It's a good bet that most of us couldn't name the person who spoke at our high school graduation, let alone remember anything about the message itself.

The most prominent speaker I heard at a graduation was Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who became the sixth of only 12 men to step on the moon. In 1996, he spoke at my nephew's graduation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida but I can't recall anything about his speech.Two years ago, David McCullough Jr., an English teacher and the son of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, delivered a 12-minute commencement speech titled "You are not special" to a senior class at Wellesley High School, a suburb of Boston. The immediate reaction was positive. After the ceremony, McCullough received a number of compliments, including one student who shouted "That was awesome!" as he was walking to the parking lot.It didn't end there. The video, which McCullough didn't know was being shot, went viral and he was soon inundated by emails and interview requests from reporters around the globe. It became the graduation speech of 2012 and McCullough became known as the "you're not special" guy.Now, the speech, which has had over 2 million views on YouTube, has been expanded into a book. With four children - three of whom are teenagers - McCullough can write with some authority.His main thrust is that the pressure to excel prevents students from taking chances and learning from failure. Pushed by well-meaning but overbearing parents who have become micromanagers, McCullough says today's teenagers are becoming preoccupied with conspicuous achievement but phobic about failure. To be average is to be thought inferior and to be ordinary is to be left behind.Many teens have inflated notions of themselves, and that they are destined to a life of success and happiness. McCullough says this has led to a new cult of exceptionalism. He says it's no wonder so many of our children are having trouble recognizing what matters and are underprepared, anxious or having trouble finding their way.Today's graduates are under much more pressure than their parents and grandparents were at the same stage of life. That blunt 12-minute message McCullough delivered two years ago has certainly caused many to pause and take off those rose-colored glasses as they ponder their futures.By Jim Zbickeditor@tnonline.com