The way I see it, if my kid was graduating as valedictorian of his high school class, I'd be so deliriously happy and proud I wouldn't care what kind of a commencement address he gave. Shoot, he could get up there and sing Old McDonald Had a Farm -- he's valedictorian, woo-hoo! That's my boy! But I have to admit, the speech Orestimba High School valedictorian Saul Tello, Jr. gave at his graduation does kind of tug at the maternal heart strings.
It wasn't the content of the speech so much as the way he chose to deliver it: In Spanish, to honor his Spanish-speaking parents. Awww.
Of course, not everybody in the audience understood Spanish, which led to a bit of a problem.
More from The Stir: 'You Are Not Special' Graduation Speech Is One Every Kid Needs to Hear (VIDEO)
Now, on the one hand, I get why non-Spanish-speaking audience members were upset -- it would kind of stink to not understand a word of the speech at your kid's graduation. But here's the thing: Originally, Saul Tello wanted to give the speech in both English and Spanish, but his principal, Jessie Ceja, told him there wouldn't be enough time. So Tello chose Spanish, for his parents' sake.
As a mom, I find that incredibly sweet. Plus, bear in mind that the population of California is 38% Latino. I'm sure his gesture was widely appreciated.
Apparently the school is planning to include inserts printed with both Spanish and English versions of the speech in future graduation programs, which seems like an excellent solution to me. Good luck, Saul!
Do you think giving his commencement address in Spanish was the right thing for this valedictorian to do?
Image via Dave Herholz/Flickr
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Comments 80
No. This was just bad manners. If the majority of listeners in his audience speak English, then his speech should be in English. What if his classmates had shared his attitude that this moment was all about only him and his parents? Perhaps they would have been justified to begin talking and milling about during his speech? But his classmates were more polite than he was, in that they sat through a speech that apparently wasn't intended for them- unless they spoke Spanish. Don't the speaker and the listeners owe each other an equal amount of consideration? If the hundreds of people assembled are not part of the target audience (in his view) and it isn't important if they understand your speech, then for Heaven's sake make the non-English speech part of the program optional and put it at the end, so everyone else can leave and get on with their day.
I do not agree with Spanish being spoken at a gradation HIs education was presented to him in English, not Spanish, and our official language is English which is dear to our heart in this country. It may have been very emotional to the parents, but a slap in the face to the country that educated him.
@ jana smith. there are no more african slaves in this country. only descendants of slaves. and if they don't like it, then they can go back to where their ancestors came from. if the slaves were still alive, then yes they would deserve an apology. but they aren't. every single white person should not be held responsible for something they weren't alive to do, or forced to apologize for an action they did not commit. get the hell over yourself. maybe you should stop spending all your time blaming the white man, and actually do something. i don't see the jewish people still blaming the egyptians or the germans. and the jews had it 1million times worse.
NO, because everyone their could not speak or understand spanish!
Ease off of billsfan already! She has apologized several times for the inadvertant grammatical error. If that is the worst error in this post (which it isn't, but I'm not the grammar police) then we have nothing to worry about.