Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

Page 24 text:

Although you have all been tagged as members of the “Me Generation,” I woula contend that those of you I have had in my classes are not very different from my students of the 1960s. What has changed is the world situation. And so the young people today respond differently, just as most of last decade’s revolutionaries have themselves put on new hats, or turned their collars around. In truth, this present generation is not without its own heroes and heroines, for it has expressed its concerns, in many noble ways, about acts arbitrary, treatment intolerant, investments immoral, and decisions discriminatory. Indeed, students today may well be members of what could be called the equal-rights or liberation generation, no better exemplified than by the young women of this class of 1979. What has impressed me more than anything else about many of today's young people is their unfeigned interest in moral questions—in the difference Detween what is and what ought to be. Economists generally shun such territory, preferring instead to concentrate on efficiency -how to get more output with the same inputs. Some of that output may be taken from the affluent and given to the poor, or some of it may be used to bomb the poor. Economists profess not to know which is better. Just give us the goal,” they say, and we will search for the most efficient way of reaching it.” As a consequence, economics students find it almost impossible to discuss good and evil” in their classes, and 1 suspect that is why so many have found their way into my Marxism courses. Marxism, whatever else it may be, is tightly woven in ethical patterns. It docs allow a clear-cut choice to be made between helping the disadvantaged and clobbering them. I deeply appreciate this opportunity to honor your achievements here at Stanford. 1 will treasure the associations that I have had with many of you, and I wish all of you good fortune, and most especially, worthy lives. John Gurley 22

Page 23 text:

Thinking back on student days here, and of the 30 years since, I can pass on these thoughts: You are leaving a world dominated by words and abstractions for one you must experience actually. Don’t hesitate to make the switch. Change that larger world if you wish but only after seeing clearly that each part of it is a part of you. You will become responsible for all the world’s actions! The relationship sounds heavy but you shouldn’t find it so. The eventual payoff will be a feeling of love for the whole thing, and of knowing that you are loved. Robert Compton 21

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o I don't have any inspiring things to say to a graduating class. 1 merely want to say that I enjoy teaching physics at the elementary-intermediate levels, an 1 appreciate the interactions I have with undergraduates. I like their responses to the demonstration experiments I do in the lectures. 23