Students don't get diploma due to excess cheering from crowd

[33girl]

Quite franky, I think behavior like this has something to do with the fact that graduation ceremonies aren't special anymore. They used to have them for high school and college, that was IT. Now, anything is a "milestone." Graduation from middle school or junior high. Graduation from summer camp. Graduation from any old grade. One of my friends just went to a kindergarten graduation, for God's sake. The next thing is going to be slapping a mortar board on a newborn's head to celebrate its "womb graduation."

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Quite franky, I think behavior like this has something to do with the fact that graduation ceremonies aren't special anymore. They used to have them for high school and college, that was IT. Now, anything is a "milestone." Graduation from middle school or junior high. Graduation from summer camp. Graduation from any old grade. One of my friends just went to a kindergarten graduation, for God's sake. The next thing is going to be slapping a mortar board on a newborn's head to celebrate its "womb graduation."

Part of that as well could be that more people are going to college now. It used to be that high school was the high point of most people's academic careers, and now it's more expected that kids will go to some sort of college. The college graduation has taken away a lot of the importance of the high school one.

[UGAalum94]

I was trying to make really clear that I think the majority of teenagers and their parents are excellent*. Really, I do. Very few people make any trouble at all. It's just the small percentage of people who don't care ruin it for the rest.

The rotten apples basically insist that you have punitive policies because you can't depend on them to act right unless something bad will happen to them if you don't.

The school basically has to decide if they are going let everything go or try to do something to make people act right.

Most schools have elected not to follow through with anything. I admire this school for trying to have nice graduations for all the kids and parents who want to mark the occasion with a sense of politeness and decorum, a group I honestly believe probably make up 98% or more of the total group.

I don't think it's the perfect system for many of the reasons you all have mentioned, but I think it could be one important step.

I agree that graduations aren't special anymore, and I might go along with the "it's because so many people go to college" idea except that you see the same behavior at even college graduations. Some people have come to think it's cute to act this way, and they expect to get away with it.

*But I will note that even some of the excellent kids manipulate or try to manipulate their parents. You really don't think this is true?

[AGDee]

My kids had a preschool graduation too. I thought that was a crock.

[Rudey]

It's a racial issue. The white kids didn't get in trouble.

-Rudey