The Last Lecture

Pausch shares his concerns about rising entitlement among today’s youth at the beginning of Chapter 51. He sees this first-hand, with some graduates from Carnegie Mellon complaining that their job prospects are “beneath them.” Pausch received “the tongue-lashing of a lifetime” from his father when he expressed this attitude at 15, and he has learned since that “no job is beneath you” (168).

In Chapter 52 Pausch explains the problems he faced during his first few weeks as a Disney Imagineer. He approached this job like he was still in the world of academia rather than entertainment, and as a result, he wasn’t quite fitting in. However, once he figured out how to blend into this new environment, he had “the best of both worlds” (171).

In Chapter 53 Pausch shares another story about his initial failure to be accepted into graduate school at Carnegie Mellon. He went through a humbling experience where his Dutch uncle, Andy van Dam, had to speak directly to admissions, and Pausch had to relinquish his presumptuous attitude before they reconsidered his application and accepted him. Pausch tells the reader, “the moral of the story is: never give up (and take a boost when offered)” (174).

In Chapter 54 Pausch expounds the virtues of being a communitarian, or someone who focuses on the good of the community over that of the individual. He has his students sign an agreement that they will all work toward the common good while in his class.

As a final reflection on the power of human connection, in Chapter 55 Pausch tells of his dad’s last experience at Disney World. Pausch showed his dad a trick for getting to sit up front on a ride: simply ask the operator. He uses this story to explain that just asking can have great results: “More often than you’d suspect, the answer you’ll get is ‘Sure’” (179).