Puffy Gives Howard Commencement Speech.

When it was announced that rap mogul, entrepreneur, global icon, and music industry legend Sean Combs, also known as P. Diddy or Puffy to those of us over 40, would not only give the commencement speech at Howard University to a class of 1,800 graduating students, but would be given an honorary doctorate, I was surprized, but not shocked. After all it's no secret that as a society we value those who have achieved a certain level of fame as opposed to academic achievement. 

So despite the fact that Puffy dropped out of Howard, or as I like to call it, "The 13th Grade", after two years doesn't matter.

But what did surprize and shock me was the glaring double standard that insued. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook also dropped our of college and was later asked to give the commencement speech at Harvard. The difference is that no one batted an eye or even seemed to care. But there was no shortage of internet commentary, or opinions when it comes to Puffy's May 10th appearance at Howard. The fact is, neither one of these men are shining examples of academic success but moreover, they are examples of entrepreneurial success. Which has little or nothing to do with time spent in the halls of academia. How is either man meant to inspire those who stand with degree in hand looking toward their futures when neither one of them has done so?

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