Commencement December 10, 2004

Address given by Professor Charles Ksir, Psychology Department

          Thank you, Dean Walter, for giving me the opportunity to address this fall's graduates, their families and friends, and my faculty colleagues.  The title of my speech this evening is "going out in public".   I could be asking you to be sure to dress properly, brush your teeth and comb your hair, since you are now representing us as a graduate of this fine University.  After all, we wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about the University of Wyoming, perhaps to compare us unfavorably with our classier neighbors in Colorado, like CU and CSU.   You know, those respected institutions that get in the news for having riots in the streets, setting fires, and so forth..  But no, I'm not here to talk to you about being presentable.  Instead I want to talk about public goods and private goods.  I want to speak to you not as a professor, but as a member of the public, and to ask you to think about your own public lives. 

          First, the public vs. private issue, a distinction that European philosophers introduced a couple of hundred years ago, when our nation was a toddler.  I have an automobile that I paid for, that I keep in my garage, I carry the keys, and I'm pretty much the only one who drives it.  That's a private vehicle, or something the economists would call a private good.  The shuttle buses that run around campus are owned not by a person or a family, but by a public entity representing lots of people. They are ridden by many people and available to the public-- those buses are public goods.  So, too, are the roads on which both my car and the buses operate, this very building, the county hospital, and the public schools.  They belong to no one but to everyone as members of the public.  Political scientists point out that the values that are brought to bear are different when one is acting in one's own private interest as opposed to acting as a member of the public.  For example, in picking my own car I am free to decide that its power or cornering ability or even its color is of value to me.  But if I am on a committee to pick buses for the University, I have to consider the needs of others, so maybe safety and economy become greater values when I act in that role. 

          So let's look for a minute at what's happening to you tonight. You are receiving a degree from the University of Wyoming.  The diploma you will get is only a symbol.  Goods aren't necessarily always concrete objects.   The important goods we're celebrating tonight are a little more abstract--your education, and your status as a college graduate.  It's your education, you worked to earn the grades, you somehow paid the tuition, you chose your major and at least some of the courses you took, and this abstract thing has some real value in that it makes you eligible for higher-paying employment.  People can and have put an actual dollar value on being a college graduate.  So, this educational accomplishment is a private good, and it's yours.  But what I want to point out to you is that at the same time your education can be a public good.  We as members of the public benefit from your success.  We get to live in a world that is made better in some way by your educational achievement--maybe you will be my doctor or lawyer or my banker or insurance agent, or maybe you will teach or be a city manager in my community.  Or maybe it's just that your extra earnings will mean that you can build a nice home that will enhance my neighborhood.  In several ways, your success represents a success for the public that helped you to succeed. 

          And this is where I point out the extent of that public commitment to you and your education.  If you went to public school in Wyoming, the people of the State invested somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 in your K-12 education.  We don’t often see that or appreciate it because everyone in this country gets pretty much the same opportunity.  But think of all the places in this world that can't provide anything like that kind of support for the education of their kids.  It's one of the most important reasons that our economy is the envy of most of the world.  But public support for your education did not end with high school, because the state of Wyoming has chipped in for your education here at UW, adding about $12,000 per year on top of your tuition payments.  If you did all your college work here, that averages out to more than $50,000 in state support for a bachelor's degree.  So by now the public has $100,000 invested in you.   And we think it's worth it to have you become a contributing member of society for the remainder of your lives, rather than being a burden to society.

          It's a pretty common thing for graduation speakers to talk to graduates about "paying back", or in the past few years people might say, "pay it forward".  And we expect that you will, at least pay your taxes and thereby help the next generation of kids to have their chance at education.  But it's not all about money.

          So what I want to do tonight is to welcome each of you as a full-fledged member of the public.  That's what I want you to do—to go out in public and to think of yourself as an important part of that public.  Participate in some way, or perhaps in several ways, in public activities.  You don't have to run for political office --your participation can take many forms.  Perhaps you take a lead role in some charitable activity through your church or a civic club like Rotary or Lions. Maybe you volunteer at the Soup Kitchen, or coach, or serve on a committee to help beautify your community or you read to children in school or at the public library.  There are three reasons why this type of public participation is a good idea.  One is that our democratic society can't function without people willing to do these things.  People sometimes get the idea that American democracy only happens every couple of years when there's an election, but in fact it happens every day in every community across the land when people realize they can make a difference and make the effort to do so.  You know those adopt-a highway signs you see along the road saying that this section of highway is cleaned up by some group or other?  People who grew up living under dictatorships don’t do that stuff.  And real work gets done that way that benefits our society.  That's democracy in action--not just one person one vote, but one person one orange sack of trash, several people and a clean stretch of highway.    It's that kind of voluntary commitment, those individuals who work to make their world just a little better, that are really the heart of our democratic society.

          The second reason to participate in public activities is that business I mentioned about using a different set of values when your actions affect other people.  The more opportunities you take to work on behalf of others, the more you get to exercise the parts of your brain that can look at the world from someone else’s point of view, and the less often you exercise your selfish side.  It simply helps to make you a better person. 

          The third reason is that this kind of participation will enrich your lives in ways you can't imagine until it's happened.   It's surprising that playing even a minor role in a public project can give one such a sense of accomplishment and even pride.  More than 20 years ago I was roped into coaching a third-grade soccer team that included my daughter and several of her friends.  I can't tell you how many games we won or lost, but I do have this soccer ball the kids gave me at the end of the season, with their signatures on it.  I can look at these names now and think about those second and third grade kids and reflect upon what many of them have become as adults.    I'm kind of proud of these kids, even though I understand completely that their experiences as members of this soccer team in the third grade might not have been the main reason for their current success.  That's what I find most surprising when I think about this, is that even though I shared such a small part of these kids' lives, I can still share a sense of pride in their success.   You've probably already experienced some of this in your own lives, as part of a team or a band or a play or something like that.  Maybe you were one of the 20,000 sports fans who attended UW's football game with Ole Miss this year.  If so, you were part of the largest crowd in recent history, and the Pokes beat a team with a long tradition of football success.  Every cowboy fan there got to share in that success--thousands of people were bursting with pride over a game.  Just think how you'll feel when you contribute to something more important than that.   I'm on the Albany County Recreation Board, and I get a great feeling each time I walk into our new Recreation Center.   I know that there were people who did much more than I to bring that about.  But I did contribute, and I'm very proud that we were able to build that center for Albany County.  My wife is on the board of an organization called Interfaith Good Samaritan, that helps out local families when they fall through all the cracks.  She feels proud every time they are able to help a family avoid being evicted or having the electricity turned off, even though she didn't pay the bills out of her own pocket.  She contributes to a group effort, and everyone involved gets to share in the victories.

So, as a member of the public here's what I hope for you.  First, succeed.  When you succeed, we all succeed, because we all helped you get here.  Second, share.  At the very least, please share your voice and your votes to support public schools and Universities.  They really are the backbone of our democracy, because they are where most people develop the skills they will use as they participate in our society.  Whether you share your professional skills or play in the community band,  when you share, you grow as an individual, and our society is made better, stronger, and more democratic. 

          Nobody is supposed to remember what the graduation speaker says to you, because there's so much excitement going on.  But I’m going to try to help you remember those two ideas—succeed and share.  So, all you graduates, what’s the first thing I wish for you to do?  (succeed)  And what’s the other thing?  (share).

          Thank you very much.  You’re all winners.