Why college graduates are booing out-of-touch commencement speakers off the stage

Gen Z takes a lot of criticism. They’re called antisocial, emotionally immature, and phone-obsessed. They’re even called lazy.

But there’s one thing you can’t deny about Gen Z: that, as a whole, they’re done pretending they’re willing to just go along with the status quo. Young people are challenging everything, from pop culture to work culture, and nothing reflects the tide they’re working to change better than this year’s graduation ceremonies.

2026 commencement speakers totally miss the mark with young grads

First up was Gloria Caulfield, Vice President of Strategic Alliances for Tavistock Development Company. She spoke at a commencement ceremony at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and got off to a rough start when she proclaimed, “The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.”

A shower of boos from graduating students began raining down on her. It took Caulfield off guard and, after a chuckle, she needed a moment to gather her thoughts. “OK, I struck a chord. May I finish?”

“Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives,” she continued. For this, the students cheered. As the speech went on, the boos only grew louder every time Caulfield mentioned the exciting capabilities of AI. She was visibly flustered by the response.

Ex-Google CEO fares even worse in controversial address

Then there was Eric Schmidt, who delivered remarks to graduates at the University of Arizona.

The 71-year-old tech billionaire, and former CEO of Google, was already in the students’ poor graces due to recent allegations of sexual abuse. When he, too, began extolling the exciting virtues of artificial intelligence, the stadium full of grads let him have it.

In part of his monologue, he said: “There is a fear in your generation that… the machines are coming, the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics is fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create.”

He then blamed social media for amplifying the fear and uncertainty, and advocated for young people to help shape artificial intelligence in order to solve these problems—to yet another chorus of boos.

This is incredible. Artificial intelligence getting booed out of the stadium in any commencement speech it’s mentioned. Maybe telling college students AI was taking their jobs wasn’t the best strategy. Must watch —> pic.twitter.com/35UMSz5T5a— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) May 17, 2026

Schmidt and Caulfield did not appear to get the memo that Gen Z is not thrilled with AI, overall. Though a good number of young people do admit to using it from time to time, negative sentiment among Gen Zers has risen sharply in recent years.

Many feel anxious or even flat-out angry about the advancements of artificial intelligence. To them, it’s not an exciting tool to boost the bottom line the way it is for CEOs and VPs. It’s a real threat to their futures. In that sense, the speeches from this year’s commencement speakers have been shockingly tone deaf.

Best-selling author booed for criticizing younger generations

Jonathan Haidt, the massively best-selling author behind The Anxious Generation, has been a leading voice in the movement to protect kids from phones, social media, and technology; and to give them more independence as they grow up.

He’s even gone so far as to call Gen Z coddled, soft, and fragile. Haidt has also attacked universities, claiming they insulate students from challenging ideas with ‘safe spaces and trigger warnings,’ and been vocally against diversity and inclusion initiatives.

It turns out, Gen Z graduates weren’t super excited to hear him speak at their graduation. They let him know exactly how they felt with loud boos during his address at NYU graduation.

The boos represent a fascinating shift

Multi-millionaires and billionaires used to represent the pinnacle of the American Dream. Tech CEOs and Silicon Valley bigshots have been popular choices at commencement ceremonies for years. They’re able to speak as people who “made it” and reached ultimate success.

But young people aren’t falling for it. Gen Z is not impressed with wealth. They’re acutely aware of the growing wealth gap between the older generations and themselves. They don’t face an easy path coming out of school, with huge inflation, stagnant wages, skyrocketing house prices, and growing personal debt.

AI, for whatever positive advances it has made, has largely been a main driver of layoffs that have put more money into the pockets of the 1%. It’s hard to blame young people for not wanting to listen to a billionaire lecture them on the importance of hard work, or for not wanting to cheer a technology that might make their dream job obsolete.

You also have to respect that Gen Z isn’t willing to sit there politely and clap for a man who called them coddled and emotionally fragile.

As they prepare to embark into the next phase of adulthood, Gen Z faces tough—seemingly impossible—challenges. But if these viral moments have taught us anything, it’s that the kids will go down swinging.

While a bottle of bubbles might seem out of place in a hospital setting, you might be surprised to learn that, for thousands of children around the world born with cleft lip and palate, they can be a helpful tool in comprehensive cleft care. Lilia, who was born with cleft lip and palate in 2020, is one of the many patients who received this care.

As a toddler, Lilia underwent two surgeries to treat cleft lip and palate with Operation Smile’s surgical program in Puebla, Mexico. Because of Operation Smile’s comprehensive care, it wasn’t long before her personality transformed: Lilia went from a quiet and withdrawn toddler to an exuberant, curious explorer, babbling, expressing herself with a variety of sounds, and engaging with others like any child her age.

Lilia is now a healthy five-year-old, with the same cheerful attitude and boundless energy. Her progress is the result of care at every level, from surgery to speech therapy to ongoing support at home—but it’s also evidence that small, sustained interventions throughout it all can make a meaningful difference.

Cleft Conditions: A Global Problem

Since 1982, Operation Smile has provided cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries to more than 500,000 patients worldwide with the help of generous volunteers and donors. Cleft conditions are congenital conditions, meaning they are present at birth. With cleft lip and palate, the lip or the roof of the mouth do not form fully during fetal development. Cleft conditions put children at risk for malnutrition and poor weight gain, since their facial structure can make feeding challenging. But cleft conditions can have an enormous social impact as well: Common difficulties with speech can leave kids socially isolated and unable to meet the same developmental milestones as their peers.

Surgery is a vital step in treating cleft conditions, but it’s also just one part of a much larger solution. Organizations like Operation Smile emphasize the importance of multi-disciplinary teams that provide comprehensive, long-term care to patients across many years. This approach, which includes oral care, speech therapy, nutritional support, and psychosocial care, not only aids in physical recovery from surgery but also helps children develop the skills and confidence to eat easily, speak clearly, and engage in everyday life. This ensures that each patient receives the full range of support they need to thrive.

A Playful (and Powerful) Solution

Throughout a patient’s care, simple tools like bubbles can play a meaningful role from start to finish.

Immediately before surgery, children are often in a new and unfamiliar environment far from home, some of them experiencing a hospital setting for the first time. When care providers or loved ones blow bubbles, it’s a simple yet effective technique: Not only are the children soothed and distracted, the bubbles also help create a sense of joy and playfulness that eases their anxiety.

In speech therapy, bubbles can take on an even more important role. Blowing bubbles requires controlled airflow, as well as the ability to form a rounded “O” shape with the lips, which are skills that children with cleft conditions may struggle to develop. Practicing these skills with bubbles allows children to gently strengthen their facial muscles, improve breath control, and support the motor skills needed for speech development. Beyond that, blowing bubbles can help kids connect with their parents or providers in a way that’s playful, comforting, and accessible even for very young patients.

Finally, bubbles often follow patients with cleft conditions home in the “smile bags” that each patient receives when the surgical procedure is finished. Smile bags, which help continue speech therapy outside of the hospital setting, can contain language enrichment booklets, a mirror, oxygen tubing, and bubbles. While regular practice with motor skills can help with physical recovery, small acts of play help as well, giving kids space to simply enjoy themselves and join in on what peers are able to do.

Bubbles at Home and Beyond

Today, because of Operation Smile’s dedication to comprehensive cleft care, Lilia is now able to make friends and speak clearly, all things that could have been difficult or impossible before. Instead of a childhood defined by limitation, Lilia—and others around the world—can look forward to a childhood filled with joy, learning, discovery, friends, and new possibilities.

CTA: Lilia’s life was changed for the better with the care she received through Operation Smile. Find out how you can make an impact in other children’s lives by visiting operationsmile.org today.

This story brings a whole new meaning to the word friendship.

In October 2020, the middle schoolers of Rye Junior High, in Rye, New Hampshire, bid a bon voyage to their handmade mini-boat, which set sail off the coast of New Hampshire to who-knows-where.

Measuring only 5.5 feet, the “Rye Riptides” was indeed a small ship. It ran crewless, but carried a bountiful cargo of colorful artwork made by students, along with a GPS tracking device that reported the boat’s location … sometimes.

Cut to 462 days and 8,300 miles later, and what started out as a simple science project became a surprise discovery for some Norwegian sixth graders, and a fun new connection across the Atlantic.

Rye Junior High had partnered with Educational Passages, a nonprofit organization that aims to connect students around the world to the ocean and each other. Once the kit arrived, the kids started building while learning about ocean currents, science and math. However, science teacher Sheila Adams shares that the more artistic, right-brained activities equally found their way into the curriculum. “The students needed to use their writing skills to inform others about their mini-boat project, describe our school and town to people of other languages, just in case, and write requests to get the boat deployed,” she said in a release.

Then the pandemic nearly derailed the whole thing

COVID-19 nearly threatened to knock the Rye Riptides off its course. The boat had been constructed, but not yet decorated, when students were moved to taking class online. Then, there was the matter of launching the boat. Which Cassie Stymiest, Executive Director of Educational Passages, noted was “challenging with all the restrictions in place.”

Luckily, creativity, resourcefulness and a little technology saved the day. Working remotely, each piece of art was done at home, then scanned, printed and made into a collage. Then, Ms. Stymiest connected with the Sea Education Association (SEA), which set the Rye Riptides on its journey.

Would the boat make it to Europe? Rye student Solstice Reed wasn’t so sure. “Honestly, I thought it would sink,” she admitted to the Portsmouth Herald. Considering the boat was cruising the ocean waters during hurricane season, the skepticism was well-founded. During the more tumultuous periods, the GPS signal only came in intermittently. And for a long while, there was nothing but........

© Upworthy

visit website