What's the point of graduation?

[Tilia]

I don't, however, see the point of holding "graduations" from preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, or middle school. You're not ****ing done yet, what are you celebrating? That you've made it two-thirds of the way through? Good job, you're almost done! Unfortunately, "almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

It's an achievement from their point of view. We had celebrations from hish school and from whatever-it's-called-what-you-go-to-before-that, since that are important too. Don't know how it is in other countries, but starting high school here is very different from the school you went to before and it's no longer compulsory. So why not celebrate when you have an opportunity? Celebrations are fun!

U.S. high school is compulsory, which is why I don't understand holding a graduation for finishing:

preschool - congratulations, you're basically graduating from daycare...as far as I know it's impossible to fail preschool unless you have severe, severe behavioral issues.

kindergarten - your mastery of the mechanics of academia (i.e. the alphabet, numbers, writing your name, reading monosyllabic words) merits praise, but not another graduation ceremony. the focus of kindergarten really needs to be on developing social skills, anyway - you can only expect so much from five-year-olds academically, you know?

elementary school - you've just spent the past five years learning the skills you'll need for the other half of your educational career - you haven't done anything with those skills yet. it seems like the purpose of holding a fifth grade graduation is just because it would feel weird not to, given that you've already graduated from preschool and kindergarten.

or middle school - i'll grant that getting through middle school without at least mild psychological damage is a feat, in some places more than others, but that's not what graduation is celebrating. eighth grade graduation, again, just seems like it's done as a matter of course because you've already had three, what harm could one more do? especially because, in some places at least, titles like valedictorian are determined by popular vote as opposed to GPA, like in high school.

I'm just glad I didn't have to sit through five long, mostly boring and slightly emotional ceremonies during my 12 years of compulsory schooling. I feel like it would've cheapened the significance of high school graduation if I'd already graduated from every school I've ever gone to, because of the emphasis placed on high school graduation by American culture. Small wonder so many graduating seniors don't seem to see the point of sitting through another ceremony. My mom works at my high school and it's astounding how many students come in asking if they have to go to graduation, uuughh, as though it's some kind of huge inconvenience. High school graduation--the only one that counts for anything, ever--is cheapened by having students go through graduation ceremonies at the end of every level of school.

OK, that amount of ceremonies seems a bit exaggerated. And how much do small children understand of all this ceremonies? Bet they're bored to death by them. We had some ceremonies when we graduated from the compulsory school at 16 years old and also when graduating high school, in this case IB.

[Sandwich]

OK, that amount of ceremonies seems a bit exaggerated. And how much do small children understand of all this ceremonies? Bet they're bored to death by them. We had some ceremonies when we graduated from the compulsory school at 16 years old and also when graduating high school, in this case IB.

I'm no expert, but I think that a lot of the ceremonies for younger kids aren't so much for the children as for the parents. At least, they're the ones who get the most enjoyment out of it!

[Tilia]

OK, that amount of ceremonies seems a bit exaggerated. And how much do small children understand of all this ceremonies? Bet they're bored to death by them. We had some ceremonies when we graduated from the compulsory school at 16 years old and also when graduating high school, in this case IB.

I'm no expert, but I think that a lot of the ceremonies for younger kids aren't so much for the children as for the parents. At least, they're the ones who get the most enjoyment out of it!

Yes, of course. After all, children are just going to school and progressing in order to make their parents proud and happy.

[Stereoisomer]

Graduation to me is like a full stop at the end of a sentence.

It provides me with a sense of completion. After graduation, I can officially label "high school" as a closed chapter in my life.

[~vola]

OK, that amount of ceremonies seems a bit exaggerated. And how much do small children understand of all this ceremonies? Bet they're bored to death by them. We had some ceremonies when we graduated from the compulsory school at 16 years old and also when graduating high school, in this case IB.

I'm no expert, but I think that a lot of the ceremonies for younger kids aren't so much for the children as for the parents. At least, they're the ones who get the most enjoyment out of it!

I will admit I don't know if there are any schools/districts that actually hold all of those ceremonies, but I know they're all observed somewhere in the US.

It's funny, really, that by the time you get to high school graduation the students are capable of sitting still and the parents are the ones being disruptive. If I had a dollar for every scream of "WE LOVE YOU ____," every air horn, every bout of raucous applause at inappropriate moments during my high school graduation (which would be all of them - seriously guys?), I wouldn't need to take out student loans to go to college. This kind of crap doesn't happen at preschool/kindergarten graduations. There's applause, but no screaming or air horns, and there's a hell of a lot more time to clap for Little Susie when she's one of a graduating class of twenty, not six hundred and twenty.

[Center Field]

I didn't know they had preschool graduation ceremonies.

And I agree, the raucous idiocies of adults at graduations are very irritating. They actually banned air horns at our ceremony last year-it seemed to work-but people weren't happy about it.

[~vola]

I didn't know they had preschool graduation ceremonies.

And I agree, the raucous idiocies of adults at graduations are very irritating. They actually banned air horns at our ceremony last year-it seemed to work-but people weren't happy about it.

Oh, we've officially banned air-horns, noisemakers and signs too. I shudder to think what the ceremonies were like before they were banned. I'm *almost* expecting someone to have a vuvuzela next year (my mom works at my high school and I came home from college for the summer before graduation 2010, so I was asked to help set up this year...and probably will be next year, too).

[Jazmine]

For me graduation is the end of high school and the beginning of the rest of my life to an extent- corny right?

Im looking forward to walking the stage with my class wearing my IB and NHS decoration things and recieving my diploma with my family and friends watching.

[kiwi.at.heart]

This may or may not b what's its like for around Australia but for my school graduation is a big deal. We don't have a prom or ball or anything like that during the year but save it for graduation. Everyone gets dressed up and parents come along and its basically a formal celebration of finishing high-school. But for most of us it will be more our last chance to have a good time with all our classmates before we all leave our separate ways.

However, us IB students have to come back in February the next year for our IB graduation which to be honest is just saying congrats, you managed to survive IB and passed.

Edit: Oh yeah, and you can't forget schoolies week. Its basically a week where you basically go somewhere and have a good time for the week after exams finish for everyone. Most famous for under-age drinking and older legal people crashing the party and ruining it for everyone, its really just like a a huge, out of control party that goes one for a week.

Edited December 30, 2010 by Kiwiatheart

[Grumps]

It's one of the most important things in our society. It's a hoop to jump through.

All the uselessness you can find in it only reinforces its place in society of meaningless ritual and blind obedience.