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ELLISON TO GRADS: DIPLOMAS ARE FOR LOSERS
Oracle CEO Urges Students to Drop out, Start up
NEW HAVEN, CONN. (SatireWire.com) In one of the more
controversial commencement addresses in memory, Oracle CEO and
college dropout Larry Ellison told Yale's Class of 2000 they were
"losers" whose hard-won diplomas would never propel them into the
ranks of the super rich.
The evangelical Ellison, noting that college dropouts Bill Gates,
Paul Allen, and Michael Dell were, like himself, on Forbes' recent
top 10 list of billionaires, urged freshmen and sophomores at the
ceremony to "drop out and start up," and added that the
undereducated Yale security guards who ushered him off stage
probably had a better shot at uber-wealth than graduating
seniors.
What follows is a transcript of the speech delivered by Ellison at
the Yale University last month:
"Graduates of Yale University, I apologize if you have endured this
type of prologue before, but I want you to do something for me.
Please, take a good look around you. Look at the classmate on your
left. Look at the classmate on your right. Now, consider this: five
years from now, 10 years from now, even 30 thirty years from now,
odds are the person on your left is going to be a loser. The person
on your right, meanwhile, will also be a loser. And you, in the
middle? What can you expect? Loser. Loserhood. Loser Cum
Laude.
"In fact, as I look out before me today, I don't see a thousand
hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don't see a thousand future leaders
in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers.
"You're upset. That's understandable. After all, how can I,
Lawrence 'Larry' Ellison, college dropout, have the audacity to
spout such heresy to the graduating class of one of the nation's
most prestigious institutions? I'll tell you why. Because I,
Lawrence "Larry" Ellison, second richest man on the planet, am a
college dropout, and you are not.
"Because Bill Gates, richest man on the planet -- for now, anyway
-- is a college dropout, and you are not.
"Because Paul Allen, the third richest man on the planet, dropped
out of college, and you did not.
"And for good measure, because Michael Dell, No. 9 on the list and
moving up fast, is a college dropout, and you, yet again, are
not.
"Hmm... you're very upset. That's understandable. So let me stroke
your egos for a moment by pointing out, quite sincerely, that your
diplomas were not attained in vain. Most of you, I imagine, have
spent four to five years here, and in many ways what you've learned
and endured will serve you well in the years ahead. You've
established good work habits. You've established a network of
people that will help you down the road. And you've established
what will be lifelong relationships with the word 'therapy.' All
that of is good. For in truth, you will need that network. You will
need those strong work habits. You will need that therapy.
"You will need them because you didn't drop out, and so you will
never be among the richest people in the world. Oh sure, you may,
perhaps, work your way up to No. 10 or No. 11, like Steve Ballmer.
But then, I don't have to tell you who he really works for, do I?
And for the record, he dropped out of grad school. Bit of a late
bloomer.
"Finally, I realize that many of you, and hopefully by now most of
you, are wondering, 'Is there anything I can do? Is there any hope
for me at all?' Actually, no. It's too late. You've absorbed too
much, think you know too much. You're not 19 anymore. You have a
built-in cap, and I'm not referring to the mortar boards on your
heads.
"Hmm... you're really very upset. That's understandable. So perhaps
this would be a good time to bring up the silver lining. Not for
you, Class of '00. You are a write-off, so I'll let you slink off
to your pathetic $200,000-a-year jobs, where your checks will be
signed by former classmates who dropped out two years ago.
"Instead, I want to give hope to any underclassmen here today. I
say to you, and I can't stress this enough: leave. Pack your things
and your ideas and don't come back. Drop out. Start up.
"For I can tell you that a cap and gown will keep you down just as
suredly as these security guards dragging me off this stage are
keeping me dow..."
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