This is the text of the guest speaker's address given on the graduation ceremony of the 2001 class at the Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências da Universidade Estadual Paulista at Marília/São Paulo. It consists in a brief reflection about the moment of graduation, the passage to professional life and the most serious problems of academic life today in Brazil.
Graduation; passage rite; student; education; University; organization; institution