RIGHTS

A Tale of Two Graduation Ceremonies

The contrast between outdated tradition and future innovation

Graduates celebrating by tossing their caps into the air. Photo by Pang Yuhao on Unsplash

What I saw of the Benedictine College ceremony was edited, of course. Still, the message delivered to their graduates was in stark contrast to what my daughter and her class heard at Longwood University this weekend.

I’m sure most of you have seen video excerpts from the speech of Harrison Butker, the NFL player who spoke at the commencement ceremony for Benedictine this year. In summary, he expressed his disgruntlement with world leaders who won’t “stay in their lane,” bemoaned abortion and IVF, and told the women who worked so hard to earn their degrees that their effort was essentially worthless, as their only ambition should be to become someone’s wife and to serve that husband with humility and joy and make babies, as this is more valuable to society than a career.

“For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all…