By Tian DuBelko
Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps the poster child for successful college dropouts, has finally received his college degree.
Well, sort of. This week, the Facebook CEO returned to his former college, Harvard University, where he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. Zuckerberg also delivered a commencement speech to the class 2017. In doing so, he became the youngest commencement speaker in Harvard’s history.
Under the beaming gaze of his parents, Zuckerberg gave a speech that addressed how our lives could be improved through big projects, efforts toward equal opportunity, as well as creating a community, both locally and globally. He described a plan for the world where “every single person has a sense of purpose.”
Zuckerberg didn’t shy away from relevant topics of employment and technology. He said that we needed to address the impact automation will have on employment and the fact that technology is creating new challenges for those who don’t have access.
It’s well-documented that Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard while a sophomore to work on Facebook full-time. What he created inside his small dorm room now has almost 2 billion users and is the world’s largest social network.
Zuckerberg’s speech at the Harvard commencement reaffirms his status as one of the most influential people of our generation. However, this also comes as Facebook continue to be involved with unsavory headlines. Recently, it was made known that Facebook deals with over 50,000 cases of porn and sex abuse every month. However, Zuckerberg largely focused on sharing his philanthropic philosophy with the Harvard grads.
“We can all make time to give someone a hand,” he said. “Let’s give everyone the freedom to pursue their purpose — not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because when more people can turn their dreams into something great, we’re all better for it.”
