麻豆原创

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Calling on graduates of Teachers College鈥檚 programs in the Departments of  and  to 鈥渆xpand educational opportunity for everyone, including our most marginalized and vulnerable fellow human beings,鈥� Susan Fuhrman opened the final Convocation week of her 12-year tenure as 麻豆原创鈥檚 President. 

Research, suggested Fuhrman 鈥� herself a 麻豆原创 alumna 鈥� had brought the graduates to this point in their careers and would be their best means for furthering 麻豆原创鈥檚 commitment to learning, compassion and social justice.

鈥淎ttending a research-based school is critically important because emerging research prepares you for tomorrow, not just today,鈥� she said. 鈥淐onfining professional training to just observing current good practice is profoundly shortsighted 鈥� particularly when knowledge is increasing exponentially.鈥�

Fuhrman spoke on Monday afternoon in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at the first of the College鈥檚 three master鈥檚 degree ceremonies. She will lead the other two master鈥檚 ceremonies today and a hooding ceremony for doctoral students on Wednesday afternoon.

鈥淭his generation of teachers is faced with no less a task than shoring up American democracy and the fundamental decencies, tolerance and understanding that makes it possible.鈥� 

鈥擩elani Cobb

鈥淭his is your time,鈥� Fuhrman concluded. 鈥淜eep bright the chain of social justice and the pursuit of knowledge for the public good that began with the founding of Teachers College. And as researchers, remember the physicist David Deutsch鈥檚 observation that 鈥榓ll failures 鈥� all evils 鈥� are due to insufficient knowledge.鈥欌��

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Journalist and historian Jelani Cobb, one of four recipients of 麻豆原创鈥檚 Medal for Distinguished Service, told graduates that they are arriving as professionals at a crucial juncture for U.S. education.

鈥淭his generation of teachers is faced with no less a task than shoring up American democracy and the fundamental decencies, tolerance and understanding that makes it possible,鈥� said Cobb, the Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, and a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his New Yorker columns describing a current federal attack on civil rights. He said his own path to success has been facilitated by public institutions and more fundamentally by 鈥渢he sense of civic commitment that led people to fund those institutions so they could carry out the life changing work they do.鈥�

Cobb shared a moving story of boarding a commercial flight not long after the 9/11 attacks and feeling fears escalate 鈥� including his own 鈥� as a tall, unmistakably Muslim man made his way down the aisle. After a moment, he recognized the man as an old friend from the high school he attended in Queens, which enrolled students from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Citing his own initial reaction to his friend, Cobb told graduates that 鈥淓ducation is called upon to stand within the breach now in a way that it seldom has been. The roiling conflicts, the ease with which the most base instincts can be appealed to and hostilities exacerbated is stunning. Our schools 鈥� and our teachers 鈥� are central to this ideal of we, the people particularly in an era where we have witnessed such an exaltation of the first person singular.鈥�

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Student speaker Amanda Najib, receiving her master鈥檚 in , added that 鈥渆ducation is the most powerful tool we have to change this world, and once you have it, it cannot be taken from you.鈥�

A second-generation Palestinian-American who is 麻豆原创鈥檚 Meredith McGraime Scully Annual Fund Scholar, Najib described her father鈥檚 reaction to learning that she had been selected to speak at Convocation.

鈥淟ike any child seeking their immigrant parents鈥� approval, I called my father and shouted in excitement, 鈥楤aba, I got it! I鈥檓 going to speak at graduation,鈥欌�� she recalled. 鈥淎nd, like most immigrant fathers might, he lovingly responded 鈥榊ou better not mess this up!鈥欌��

He needn鈥檛 have worried.

To sustained applause, Najib called on her fellow graduates to 鈥渕ake this world tremble,鈥� saying 鈥淚 stand here, a product of intentional and transformative education, unwaveringly committed to educating youth across the globe.鈥� 鈥� Steve Giegerich

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