Show THE BRIGHT RIGHT STUDENT this Is commencement time in the affairs of the nation all over the country young men and young women by the scores are closing their school careers and preparing to step out into the world to show the older folks how it ought to be done usually the commencement men cement day orator is free with his advice to the ambitious young graduates most of the advice is of course good although a great deal of it will not be followed it may surprise the readers of this little article to know that the writer if he were called on to give commencement day advice would have as the cause of his special concern not the patient plodding floading student who has worked his way slowly through his school life often barely getting by but those few who quicker to learn have sailed along without apparent effort the youngster who has been compelled to quit school before graduating and to go to work and the other youngster who has had to work hard in school to make the grade and to graduate do not need any special advice they will get along I 1 in the world somehow because they have found the meaning and value of hard work whether it be ment al or physical the college graduate who really needs advice and support is the one who has sailed through his school life without any effort apparently absorbing learning through some mysterious process unknown to the common herd this mental marvel and we find them in every school is the one who will probably need help after he gets out of school he is often told by the commencement orators that when he graduates he be will find the competition much stiffer in the outside world because he will have to go up against other graduates just as bright as he is but that will not be his principal handicap he could hold his own with the other mental marvels because he is one of them but the fellows who will give him real trouble are arc the mental plodders pl who have advanced by extended patient effort they can take it out in the world very often where the so called brightest boy in school cannot he has not learned the value of hard work because of the case with which he has slid through school if he is not careful therefore he is very liable to be treated with the uncomfortable sight of the plodders pl and workers going around him in the race for success if you will turn back in memory for the moment to the biographies grap hies of the great men of whom you have read you will re member that very few of them were regarded as mental prodigies in their youth most of them were not at the head of the class but half way down or perhaps nearer the foot they have won because they have the character the strength and the perseverance to overcome obstacles where the fellow who lacks much such determination may have fallen by the wayside even though possessing a nimbler wit after all 90 per cent of genius is hard work there are many literary and scientific lights wasting their time wisecracking wise cracking en cn the street corner because they lacked those essential requirements for genius mental and physical industry I 1 so our advice to the 1934 graduate is if you have had to work hard to get a passing mark in your classes dont worry you will know how bow to work hard and to overcome obstacles when you youl get tc t out in the world but if you are one of those fortunate youngsters who has slid by on your wit and mental attainments now is the time to begin praying for perseverance and dogged determination no matter how brilliant you are these elements along with character are arc necessary for real success just being the brightest boy in school is not enough |