Worthy of Honor
Dr. Earl Ernest Guile
(Speech delivered on May 20, 1997 at the National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremony at the
Saudi Arabian International School American Section- Riyadh)
Copyright © 1997 Dr. Earl Ernest Guile
Reproduction or republication strictly prohibited without prior written permission
Supt. Davis, Mr. Liebzeit, distinguished teachers and administrators, honored students and parents, ladies and gentlemen.
It is indeed a pleasure to address you this evening for one of SAIS-R’s most solemn occasions, and the night students receive the highest honor the school can bestow for achievement and promise: induction into the National Junior Honor Society.
When I think about the great grades you earned to get here tonight, I am reminded of the story of the little boy bringing his report card home to his parents. The father began reading the school- grades report which had just been handed to him by his hopeful son. The father started getting visibly upset as he read: “English, poor; French, weak; Mathematics, fair; Science, very poor.” He suddenly looked up with a glance of disgust and exasperation at the shaking, anxious youngster.
“Well, Dad,” said the son, “It is not as good as it might be, but have you seen that?” “What,” his father asked? The little boy excitedly pointed to the next line, which read, “Health, excellent.”
You are being honored tonight for scholarship, leadership, service and character. Taken collectively, these ideals constitute the traits of the students SAIS-R would like to cultivate for the rigors of the 21st century. You are destined to provide needed leadership in this new century and millennium. Your scholarship can open doors but only your character can keep them open. That character will lead you toward service for humankind. Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, said, “A man’s character is his guardian identity.”
The qualities you are being honored for tonight are important to the world of the 21st century. Individuals who are exemplary in the pursuit of knowledge and in their dedication to service for humankind are critical to the survival of civilization. You have a duty to continue to cultivate and strengthen those qualities in the future. The world needs you. Your future actions shall determine if you are worthy of this honor.
Honorees, what can you do now to stay on course and reach your objectives in life while benefiting the community around you? I will take the liberty to offer a few specific and practical suggestions to you for your immediate future. Many of these are very difficult; you may think I am expecting too much, but these are also your duties because the world needs you. The world expects greatness from you.
1.) Dream dreams and let your imagination soar. Set written goals . A study of Yale University graduates from the 1950s revealed that only 2% of the graduating class developed written goals. When studied years later, that same 2% were very successful in their careers. They continued to write down their goals, most strikingly, their net worth was greater than the other 98% combined. What lessons can we draw from this story? Written goals take on a power of their own. The Chinese have a proverb which states, “The palest ink is better than the best memory.” Consequently, you should write down your goals while in junior high and work diligently in the coming years to fulfill them. A written down goal, in some way no one understands, tends to attract every ingredient it needs to realize it. Benjamin E. Mays, the former president of Morehouse College said, “It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. It isn’t a calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled , but it is a calamity not to dream…… not failure, but low aim is sin.”
2.) Firmly grasp and hold on to your value system in a changing world. Your family has provided you with a set of values and ethics. Keep them for the 21st century; they will serve you well and keep you straight along the tortuous path of a complex world. The Wall Street scandals of 1980s indicated that superior education was not sufficient for success. Education without ethics is empty. Religion and spirituality are very important.
3.) Take calculated risks. Dr. James Bryant Conant, the former president of Harvard University, kept a plastic turtle on his desk with the inscription, “Behold the turtle!. It only makes progress when it sticks its neck out.” Learn new skills and try new hobbies. Try new sports or a new musical instruments. Find your hidden talents. Change your metaphors.
4.) Develop and amplify your basic academic skills. Read extensively and widely. Read a minimum of one book per week. Intensify your communication skills. Learning how to speak and write are perhaps the most important skills you can have in any career. Francis Bacon, the British philosopher, said, “Reading makes a full man, speaking a ready man, and writing an exact man.” Incidentally, Mr. Bacon could use a lesson in today’s politically correct language.
5.) Get ready for change in the next century. The 20th century has been characterized by incredible changes including armed conflict; pestilence; famine; population increases; environmental change; medical advances; and scientific technological, informational revolutions. The 21st century promises to be even more astonishing in its expectations. You have a duty to prepare at SAIS-R, you have a duty to prepare in high school, and you have a duty to prepare in university for the great frontier of the next millennium.
6.) Sketch your future education strategy now. A good education is invaluable for your future career and livelihood. Furthermore, the effects of an education include having a greater appreciation of the subtles of life. My father, Mr. Earl E. Guile Sr., said to me long ago, “Education is something no one can ever take away from you.” It’s not too early to begin thinking about college, university, and graduate school. Learn about admission requirements and procedures for your favorite colleges. Write to colleges early and find out how they expect you to prepare for their demanding work. Send out for catalogs and study them.
7.) Determine your strengths. John Dickey, the former President of Dartmouth, said “ The first requirement of being genuinely well educated is to have the capacity of being useful.” Develop ways to be useful and identify yourself as such. Focus on developing academic strengths and extracurricular strengths. Tiger Woods has found a way to be useful, and it certainly goes far beyond playing golf. At a young age, he seems committed and focused on inspiring others, a useful function indeed. I understand that he has promised his parents to finish Stanford.
8) Follow a challenging curriculum. Take tough courses and stretch yourself, because you sharpen your study and thinking skills and develop stamina. Don’t run away from a challenge in order to merely get high grades. You will perform well, because your standards are already very high.
9) Learn test-taking skills. Unfortunately, tests are a fact of life and are important. Start early taking test such as the SAT-I for college. In the USA, over 50,000 7th graders take the SAT-I five years early to qualify for talented and gifted programs at Northwestern and Johns Hopkins Universities.
10) Excel in all that you do. Pursue several activities and devote several years to them. Learn to juggle many bowling pins. Join school clubs. Get involved or develop your own community-service projects. There are generally four spiritual qualities in those who excel: 1. having a willingness to compete with yourself as well as with others; 2. having a positive outlook on life with less tendency than others have to use drugs and alcohol; 3. having a good organization in the use of time and study habits; and 4. having a concern for others, which often earns you the role of leader.
11) Market yourself. Don’t be afraid to present yourself in glowing yet accurate terms. People who need to know you, such as admission officers for boarding schools and colleges, should get this information. Seek interviews and prepare for them.
12) Respect others in a multicultural world. Forming friendships across cultures is the essence of the world of the 21st century. What you have learned at SAIS-R, from people who look different from you and who come from foreign countries, prepares you for spreading the attitudes of tolerance and empathy in your future. Fight injustice and intolerance when you see it. You, as the leaders of the generation that will bridge the second and third millennium, must also build bridges across cultures and peoples.
You are lucky to attend the Saudi Arabian International School. This is truly one of the great schools of the world. You should appreciate your teachers for their excellent teaching.
Parents are also being honored here tonight. Families are extremely important. In your most formative years, the contributions your parents have made are incalculable toward reaching this important milestone in your career. You should keep a deep sense of appreciation for their sacrifices on your behalf. Your parents have cried for you, they have worried about you, they have toiled for you, they dream for you, they have high hopes for you, they have gone to the wall for you. Never, never, never forget what your parents have done for you.
When I think about the struggles of your parents and forebears and about the hardships that lie ahead in the next century, I am reminded of the words of Thomas Carlyle, the British historian, who said:
“Life is not a May game, but a battle and a march, a warfare with principalities and powers. No idle promenade through fragrant orange groves and green flowery spaces waited on by the choral muses and rosy hours; it is a stern pilgrimage through the rough burning sandy solitudes, through regions of thick ribbed ice.”
Your parents will be proud of you when you follow the ideals of Harriet du Autremont. She said:
“No vision and you perish
No ideal, and you’re lost;
Your heart must ever cherish
Some faith at any cost
Some hope, some dream to cling to,
Some rainbow in the sky
Some melody to sing to,
Some service that is high