It took me a while, to be honest, to understand the importance of academic graduations. I attended my high school ceremony and was pleased to be awarded the scholarship star, but I was mostly pleased this meant I would be going to Wits University next. For serendipitous reasons, I was unable to attend either my undergraduate or PhD commencements and received the smart rolled up degree by mail. But, over many years, my understanding of the deeply serious significance of receiving a degree has grown and magnified.
One can spend hours looking through the data, and the summary is fascinating. This year in the United States, around 4 million high school students will receive their diplomas. In higher education, there are ~2 million receiving a bachelor’s degree, with ~300,000 in a STEM discipline; 800,000 master’s degrees, with ~150,000 in a STEM field; and ~200,000 doctoral degrees, with 28,000 in a STEM field. That is a lot of graduations! How wonderful to celebrate all that learning! And for us in the College of Science, how important to acknowledge solid data that demonstrates the worth of a STEM degree for future employment.
What defines the end point of a phase of education, worthy of acknowledgement by a diploma or a degree is an interesting question. Some milestones seem real: learning to read at a level of fluency, competency in basic mathematics. And in the K-12 grades, standardized tests try to define and assess logical milestones. But some of the rules around granting a degree, particularly in higher education seem historic, rather than competency-based.
Nonetheless, agreeing on periodic endpoints in the education trajectory gives a student a valid sense of accomplishment. It’s an opportunity to look back on your learning, to think about how you can do math better now or write more fluently. Students can see how the wide set of subjects they studied in high school becomes narrower and deeper during a bachelor’s degree, still narrower and much deeper in graduate degrees. Not that the earlier learning is lost! The last time I studied French was in high school, but it’s still something I can draw on in a pinch. At its best, the cumulative learning empowers graduates with the skills and confidence relevant for multiple future careers.
The thing I like the best, is that all the millions of graduates are receiving an award. A real, important, personal award of a degree. We give out a few special extra awards, but in fact, the award of the degree is the main thing, and each degree recipient is equally important. Each can be proud they have learned enough for this endpoint, that is truly an accomplishment. The families, friends and supporters who have seen the student work hard, perhaps struggle to achieve, or perhaps fly through with ease, are honestly, heartachingly proud. For many families, a degree in science may be unfamiliar, the first in the family, and a wonderful event indeed.
This week and next we are celebrating our graduates, at this important punctuation point in their educational trajectory. This year the Northeastern University College of Science will celebrate an extraordinary 1,683 Bachelor of Science, 618 MS and 62 PhD degree recipients! And let us celebrate you, for each College of Science graduate owes their education to every member of our faculty and staff in some way. Each person in the College has played a pivotal role in the education of our students. Thank you for contributing to the success of our graduates. Thank you for your wonderful work that has helped to build Science Huskies, who are taking forward the Good Power of Science!
Thank you!
