(If you thought this was going to be another column about politics, well you know what happens when you assume. If you like that kind of thing, read last week’s issue of the Tribune.)

To the class of 2012, especially high school and college graduates from Pierce County, North Dakota (a bit self-serving, I know), and this is quite belated, but congratulations. You’ll be off to the schools of your choice, or in the job hunt. However, an English teacher in Boston by the name of David McCulloch, Jr. doesn’t think any of you are special.

Now before you feel insulted and take things the wrong way, you have to think about it. As a teacher, chances are he’s heard every excuse in the book from students, as well as parents for their kids. He was the speaker at Wellesley High School’s commencement exercises. Does that mean he was supposed to write an empowering speech? He believes that parents are mollycoddling their kids, and that students need to grow up. He could’ve written whatever he wanted to for that commencement speech, and he chose to write a speech that was blunt, a bit brash, and correct.

The world doesn’t care if you were the valedictorian in high school. The world doesn’t care if you were a Sociology major in college. The world doesn’t care if you have your GED. Because guess what, so did other people before and after you.

In college you’ll be going into classrooms with at least 20 other students taking the exact same thing as you. You’ll be taking up fields of study that countless others before you have gotten degrees in, and as long as the world keeps spinning countless others will continue to take it up after you. They’re not going to just give you your degree, you have to work hard for it, and fight to make sure you get it.

College grads, you may be qualified for a certain job, but that doesn’t mean the place you want to work for is going to hire you on the spot. They have other applicants to consider, some of whom may not be as qualified, or some may be just as or more qualified than you. Plus once you get that job, you can lose that job too.

Everything depends on your performance, member of the class of 2012. Your parents (or legal guardians) won’t always be there for you when something goes wrong, so you’re going to have to be an advocate for yourself.

You’re an individual, but you’re not special. You have to work to get and stay that way.