Is the lack of decorum at graduation ceremonies a sign that an "Idiocracy" is upon us?

[toobusytoday]

I'm happy to report that my son's college graduation would have been deemed boring. There were about 500 students that walked across the stage (some students didn't show up for the ceremony) and besides a smile and wave to the crowd, that was it from the graduates. No air horns, no beach balls. Lots of applause and some wooo hoos! but that was it.

[utsci]

Our little family hasn't attended many graduations. My husband was drafted before he could attend his HS graduation. However we did attend his undergraduate graduation in the late 1990s and it was pretty tame for a state college with a lot of graduates. There were some beach balls tossed around before the ceremonies began but it ceased with the invocation.

I did not attend either my HS or undergrad graduations. I graduated ahead of my HS class and there was no such thing as a Winter Commencement back then and I had to work on the day that the ceremony was held. I could have asked for the day off. But I was on my way to saving for college. My undergrad ceremony took place in the middle of my internship, needless to say no one in our major made it to the ceremony 3 hours from a real city where most of us were training. I don't feel that I missed out on anything but then, I didn't attend prom or any of those other seemingly milestone events either.

Our daughter was homeschooled so there was no HS graduation to attend. We did attend her undergrad (same school as her dad) and it was very nice. Even though everyone could purchase a professional portrait of their family member receiving their diploma, most people wanted their own pictures. But it was all very respectful. People would quiety stand up and snap a few shots and sit right back down. There were a few who had to get closer but they were good about remaining crouched down so they did not block anyone's view of the stage. Yes, there were a few who left before it was all over, but not many. Her graduation was in May on the quad outdoors (grassy, sunny, warm), the kids were on a stage and the audience was a bit lower on folding chairs on the lawn. Her dad's was in December in the auditorium. It seemed like most families stuck around to visit with other families, take pictures by the historic buildings on campus, and it was an hour or two before most people left the area. Most families had bbq's that spread out from about Thursday evening to Sunday evening so the kids could go to each other's parties and not miss their own. At the graduation we clapped for all the kids we knew, not just our own, and stood to cheer at the end of each major. She will now be graduating with her master's soon and is not interested in attending commencement. She has not enjoyed her time in this particular city and the curriculum has been weak, not what she was expecting. She has made some lifelong friends (and perhaps her lifelong companion) though none of them are students. Her friends are either PhD students or MS degreed lab researchers and they have all been to tons of graduations, not interested in "just one more." Her significant other was not a student and was recently transferred. We were willing to go the 2000 miles for the ceremony but she said she would rather have some financial help as she transitions into the work world. Instead of paying the graduation attendance fees she is using the money to buy her honor sash and cords that she would have worn for graduation and have her diploma professionally framed.

I'm not sure that graduation ceremonies are what they used to be. I wish they would do away with painting the mortarboards on the caps. I did find that distracting when we attended a graduation recently for a family friend. As for weddings, I think the actual ceremony should be respectful...something to remember for the rest of your life. But I feel the reception is a time to have fun and let the families merge with all of their weirdness and love.

On the note of weddings, my husband and I eloped when the minister refused to marry us one week before the wedding. We had a beautiful and memorable ceremony by the JP and I think things like that happen for a reason. I still remember every word 32 years later. We kept our reception as planned since there were people coming in from out of town. It was very enjoyable because we had married the weekend before so the reception was just about enjoying our friends and families as the emotion of the ceremony had already been absorbed the week before. I still wore my wedding dress to the reception so that pictures would do the affair justice. My daughter would like a small wedding, church or not doesn't matter to her but might matter to the groom's family (the current one, if they marry, was raised in his faith) but I know she would love an outdoor evening reception either on a beach (both of their jobs involve the ocean) or maybe near Lake Tahoe since we live nearby. But she tells me that she would like to keep it small, just immediate family and friends. She liked our idea..we only had about 40-50 people attend the reception. It was intimate and we were able to visit with everyone who came for our special day. But these days, their friends are spread to the wind so not many would be able to attend. And they were both raised in different cities. If they do a destination beach wedding I'm sure it will be small unless people incorporate it as a vacation.

I often say that I was ruined after watching Idiocracy because I now see it everywhere. Some of her college friends were absolutely glued to video games, could not string 5 words together in a sentence, lacked basic social skills. Now that she has moved into a social group that is more well educated I see them doing things like community service on the weekends, painting classes in the evenings, wine/art walks in the city, and enjoying typical community events. At this stage she is no longer sitting in the college decor living room, passing the beer, and listenting to the guys grunt as they play video games. That was considered a "date" during her HS and undergrad years. Maybe it has to do with the new grad school friends being a bit older (many of them are in their 30s, she is only 23), settled with families of their own, and trying to make a degree program, mortgage, spouse, and kids all work at the same time. So a Saturay night potluck followed by a painting class or sporting event seems like the thing to do. I have to admit that I was afraid she would get stuck in Idiocracy.

[believe007]

I see nothing wrong with a little liveliness & playfulness thrown into the ceremony.....
When my twins graduated last week we were on our feet (all 10 of us, lol)........
just jubilantly showing our happiness, awe & pride in them.......


Conversely the people who overdo it & stomp, howl, act stupid &
don't quiet down for the next graduates--
They're embarrassingly obnoxious.

Thank God the University they graduated from is a classy place & we had no worries about that

[JeffersonP]

I have been a part of seven graduations myself and have attended many others from preschool to elementary school, middle school, high school, college and Church Bible Institute Graduations. All of the graduations I've been to or been a part of the audience has conducted themselves pretty nicely except for one. The one graduation that I happened to be a part of where the audience did not conduct themselves very well was unfortunately my high school graduation. I graduated from high school back in June 1996. The audience was just so rowdy and out of control. They was loud throughout the whole entire ceremony. They talked and made all this noise. People were whistling, yelling names out, standing on chairs, getting out into the aisles interfering with the procession. People were getting out in the aisles and hugging their loved ones as they were walking down the aisle. I remember the Student Council President who was a Senior had to ask the audience three times; "May I have your attention please". The only time the audience was quiet was when the Class Valedictorian gave her speech. But other than that the audience was real loud during the whole ceremony. They were so loud that they had to be asked three times to please be quiet but it fell on death ears. The audience was so rowdy and ridiculously out of control they was even annoying some of us graduates. I remember this one girl that was sitting next to me kept saying "I wish they would shut up". A few of my other classmates that were sitting around me said the same thing too. I just sat there in stunned disbelief of what I was seeing. To this day 23 years later I still cannot believe how the way that audience conducted themselves. My high school graduation day that day was still a great day but because of how the way the audience conducted themselves I really couldn't enjoy the moment and the ceremony in the way that I would've had liked to. I actually enjoyed my Senior Prom and my Senior Class Trip much better than my own graduation and I think that is sad and pathetic that I have to say that. I'm sure I wasn't the only graduate from my class that day that felt the same way I did. The way the audience acted at my high school graduation on that June Day 23 years ago was ridiculous and ignorant. It was like they took the moment and spotlight away from us graduates. The people in the audience was acting like it was their day and their moment and it really was not. I understand that they was happy and excited to see their loved ones graduating but they still could've had conducted themselves with some class and some decency. The way that audience was acting I thought I was at a live NFL Football Game or some Rock Concert. Its events like those where you act like that not at a graduation ceremony. You only get a chance to graduate from high school once and once that graduation day comes and go you can't get it back. That is why it is important to be considerate of the graduates. I just don't blame the audience alone. I also blame the leadership at my school for how the way that audience acted. For one, I think my high school's biggest mistake was having the graduation ceremony in the school auditorium. Now even though we had a large auditorium and our class was at an appropriate size to have the graduation ceremony there, it was not a good idea to do it there. It should've been done at a larger outside venue. I think the audience would've still been loud and rowdy at another venue but however they would not had been able to get out in the aisles and interfere with the procession and stand up on chairs like they did at the school auditorium. Also the school was at thought for the quality of sound in the microphone system. The microphone system in the auditorium was not working properly that day. With the audience making so much noise and the mics not working properly it was hard to hear anything that was being said. I hope and pray though that I never experience another rowdy graduation audience like that ever again at any graduation I go to or may be a participant of.

[MI-Roger]

Originally Posted by Blackscorpion

I agree with you..umm uh..how do i say your name?

Maybe "Music Lover"? Just a guess.

[jamary1]

I attended a college graduation a few years ago at which "everything" went. Well, almost everything.....as total nudity had been banned that year. Yes, there had been totally nude grads in the past.


This was an "honors college", at which supposedly the smartest kids in the state were graduating. Of course, the college didn't want to "stifle" their "creativity" in any way, and that included at graduation.


Graduates didn't wear caps and gowns; they dressed however they pleased, according to their majors or interests. There were mermaids and witches/wizards and clowns and one person dressed as a model of the solar system. There were also two male grads dressed only in their "tighty-whities" and tennis shoes, being as how that was as near to nude they could get and still walk the stage.


It was interesting, to say the least.

[Tinawina]

I know this thread is old, but this is totally the kind of topic where the only appropriate response is “OK, boomer”. Geesh lmao!!!

[tnff]

Originally Posted by Tinawina

I know this thread is old, but this is totally the kind of topic where the only appropriate response is “OK, boomer”. Geesh lmao!!!

You're going to have to explain how civility is a boomer problem. Not sure how screaming, air horns, foot stomping, etc is a generational problem because guess what--- the families if the next 3 people in line would like to hear their son's/daughter's name too regardless of what age they are. And all that carrying on steals that opportunity from them.

[nana053]

Graduations when we boomers were kids were nothing like what you see now. Saying OK BOOMER implies that boomers created the problem or are the problem, but that is entirely untrue.