Former Governor of Massachusetts and Democratic presidential nominee Michael S. Dukakis offered summer school students his opinion on a variety of topics ranging from the energy crisis to the Bush tax cut during a Monday night speech at the Kennedy School of Government.

Dukakis, who now teaches at Northeastern University, began his speech by asking the crowd how old they were when he made his run for the presidency in 1988.

As the standing-room only crowd in the Starr Auditorium shouted its answers—usually around ten years old—Dukakis put his hand to his face and exclaimed with a smile, “I used to be a young man!”

Throughout his speech, he emphasized optimism that America was constantly improving.

“Who would of thought that a Greek kid from Brookline was able to run for president?” he asked rhetorically.

Dukakis emphasized the progress that America has made both socially and economically since the days of his youth and recalled the America of yesteryear not with nostalgia but with pragmatism.

“If anyone tries to tell you about the good old days, just remember that they’re probably wrong,” he said.