Source: WENN

Drake is moving his little emo self right up on my ladder of respect since I found out he was becoming a high school graduate last week. On Friday night, the 26-year-old received his high school diploma during a ceremony at the Jarvis Collegiate Institute in Toronto and upon acceptance he delivered a rather commendable speech to the crowd of students about the importance of following through and placing education ahead of materialism.

Drake started off his speech admitting that in school he often wondered why he couldn’t learn about actual life, like how to make food or go out and make money, but it wasn’t until he became famous that he “got it” — it being the importance of education. Here’s what he said:

I was one of those students that, despite the incredible support and despite the incredible knowledge and the incredible love that Kim Jansen (his high school teacher) would show me every single day, I still managed to fight this education system and say, ‘it wasn’t for me’. I wanna let you know today as I stand in front of you that, I get it. I get why this institution is in place for each and every one of us.

It’s not necessarily about the books that you will read or the science or the math equations that you will do because you may end up taking a path in life where the things that you have learned, you can’t necessarily fully apply and that’s okay. It’s not about the popular kids, the kids that don’t feel as popular in life because all of that changes. I promise you, I’m 26 years old and all of that changes.

What this is about, today, for all of you, is the art of following through and that is one of the most important life lessons that my uncle has taught me. It’s about teaching the art of following through and I want to say that I’m so proud of you because there are different ways to follow through. Tonight you followed through with a straight shot and for that, you should give yourself a round of applause.

For me, my follow through was different. I had to double back. I reached a point in my life where I realized that there aren’t material things that could give me the excitement that I’m looking for. There’s a void, there is a gap in my life that I need to fill and I needed to sit long and hard to think about what that was. And it was the fact that I had left a gaping hole in my story of following through. So for five months, we talked back and forth on emails, we worked, I wrote papers, I studied for an exam, and we figured out how I could close my chapter of following through.

What I want to tell you today is that sometimes it’s about going there, not getting there. Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination. And sometimes when you get there, you’ll look back and you’ll look back and you’ll realize that you wish you could go there again because all of the experiences that you went through are the reason that you are who you are today. Today I want to give you all, myself included, a round of applause for getting there.

Good job following through Drizzy. Check out his speech here. What do you think?

Image: Comstock

A Georgetown University study shows that those with only a high school education have been hurt most by the economic recession. Between the beginning of 2010 and the beginning of this year, people who only went as far as a high school diploma lost 200,000 jobs.

Those with a college degree have fared much better. The research broke down the 140 million members of the U.S. workforce into three groups: those with no college education; those with some college or an Associate’s degree; and those with a Bachelor’s degree or more. The research found that the group with the college degree and better suffered no net job loss over the two-year time period. In fact, the number of people who had jobs climbed by 2.2 million people between the first signs of the recession in 2007 to the beginning of this year.

This probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise. But it does say something about the ways in which our workforce and the jobs available in this country are moving in a different direction.

“Industries like manufacturing, construction and transportation, where many of the jobs don’t require college degrees, have all had sharp job losses since the recession started,” Forbes reports. There’s been a great deal of focus about how the loss of these jobs affects men. However, job losses in government and education have affected women as well.

African-American women are swarming college campuses, in essence creating a cushion for themselves against this current recession and future economic fluctuations. As we continue to make progress in this “innovation economy” having that degree under your belt will become even more important.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its list of the 40 highest paying jobs that don’t require a Bachelor’s degree. The work covers a range of industries and professions from mechanics and electricians to municipal and construction workers to those requiring organizational skill or artistic talent. And even at the bottom of the list of the top 40 — first-line supervisors of correctional officers — the median annual salary tops $55,000 per year (as of 2010).

It’s worth noting that a number of the jobs require some form of post-high school study. Many of the positions related to the engineering or medical fields (respiratory therapists, for example), require an Associate’s degree. Other jobs, like insurance appraisers and commercial drivers, require some sort of non-degree training.

Also worth mentioning — there are projected to be more than 1.2 million openings for registered nurses, number 18 on the list, through 2020. The median annual income as of May 2010 was $64,690.

Last year’s number one, radiation therapist has slipped to number six though the media income, $74,980, has stayed the same. Here are your top five, via Business Insider:

Image: Comstock

5. First-line supervisors of police and detectives
-Median income as of May 2010: $78,260
-Projected job openings through 2020: 38,700
-Requires a high school diploma

4. Transportation, storage and distribution managers
“In charge of operations that range from railroads to shipping facilities,” according to Business Insider.
-Median income as of May 2010: $80,210
-Projected job openings through 2020: 33,700
-Requires a high school diploma

3. Construction manager
-Median income as of May 2010: $83,860
-Projected job openings as of 2020: 120,400
-Requires an Associate’s degree

2. General and operations managers
-Median income as of May 2010: $94,400
-Projected job openings as of 2020: 410,100
-Requires an Associate’s degree

1. Air traffic controller
-Median income as of May 2010: $108,040
-Projected job openings as of 2020: 10,200
-Requires an Associate’s degree

And here are a couple of honorable mentions for professions populated heavily by women.

Dental hygenist
 -Median income as of May 2010:  $68,250
-Projected job openings as of 2020: 104,900
-Requires an Associate’s degree

Fashion designer
-Median income as of May 2010: $64,530
-Projected job openings as of 2020: 6,700
-Requires a high school diploma

It’s a shame when you have to go to prison to get free. Not that this is the case for Ja-Rule, but he certainly seems to be enjoying his time behind bars more than most.

Recently the rapper, with the help of former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski, earned his GED.

He had some kind words to say about the people in prison.

Find out what he had to say and what’s next for the rapper at theGrio.com.

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