Passage 1

Dear graduates, on this wonderful day when we are gathered together to celebrate your academic success, and as you stand on the threshold of what is sometimes called "real life", I would like to talk to you about the benefits of failure. What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure. The fact that you are graduating from this prestigious university suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. After all, you have already flown high academically.
   So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Failure taught you things about yourself that you could not have learned other way. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by failure or adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift. I hope that you remember those words of ancient wisdom: As is a talc, so is life: what matters is not how long it is, but how good it is.

The increase in educational investment needs to come at all levels. Universities are important factors. Broad-based education is an important challenge. 1 think we can make that more effective. If you want to learn about chemistry or physics, the world’s best lectures on that can be found on the Internet. We are seeing TV that used to be limited to channels, by moving to Internet TV, we not only eliminate that channel, but allow all video of interest to be accessed.
   Academic material will easily be on the Internet. Students will be able to watch video, test their knowledge, and talk to other students. I do think thai we can revolutionize education. It’s not just students, but also teachers, who can make use of resources and material on the Internet to do their job more effectively. Healthcare and education are increasing portions of every economy in the world. Making sure that we bring technology and equity to these sectors is very important.