Wallace's Commencement Address
When David Foster Wallace gave the commencement address to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005, he started off with: “Of course the main requirement of speeches like this is...to try to explain why the degree you are about to receive has actual human value instead of just a material payoff...most pervasive cliché...is about “teaching you how to think.”” He then points out how that cliché is received by most normal students: “You tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you needed anybody to teach you how to think.” So true. That is why Wallace goes on to explain what the saying really means: “The really significant education in thinking that we're supposed to get…(is) about the choice of what to think about .” Because that choice translates into something very important: “It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.” Philosophy aside, that choice has practical use...