Jack Black To High School Graduates: ‘Don’t Waste Your Time Or Money On College’ [Video]
Jack Black addressed the 2015 graduating class of Flordia’s Monteverde Academy with a tongue-in-cheek speech that offered what he called “golden nuggets of wisdom.” One of those was how the students should skip college altogether unless they are going into a specific field.
Before the speech began, Black acknowledged that he knew two of the class members because their father, Jimmy Waitman, serves as Black’s stunt double, according to the Orlando Sentinel. When asked to be the commencement speaker, Black said it was an offer he couldn’t pass up since he knew his stunt double’s kids would be graduating.
“He dresses up like me and jumps off of buildings. What? I’m going to say no?”
Jack Black then revealed that he doesn’t do commencement speeches.
“Wish me luck; I’m doing it. Here we go.”
During the speech, which can be viewed in the video above, Black told the graduating class that the college experience is a difficult one. His advice to them is to skip it altogether.
“Don’t go to college. It’s super expensive, [and] it’s super hard. I slept through the whole thing.”
When Jack Black speaks at your school’s graduation??? #MVA pic.twitter.com/2cqU0Bdk0k
— Katie Young (@youngkatherine_) May 23, 2015
Jack Black then mentioned that there are some professions that do require a degree, and he’s OK with those people who want to pursue the college route.
“Seriously, don’t waste your time and money on college unless you want to be a doctor, then I totally get it. No one’s going to let you take out their spleen unless you have a degree. The rest of you, go read some books.”
Some of the other advice Black had for the graduating class was to take some time before going on to the next phase of life.
“Take a minute and just enjoy life. Sniff those roses, you guys. Sniff deep. Don’t just rush into life’s next chapter. You just climbed a mountain – 12 years of nose to the grindstone.”
Jack Black was the guest speaker at Montverde’s graduation ceremony. How lucky, he got a chance to meet Ben Simmons pic.twitter.com/73FQzQYYMU
— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) May 26, 2015
Jack Black then told them that they should take more than a minute to just “chill.”
“By a minute, I mean five years — maybe 10. You need to just stare off into space for a while… Mom and Dad have plenty of room; just stick around as long as you need.”
Black also mentioned that it’s best if you “fake it until you make it.”
“If anyone asks you if you have any experience in the field, always say yes. Never say no.”
But, in the end, Jack Black admitted to the graduating class that they probably shouldn’t listen to him for advice.
“I don’t know jack diddly squat about nothing. I’m just a really good-looking rocker that stumbled into a tremendous acting career.”
Jack Black is just one celebrity this year to give a unique commencement speech. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Robert De Niro told those graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts that they were “f***ed.”
[Image via YouTube screencap]
