A little pomp. And also, circumstance.

[nightengalesknd]

There seems to be a bit of graduation inflation going on. Coworkers have been going to their children’s kindergarten and 8th grade graduations. A patient recently had a preschool graduation, complete with mortarboard, tassel and gown. Of course, I cooed over the picture and I congraduated my co-workers. But I can’t help thinking that preschool

Comments

[songblaze]

My blasted 8th grade 'graduation' was a frustrating joke. We spent so damn long rehearsing for the damn thing, and who wants to hear speeches from EVERY person in the class? I'll grant you, it was only a class of 8, but still. And each of the other grades had to either sing a song or recite a poem for us.

Ye gods I hated that school. I was only there a year, but it was clear it was hell. I was so very happy to escape. It completely boggles my mind that someone would think that making kids wear formal uniforms (black dress shoes with no more than 1/2" heel, navy tights, grey wool skirts, white buttondown shirt red sweater vest, navy blazer, and an ascot, for the older girls - I can't remember what the younger ones wore) and go to an assembly that took up most of the morning every week. Oh, and around once a month, you had to perform at said assembly, with relatively big productions at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter...plus a patriotic one and a musical review on dates I can't remember. Did I mention that parents were expected to come to all of these? Such a ridiculous production of showing off what the school is training your offspring to do.

I kind of regret not graduating from high school. My high school was a little all-girls place, and like a lot of the old, small schools, it had a rather lovely ceremony. White dresses, each girl given a bouquet of red roses, etc. I think there was a celebratory luncheon after, but it's been half a lifetime, so I don't remember for certain.

My undergrad and grad school graduations were...well, I was glad my family was there, and proud of me. One of my favorite uncles turned out for both, which was nice.

My law school graduation got me all choked up. You know all the crap I've been through to get that degree. I was the last one to process and all. We had a speaker I liked, who talked about how injustice happens because people don't stand up, and how it's something that we have a special responsibility to do - to uphold not just the rule of law, but justice. Hudson was anxious because of all the noise, so he was a bit of a pain, but I had professors and admin staff all telling me how glad they were that I was there, how happy it made them to see me really make it. The dean of my law school congratulated me in a low voice, and said she admired my tenacity. As I crossed the stage after receiving my diploma, I punched it up into the air, and the crowd cheered. I don't know if it was just that they liked the show of spirit from a graduate, or if they saw the dog and figured my road had been harder than most. But the whole arena cheered for me. I was hard-pressed not to cry. It was a very special moment that I will always carry with me.