Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Graduation Time Again
Yep, summer is here and graduation time is upon us again. Granted, it has been ... 16 (OMG!) years since I graduated from high school, but nevertheless here it is again.
My youngest cousin just graduated and I was in attendance. I think it was the shortest graduation ceremony in history because of impending storms in the horizon. From start to finish is was 15 minutes long. The welcomed everyone, said the pledge of allegiance and off they went. And it was perfect timing too. When the last graduate left the field it poured. It was great getting to see that milestone in her life though. It has been a rough road for her, but she is done and off to college. Hard to believe she is 18 now.
Which brings me to something else. I just read this article about a boy not getting his diploma because he blew a kiss to his mother. Yes, you read that right. He blew a kiss to his mother and was told that he would not receive his diploma because he did not follow to rules. Now, at my high school graduation there was a lot of hub-bub about not showing our butts and getting rowdy and all that. There were several people that I knew that didn't get their diploma that day because they were given 30 minutes at the rehearsal to come up with the money to pay fees and they didn't have the money at the time. We were even threatened with not graduating because we couldn't get it right at the rehearsal. I graduated in 1993, amid the re-emergence of the prayer in school debate. To flex our power of free speech, those of us that wanted to participate said the Lord's Prayer right in the middle of our graduation lead by the Student Body President and nothing was done about it. The principal even cracked a little hidden smile. There were cheers and fist pumping's and the like, and NO ONE was told that they wouldn't receive what was rightfully theirs because they celebrated a little. It wasn't like he flashed the audience and flew the bird at administrators. I hope that my children have the forethought to want to thank me at the end of a long 18 years for supporting them in their educational journey. I hope that the school administrators are sued and called out in front of the nation for ruining this young man's happiness on a day that he would have (and no doubt will for the wrong reasons) remember for the rest of his life. Shame on you!
Any thoughts? What was your graduation like?
My youngest cousin just graduated and I was in attendance. I think it was the shortest graduation ceremony in history because of impending storms in the horizon. From start to finish is was 15 minutes long. The welcomed everyone, said the pledge of allegiance and off they went. And it was perfect timing too. When the last graduate left the field it poured. It was great getting to see that milestone in her life though. It has been a rough road for her, but she is done and off to college. Hard to believe she is 18 now.
Which brings me to something else. I just read this article about a boy not getting his diploma because he blew a kiss to his mother. Yes, you read that right. He blew a kiss to his mother and was told that he would not receive his diploma because he did not follow to rules. Now, at my high school graduation there was a lot of hub-bub about not showing our butts and getting rowdy and all that. There were several people that I knew that didn't get their diploma that day because they were given 30 minutes at the rehearsal to come up with the money to pay fees and they didn't have the money at the time. We were even threatened with not graduating because we couldn't get it right at the rehearsal. I graduated in 1993, amid the re-emergence of the prayer in school debate. To flex our power of free speech, those of us that wanted to participate said the Lord's Prayer right in the middle of our graduation lead by the Student Body President and nothing was done about it. The principal even cracked a little hidden smile. There were cheers and fist pumping's and the like, and NO ONE was told that they wouldn't receive what was rightfully theirs because they celebrated a little. It wasn't like he flashed the audience and flew the bird at administrators. I hope that my children have the forethought to want to thank me at the end of a long 18 years for supporting them in their educational journey. I hope that the school administrators are sued and called out in front of the nation for ruining this young man's happiness on a day that he would have (and no doubt will for the wrong reasons) remember for the rest of his life. Shame on you!
Any thoughts? What was your graduation like?
Labels: In The News, Vents
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