Who would have ever thought that your math teacher would be standing here this morning having the last word? As your teacher, I have listened to you every day ask the question "why do I need to learn this?" And repeatedly I have told you that math is the most important subject you can study.

But, you don't have to take my word for it. No less an authority than Plato agrees with me. Plato says in Book Seven of The Republic that mathematics is the model of all intelligence, and therefore the most important thing you can study. Mathematics is not only beautiful and true in itself; it contains the core of ultimate truth. Mathematics teaches us how something eternal and transcendent governs all reality. Math is a guide to goodness and knowledge. Once we see the form of the Good in math, we are prepared to be the leaders of the city, the leaders of tomorrow, the leaders of the world.....And you thought math was only about equations and numbers. Aren’t you glad you studied math?

That is the last thing you will hear me say about math this morning. What I really want to talk to you about is something even more important than math..your real education.

You may think of your education as something Franklin has been giving you, and now you will be heading off to get some more education at another school. But that is not really how education works. Education is not something we teachers give to you. It is something that you give yourself. Think of it as a gift you give yourself, a gift that keeps on giving.

Some people treat education as something that prepares you for the next stage of life, as if life were a giant treadmill and your job is to trudge forward step-by-step. Franklin has prepared you for college, and college will prepare you for a job, and once you have a job you work for fifty years and then retire with a gold watch. You might think you can relax and spend your free time watching re-runs of your favorite TV shows just released onto DVD or devoting your hours of amusement to World of Warcraft or Puzzle Pirates. Please don't do that to yourselves. Don't treat your education as preparation for sleepwalking through life. Stay alive.

Education is a lifelong process. People who stay alive are always learning new things, and trying new things, and living. That is what I am asking you to do. Stay alive, keep learning, and treat your education as a life-long gift, one that you give yourself. When you go off to college, don't always take the courses that will give you the "easy A". Do things that will expand your mind; things that will make you think and grow.

Some day you will be fifty years old, and you could decide that it would be interesting to study plant life in Patagonia, or the shapes of fish on Fiji. You could decide it would be fun to read the Shakespeare plays you skipped in college, or learn how to grow enough food to sustain yourself without going to the grocery store. You could even return to school for another degree. But education is not just the studies you undertake. You can keep learning in many ways, in everything you do in daily life. Even if you are a teacher.

Over the past year there were many times when you thought I wasn't paying attention to what you said or did, but I was. I did my best to be a learner from you. I learned something from you every day. I learned that each one of you is different, and therefore you learn in a different way. I learned that I couldn't teach each of you the same way and expect the same results. I learned that the most important learning doesn't take place in the classroom. It takes place while walking on the path, cooking in the kitchen or riding in the van on the way to the museum. I learned what a struggle it can be to defend positions you don't agree with because the country you represent is not your own. I learned that chocolate is a great way to start a conversation. I learned that stepping outside of my comfort zone is okay and seeing movies based on comic book figures can be fun. You have taught me about the importance of listening and laughing.

Then again, some of the most important lessons happen by the time we turn six or seven years old. They are the lessons based on the Golden Rule, and they are the basis for all learning. I want to end by reading a quote from one of my favorite books, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. "Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. And then remember the Dick and Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK."

The most important things you have already learned, but very important learning awaits you in life. Stay awake, stay alive, and Look! Don't be passive and always keep on learning.

Seniors, I wish you all the best of everything. Congratulations on your graduation.