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There will be a lot fewer 'graduations'.
Bob Parr had it right. The sheer number of 'graduation' ceremonies in the States is ridiculous. Graduation ceremonies, with robes and hats and things, ought to be reserved for the big milestones- by which I mean only if the next phase of your schooling is purely voluntary rather than required by law. High school? Yes. College? Yes. Graduate school? Yes.
Eighth grade? No, although you can have a commencement. No silly hats, though. You're going to a different school with more complicated subjects, but you still have to keep going, so you don't get the silly hats and clothes.
Kindergarten? No. Not that five-year-olds or whatever in hats and robes aren't cute, but c'mon. They're five. Or six. Or whatever. Some of them've only completed one year of schooling. Give them an end-of-year party. They'll probably be happier.
Grade school to middle school? Don't make the Emperor come down there and hit you.
The Emperor changed schools when she went from preschool to kindergarten, when she went into third grade, when she went into fifth grade, when she went into sixth grade, when she started high school, when she went into college, and several times in the course of post-graduate study. She got graduation ceremonies for kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, college, and grad school. This is not sour grapes. This is annoyance at people getting into the same froth about graduation for a bunch of kids who probably would be a lot happier running around screaming like monkeys and throwing Kool-Aid at each other than trying to march in formation to receive diplomas because now they are six.
Graduation should be a sign that you are getting out and making your own decisions, at least as far as you are able (parents get so touchy about kids saying they don't want to go to college that it's not always really the kid's decision). It's supposed to mean something, and be earned. So as long as I'm choosing the textbooks, I'm also lowering the boom on anybody who tries to hand out graduations left, right, and center.
Thank you.
Bob Parr had it right. The sheer number of 'graduation' ceremonies in the States is ridiculous. Graduation ceremonies, with robes and hats and things, ought to be reserved for the big milestones- by which I mean only if the next phase of your schooling is purely voluntary rather than required by law. High school? Yes. College? Yes. Graduate school? Yes.
Eighth grade? No, although you can have a commencement. No silly hats, though. You're going to a different school with more complicated subjects, but you still have to keep going, so you don't get the silly hats and clothes.
Kindergarten? No. Not that five-year-olds or whatever in hats and robes aren't cute, but c'mon. They're five. Or six. Or whatever. Some of them've only completed one year of schooling. Give them an end-of-year party. They'll probably be happier.
Grade school to middle school? Don't make the Emperor come down there and hit you.
The Emperor changed schools when she went from preschool to kindergarten, when she went into third grade, when she went into fifth grade, when she went into sixth grade, when she started high school, when she went into college, and several times in the course of post-graduate study. She got graduation ceremonies for kindergarten, eighth grade, high school, college, and grad school. This is not sour grapes. This is annoyance at people getting into the same froth about graduation for a bunch of kids who probably would be a lot happier running around screaming like monkeys and throwing Kool-Aid at each other than trying to march in formation to receive diplomas because now they are six.
Graduation should be a sign that you are getting out and making your own decisions, at least as far as you are able (parents get so touchy about kids saying they don't want to go to college that it's not always really the kid's decision). It's supposed to mean something, and be earned. So as long as I'm choosing the textbooks, I'm also lowering the boom on anybody who tries to hand out graduations left, right, and center.
Thank you.
