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Disney stopped holding Grad night this year. Universal still has one though. My oldest went to the Disney one when we lived in FL. I was kind of taken aback at all the rules, especially the dress code.
DisneyLAND still has it.
And you should have seen the dress code years ago. I had to wear a dress. Guys had to wear ties.
(We won't get into the dress code if you work there. )
I believe its a tradition that should hold as a great accomplishment
After all you are not only celebrating the kids achievement but also welcoming them into the next stepping stone in life.
After all going from k-12 is tough just think of all the physical changes you go thru and other changes that have shaped you into the person
I do get the point about over doing the celebration and I guess some families over do alot of things but its still a great achievement and should not be looked down on or even worse forgotten.
Ok, I admit it. I'm an education snob. It was drilled into me by my parents how important college was and it was assumed I would definitely go to college.
My dad sold bibles door to door during the depression to put himself thru LSU. He really struggled.My mother took a one year college business course and had to return home to care for ailing mother. But it was always the story about how sad she didn't get to finish college.
Both my husband and I have Masters,I have MBA, daughter did one year graduate work and son is going to get Phd in July. Every body in my family for 2 generations went to college and most have graduate degrees.
Now I don't think everybody should go to college. It can be a colossal waste of time for some but it seems to me high school should be the bare minimum for education these days.
A relative graduated from high school last night and is going on to do very well in college. But you would think he had landed on the moon with all the hoopla around his high school graduation. Lots of parties, receptions, gifts and "We are so proud". Of course he should be proud and he should be congratulated but I'm just not seeing why high school graduation is such a big deal today.
I guess I sound like a snob and a jerk and I'm sure somebody will call me out on this but really---is it that much of an accomplishment anymore? Wouldn't you expect at least this initial education from your kids?
Absolutely. It's another opportunity to let your kid know that you love them and that you're proud of them for the effort that made in this stage of their supremely important educational endeavors. It's a critical time for the kid's development.
My party when I graduated from high school (1972) was to be able to take the night off from work. Of course without pay. My boss told me later that if he'd known I could just go in to school the next day and pick-up my diploma without going through the ceremony I wouldn't have gotten the time off.
College graduation I was working 3-11 so I didn't go to that.
Some of the celebrations may be just "event creep". C'mon, pre-schools have "graduation" now as do elementaries and middle schools. And yes, some of them do the cap and gown thing. My oldest son works for a company that caters events and there was a high school graduation party at one of their facilities a couple weeks ago that featured fireworks which is a minimum $10K just for that.
Where I teach some of the kids are the first ones in their family to make it through high school so I can almost understand it but I agree that an awful lot is being made of not much.
I'm surprised that people think completing thirteen years of education is "not much". FWIW, I am in my 30s and we had kindergarten graduation in the early 80s.
I'm surprised that people think completing thirteen years of education is "not much". FWIW, I am in my 30s and we had kindergarten graduation in the early 80s.
They still have them here. I think the word graduation doesn't hold the same special significance that it nice did because kids "graduate" every few years here. They "graduate" from kindergarten, then 4th or 5th grade depending on the school, the 8th or 9th grade depending on the school and then again after high school. It's ridiculous. Going from 5th to 6th grade is not a milestone worthy of a cap and gown and a graduation theme if all you are doing in the Fall is going into the school building next door. Repeated celebrations for things that are really not a huge deal diminishes the achievement.
High school graduation to me is bigger than college graduation on the scale. I think the kids should party down and celebrate.
I can understand HS graduations --- what I DON'T get is those PreSchool or Kindergarten "graduations" and then parents who make a huge deal of it, throwing a party and inviting family and friends and expecting them to bring gifts, etc as if the child actually accomplished something!
I can understand HS graduations --- what I DON'T get is those PreSchool or Kindergarten "graduations" and then parents who make a huge deal of it, throwing a party and inviting family and friends and expecting them to bring gifts, etc as if the child actually accomplished something!
Our school had those Kindergarten and Preschool graduations - but we never had a separate party at home or anything. I remember the parents/family were always invited to the school function.
I thought it was cool. A chance to go to the school and see my son. The only time I got teary-eyed was (for some reason) when he 'graduated' from elementary school to middle school. That was a big deal for me.
BUT there were no presents involved and no big party; it was just a school function with family invited. A very nice school function though; with a yearbook and every kid got a tshirt signed by every other kid in their grade. It was really nice.
I'm surprised that people think completing thirteen years of education is "not much". FWIW, I am in my 30s and we had kindergarten graduation in the early 80s.
I recall watching a home movie of someone's kindergarten graduation that took place about 1957. The child wore a cap and gown.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cleasach
They still have them here. I think the word graduation doesn't hold the same special significance that it nice did because kids "graduate" every few years here. They "graduate" from kindergarten, then 4th or 5th grade depending on the school, the 8th or 9th grade depending on the school and then again after high school. It's ridiculous. Going from 5th to 6th grade is not a milestone worthy of a cap and gown and a graduation theme if all you are doing in the Fall is going into the school building next door. Repeated celebrations for things that are really not a huge deal diminishes the achievement.
High school graduation to me is bigger than college graduation on the scale. I think the kids should party down and celebrate.
Our district has a "continuation ceremony" at the end of 5th grade when they finish elementary school and continue on to middle school. At the end of 8th grade there is an "honors night". The only graduation is from high school.
Quote:
Originally Posted by omigawd
I can understand HS graduations --- what I DON'T get is those PreSchool or Kindergarten "graduations" and then parents who make a huge deal of it, throwing a party and inviting family and friends and expecting them to bring gifts, etc as if the child actually accomplished something!
I never heard of that! When my DD graduated from pre-school in NY, my husband took some time off from work to go and that was about it. The one who went to pre-school in CO did not have a ceremony.
Yes, it's a big deal. Like someone noted at the start of the thread, it's about more than just the schooling itself -- it's a traditional marker between the end of childhood and the entrance into adulthood. I agree with the poster who said that high school graduation is worthy of a bigger celebration than college graduation. I think it's a MAJOR milestone. That doesn't mean people need to go all-out, but I think an open house plus cards and gifts from close friends and relatives is perfectly reasonable. High school graduation is still a big deal, and the kids deserve our support and congratulations, as well as our well wishes as they move forward into a completely new stage of life.
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