Graduates, Don’t Stop Learning

Congratulations to the Class of 2026! You spent your teenage years in Covid-19 lockdown. You experienced a political roller coaster that rocked even Harvard Yard. You stare into a future in which artificial intelligence offers both promises and perils that are hard to fathom.

Yet amidst all this change, there are some durable truths I’d like to share as you graduate: First, humans are a social species that become smart by being around smart people. Second, our time on this planet is rare and precious — so be careful about trading it for money alone. Finally, most people are neither good nor evil, so treat others with respect, even if they have a different political worldview.

Whether or not you further your formal schooling, learning remains your most important job. Human capital is the bedrock on which individual, regional, and national success rests. No matter how much you have learned so far, you can still learn far more — and your ability to impact the world will depend on the knowledge and skills you absorb from experience and interaction.

Your Harvard years have almost assuredly taught you that you can learn far more from your peers than from lectures. In graduate school, I took classes from some of the greatest economists of the 20th century, but the most important things I learned came from the people with whom I worked on joint research projects. Over the last four years, I myself have learned plenty of things by interacting with the members of Harvard’s Class of 2026. Embrace your inner intellectual magpies. Our greatest skill as a species is our ability to accrue knowledge from the people around us.

Moreover, I suspect that artificial intelligence will only increase the value of the tacit knowledge taught by your mentors, classmates, and co-workers. As Harvard College Dean David J. Deming’s research has taught us, markets increasingly value the combination of social and technical skills. An AI query is only as good as the question being asked, which means that you need to know what knowledge will deliver the most value. Unplanned in-person interactions can teach things that you had no idea were important.

Despite the unpredictable nature of this social learning, you can still shape the process. You will learn more if you seek out people who are smarter than you. You will grow more in a workplace that thrusts you into a maelstrom of spontaneous intelligent activity.

Many of you are eager to earn a good income — perhaps to pay off debts or ease a bit of your family’s burdens. High wages also indicate that your employer values you, which should be a source of pride. But money, like everything else, generates diminishing returns. Some things are more important than cash.

So what should you value more than money? Over many decades, I learned my own answers to that question, but I don’t know yours. Discovering your own values may be another job for the years ahead, and in that quest, you need to be a critical consumer of the values and abilities displayed around you. If a co-worker is an effective salesperson, then you should certainly soak up their interpersonal skills — but that doesn’t mean you should necessarily embrace their moral code.

At the end of the day, don’t be foolish with your time. It is your most precious resource. If you have a high-paying job that also engages your mind and gives you the sense that you are making the world a better place, then you’ve won the employment lottery. But don’t stay at a job you hate only because it pays well. You are gifted enough that you can earn a decent living while still doing work that helps you learn and will make you proud of the way you spend your life.

Finally, presume the decency of strangers — especially when they are from groups other than your own. Humans are rarely saints. I am not, and I bet you aren’t either. Nonetheless, we have the right to be treated as decent human beings. If we expect strangers not to treat us like villains, then we should also offer that treatment to people we don’t know — and indeed, those we disagree with. Guard no one’s conscience but your own.

Unfortunately, America has acquired an ugly judgmentalism, as political entrepreneurs on both sides of the aisle loudly deplore the moral failings of their opponents and their opponents’ supporters. But goodness and evil are well mixed in all of us and are certainly not the property of any political party. It is worthier of you to intellectually dissect policies with which you disagree than to disparage the characters of those who promote them. Interrogating rather than belittling the beliefs of those you disagree with will help you learn the most from the myriad people you meet.

Seek out the smart. Don’t overvalue money. Assume others are as decent as yourself. These are simple rules — but they have brought me a great deal of joy. I hope they also help you.

Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics.