A letter to the graduating class of 2018

Congratulations. You have successfully completed your public education and are about to enter the real world.

It isn’t that school is not the real world, but it is a special world where you are not fully responsible for your actions and most mistakes have no real long-term consequences. You are considered children still learning the difference between right and wrong.

That changes when you walk across the stage and receive your diploma. From the beginning of time, all cultures have had a rite of passage children go through to be accepted as adults. For us, it is high school graduation.

From no...