If we’re to draw on the past we must do so critically as well as appreciatively. The studia liberales were studies or projects that befitted those who enjoyed freedom. are, as it were, connected by a sort of kinship to one another.” 3 Cicero refers to these arts when he says that Antioch was rich in the most liberal studies. Cicero uses it in another passage, just a little earlier: “all the arts that are relevant to humanity. The phrase I want to focus on is “towards humanity,” ad humanitatem. Here’s just one of those many sprawling Ciceronian sentences:įor when Archias first left boyhood, and turned from those arts by which young boys are gradually molded towards humanity, he devoted himself to the study of writing, first of all at Antioch-for he was born there in a noble place, which was formerly a famous and rich city, abundant in the most learned men and the most liberal studies-and there he succeeded speedily in showing himself superior to all in talent and in fame. 1 I once had to learn a passage from the “Pro Archia” by heart, absorbing the language with which the great lawyer beguiled the Roman courts more than two millennia ago. And because I am a professor of the humanities, I’d like to talk to you briefly about one of the places where the very idea of the humanities comes from.Īmong the surviving works of the great Roman statesman, lawyer, and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero is his legal defense of Archias, the poet, who was threatened with deportation as, in effect, an illegal alien. So even though you have had four years of classes already, I can’t resist the temptation of forcing on you one last lesson. But one thing my generation can be proud of is that we can see in you, our legacy, the hope and the ambition and the capacity to build a better future. My generation has left you some terrible problems to solve-in global gender inequality, in the threatened ecology of our small planet, in our unequal economy, at home and abroad, in the tormented relations between races and religions. You play a couple of instruments, you’ve already founded a not-for-profit corporation, you’ve mastered several Javanese dances.Īnd the world now needs a whole lot of Sarah Lawrence graduates: smart, educated, passionate people, aspiring for justice. You want to work hard to make the world better. You know that education is a journey, not a destination, and you have prepared yourself here to keep learning for the rest of your lives. And yet somehow I have a picture of a representative Sarah Lawrence graduate: You want to engage with the best understanding of our day, in the humanities and in the sciences, social and natural, not just because they are tools for advancement but because understanding is itself a precious thing. Because of that, you’re all wonderfully unlike one another, I am sure. The vision of a liberal education that this great college had for you wasn’t about making you into something: it was about giving you the tools to make something of yourselves. And so, when the world disappoints you-and it will-and when others disappoint you-and they will-and when you disappoint yourself- and, alas, that’s in the cards, too-you will be ready, in the words of that illustrious philosopher Kendrick Lamar, to “lift up your head and keep moving.” Which means you have built on your failures as well as your successes.
You have learned here, I know, to take risks. I’m honored because you folks have a reputation for taking what you found here and going out into the world and challenging the world, in its turn, to be better and to do better. Those values have at their heart a challenge: Find-your teachers told you-find among the treasures we have for you here the ones that will help you live creative and constructive lives, as citizens of your nations and of the world, as people who care, people who need to understand, people who want to create. Clearly, none of them ever gave a commencement address!īut the reason I feel so honored is that I believe deeply in the values that underlie the liberal education that Sarah Lawrence promised you. If there is nothing much in giving good advice, it entitles you to respect. My Asante ancestors had a saying: Asempadie mu nni biribi a, ewo animuonyam.
(I’m a humanities professor, so I can’t help pointing out that what I just said was pure etymology: gradus is just the Latin for step.) I feel honored to have been asked to be here with you, your friends and family and, of course, your teachers, as you mark this great transition.
You are taking a great step over the threshold into a new life.
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