The Significance of Reason

-2- OTHERS THAN EVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. IN KEEPING WITH THE FINEST OF ITS DEMOCRATIC TRADITIONS, THIS COUNTRY ALSO HAS ESTABLISHED A RECORD OF UNPARALLELED INVESTMENT IN ITS PEOPLE. NO OTHER NATION PROVIDES SO MUCH EMPHASIS UPON THE PROVISION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ITS PEOPLE. THIS IS PARTICULARLY SO IN HIGHER EDUCATION. IT IS ESPECIALLY APPROPRIATE, THEREFORE, THAT WE COME HERE TODAY TO CELEBRATE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. AS YOU LEAVE THIS TRANQUIL CAMPUS IN THESE BEAUTIFUL HILLS AND SET FORTH TO MAKE YOUR MARK UPON SOCIETY, YOU WILL MOVE INTO A SOCIETY THAT IS THE NEAREST THING TO A MERITOCRACY ON EARTH. IT IS A SOCIETY THAT PLACES GREAT EMPHASIS UPON THE SOVEREIGNTY OF REASON AND INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE. WE KNOW, OF COURSE, THAT OUR SOCIETY CAN BE IMPROVED, BUT I WOULD EMPHASIZE TO YOU THAT THERE IS NO NATION THAT DISTRIBUTES ITS REWARDS TO A GREATER EXTENT ON THE BASIS OF THE BENEFICIAL PRODUCTIVITY OF EACH INDIVIDUAL. WHERE YOU WERE BORN, WHERE YOU WERE REARED, WHERE YOU WENT TO SCHOOL, OR YOUR ETHNIC CHARACTERISTICS ARE MATTERS OF EVER-DECREASING SIGNIFICANCE. INDEED, THE COURSE THAT YOU TRAVEL IN THIS SOCIETY WILL BE DETERMINED LARGELY BY YOUR OWN PERFORMANCE. AND, FOR THIS WE CAN BE GRATEFUL. YET, I WOULD WARN YOU NOT TO EXPECT THE SOCIETY TO EMBRACE YOU WITH OUTSTRETCHED ARMS. YOU GO INTO A WORLD THAT IS SO BESET WITH PROBLEMS THAT ITS HUMAN INADEQUACIES ARE ALL TOO APPARENT. THE TRAGEDY OF VIET NAM AND THE MORAL DECADENCE OF WATERGATE ARE DEEPLY IMPRESSED UPON YOUR MINDS. SINCE WORLD WAR II WE HAVE WATCHED WITH DEEP CONCERN AS OUR COUNTRY, A NATION COMMITTED TO FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS OF INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS, HAS ON OCCASION, EVEN THOUGH RELUCTANTLY, ACCEPTED DICTATORSHIPS AND THE SUPPRESSION OF FREEDOM ON EARTH. WE HAVE BEEN EQUALLY DISMAYED BY THE DISREGARD FOR MORAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ACTION