My daughter (I think) will graduate from high school on May 31. I don’t know if they have scheduled a commencement speaker. I don’t think they give honorary high school diplomas, so this humorous essay is probably not applicable but it is good enough that I included it.
I was once asked to give the commencement address to the graduating class of UC, Irvine medical school. I already had an MD, so no honorary degrees were involved. I also addressed my own graduating class as valedictorian and student body president and I got a degree that time.
I agree with the essayist that honorary degrees have gotten well past the point of becoming ridiculous. Still, at the awarding of my last degree, in 1995, President Clinton gave a nice speech and handed me my degree. That was the occasion for a photo that I brandish at my children from time to time.