海角大神

Aim high. If you fall, pick yourself up. And, most of all, follow your dreams.聽

Welcome, college graduate, to your 2013 commencement exercises. The speeches are all about you! You should find something that makes you passionate; you should pursue it, as far as you can.

Millennials have become even more of a "Me" generation than their boomer parents. They鈥檝e been raised on self-esteem and digital access that fuels their focus on self-fulfillment and quick gratification.

They鈥檝e been told they鈥檙e special and encouraged to follow their passion from childhood. Many of this spring鈥檚 graduation speeches won鈥檛 deviate far from that line. But what happens when your passion clashes with someone else鈥檚? And what about the millions of human beings who simply can鈥檛 follow their dreams, because they鈥檙e too mired in poverty, illness, or oppression?

As thousands of young Americans don goofy medieval caps and gowns to graduate from college this month, we should be reminding them not just of their obligation to pursue self-satisfaction but also of their duty to their fellow human beings.聽Instead, they'll probably hear actors, businessmen, and other celebrities expound on the virtues of rugged individualism.

Consider Steve Jobs鈥檚 2005 address at Stanford, which is probably the most famous commencement address of our time. Mr. Jobs recounted his own remarkable life story, from college dropout to computer billionaire. And the moral of the tale is simple: Find what you love, and stick with it.

鈥淵our time is limited, so don鈥檛 waste it living someone else鈥檚 life,鈥� Jobs declared. 鈥淒on鈥檛 let the noise of others鈥� opinions drown out your own inner voice鈥�.[H]ave the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.鈥�

Really? Everything else? Even, say, your friends and your family? Your country? Your world?

Or take Ellen DeGeneres鈥檚 2009 speech at Tulane, where she recounted coming out as gay and the risks she incurred to her career. 鈥淔ollow your passion, stay true to yourself,鈥� DeGeneres urged. 鈥淣ever follow anyone else鈥檚 path.鈥�

But education should help us get beyond ourselves, to transcend the narrow particulars of our interests and wishes and ambitions. There鈥檚 nothing wrong with pursuing your passions, of course. But the real question is how they鈥檒l affect the people around you.

That was the theme of many commencement speeches in earlier generations, when it was simply assumed that college graduates had an obligation to help others. Part of that had to do with America鈥檚 unrivaled dominance, which could spawn its own brand of arrogance. But it also imbued Americans with a sense of shared duty, to each other and to the world.

Addressing Harvard鈥檚 commencement in 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlined his plan for rebuilding a war-torn Europe. 鈥淚 need not tell you gentlemen that the world situation is very serious,鈥� Marshall warned, noting the vast economic and political obstacles that awaited his plan. But he concluded on an optimistic note, calling on graduates to 鈥渇ace up to the vast responsibility which history has clearly placed upon our country.鈥�

Likewise, John F. Kennedy invoked listeners鈥� shared obligations in his 1963 graduation speech at American University, where Kennedy called for a nuclear test-ban treaty. Decrying the 鈥渄angerous, defeatist belief鈥� that war was inevitable, Kennedy insisted that human beings could prevent it.

鈥淥ur problems are man-made 鈥� therefore, they can be solved by man,鈥� Kennedy said. 鈥淣o problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man鈥檚 reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable 鈥� and we believe they can do it again.鈥�

The first thing you notice about these speeches, a half-century later, is their dated language. Marshall addressed his audience as gentlemen, because Harvard was all-male at the time.聽And Kennedy鈥檚 references to man as representative of all humankind may sound antiquated at best, sexist at worst.

But their speeches also presume a collective duty that applies to everyone, no matter who they are. You don鈥檛 find the pronoun 鈥測ou鈥� in graduation speeches of an earlier era very often. Instead, you see 鈥渨e鈥� and especially 鈥渙ur鈥� 鈥� our people, our country, our world.

To be sure, some commencement addresses still evoke a sense of shared mission. In a speech at the University of Pennsylvania in 2004, for example, the rock musician and humanitarian Bono noted that we are the first generation in human history with the knowledge and capacity to end world hunger.

鈥淪o why aren鈥檛 we pumping our fists in the air and cheering about it?鈥� Bono asked. 鈥淲ell, probably because when we admit we can do something about it, we鈥檝e got to do something about it鈥�.We have the cash, we have the lifesaving drugs, but do we have the will?鈥�

That鈥檚 still the question, about every human problem under the sun. So let鈥檚 put it to our young people, as they walk out of our classrooms and into the world. Yes, Millennials are self-involved. But they're also deeply committed to fairness and optimistic about the future, as recent surveys show.

So in this cap-and-gown聽season, we should capitalize on that vision. Let's tell our new graduates: Follow your dreams, yes, but don鈥檛 forget your duty to others.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of 鈥淪mall Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory鈥� (Yale University Press).