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When you first start reading this post, it may seem like it's not suited for the Education boards for a bit. Please bear with me; I promise it will be education-related in just a few seconds.
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On the Fashion section of these forums, there is a discussion regarding what type of attire should be worn at a special occasion. Some posters lamented that often people who attend special events refuse to dress up and even show up in "sloppy" attire. Others felt casual dress is perfectly acceptable. Some were even in favor of super-casual.
Over on the Parenting section of the boards, there is a discussion about not being able to see one's child during a special occasion. There is debate over whether the children should have been arranged by height and whether the parents' ability to see their child should trump the teacher's arrangement of the children.
In both cases, the "special event" was a school graduation (see, I told you I'd bring this back to an Education-related topic!). In the first case, it was an elementary school graduation ceremony. In the second case, it was a Kindergarten graduation. Both threads nearly veered off-track when people began questioning the necessity of these graduations, rather than discussing the topic the OP wanted to discuss.
My question to you, my dear fellow posters, is this: what is your opinion regarding prior-to-high-school graduations? Should there be Preschool graduation, Kindergarten graduation, 6th grade graduation, 8th grade Graduation and THEN High School graduation? Do all these graduations help the child celebrate milestones in his/her educational life? Do they give the child a sense of accomplishment and mark transitions? Are they, in your opinion, necessary? Or do they cheapen the High School graduation, so that by the time the kid finishes 12th grade his/her reaction is "ho-hum another graduation where I have to wear a stuffy suit"?
Personally, I think some sort of recognition is nice for the interim big-steps but not a full blown, reserve the auditorium, cap and gown graduation ceremony. Maybe make an announcement at assembly or something. Let them all stand up (as a group) turn around and bow as their fellow students applaud their achievement. At the end of the day, their teacher, or homeroom teacher, awards them each with a Certificate of Completion (and a pat on the head ).
My question to you, my dear fellow posters, is this: what is your opinion regarding prior-to-high-school graduations? Should there be Preschool graduation, Kindergarten graduation, 6th grade graduation, 8th grade Graduation and THEN High School graduation? Do all these graduations help the child celebrate milestones in his/her educational life? Do they give the child a sense of accomplishment and mark transitions? Are they, in your opinion, necessary? Or do they cheapen the High School graduation, so that by the time the kid finishes 12th grade his/her reaction is "ho-hum another graduation where I have to wear a stuffy suit"?
Personally, I think some sort of recognition is nice for the interim big-steps but not a full blown, reserve the auditorium, cap and gown graduation ceremony. Maybe make an announcement at assembly or something. Let them all stand up (as a group) turn around and bow as their fellow students applaud their achievement. At the end of the day, their teacher, or homeroom teacher, awards them each with a Certificate of Completion (and a pat on the head ).
What do you think?
I'm not a teacher but a parent, I have one child entering first grade and one entering pre-K.
To be honest, I find the multiple graduations rather redundant and excessive. I come from the UK, where they don't even have high school graduations, just University ones (VERY SPECIAL).
My daughter had one for pre-K. She liked it, but wouldn't have missed it if nobody had put the idea in her head. I thought it was a bit boring, it is a big school, lots of classes. I had no interest in the other classes and had to take a day off to be there for my daughter. I don't see it as representing any kind of achievement and think ceremonies should be reserved for when they really MEAN something and they were earned.
This year, finishing kindergarten her class just had a pizza party which included the homeroom parents. It was really nice, everybody got closure, we got to say goodbye to the class, teachers and classroom and the kids had a really good time. The teachers prepared some materials which the kids could keep as a reminder. I think that is MUCH more appropriate and put a lot less pressure on parents too.
So, in answer to your question, I think graduations should be reserved for high school and college. To mark the transition from formal education to the working or adult world, and that only real achievements should be celebrated publicly, not just getting older.
That is not to say that the kids shouldn't have transitions marked, but I do think we go overboard on the ceremonies.
Our kids went to a Catholic school for most of their early school years. They have a kindergarten graduation which is mostly just a Mass celebrating the kindergartners. It was a nice thing for the kids. It stemmed from when the kindergarten class was 1/2 day and their becoming part of the full day school. They also had an 8th grade graduation that was also a Mass but had more of a graduation flair. Since they were leaving that school and moving on to the public high school I think it is appropriate. The public schools have more of a party/concert for the 8th graders going on to high school. The kids get dressed up--not overly so, boys in khakis and a collared shirt, girls in a sundress. They have a band concert, choir concert, get a few awards and then have cake afterwards. Nothing too overdone but a simple recognition that they are moving on to a new stage in their lives. I don't see anything wrong with any of these.
Now, some schools the 6th graders have their hair done, nails done, go all out in prom attire, arrive in limos, etc. No, this isn't appropriate for that age.
Not a good idea. I think it cheapens high school and college gradiations if they've had one before they've moved on to every new school. My child just finished kindergarten and she did NOT have a graduation. She didn't miss it.
To me, graduation is the completion of high school and college. The rest is simply promotion to a different grade level (and with the highest grade level leaving the school). Our school does seem to try to use the word promotion instead of graduation, but not always successfully. And most parents refer to it as “graduationâ€.
I thought the 5th grade elementary school “promotion†my kids had was over the top. A big luncheon (for 90 kids) similar to a thanksgiving feast, prepared by parents, a ceremony in the school auditorium followed by a swim party, and classroom parties. Any one of those things would have been enough of a celebration (since the kids were leaving the school…and all were going to the local middle school).
In a year from now my kids will be “promoted†from middle school, and the agenda will include a class picnic, another day at an amusement park, a dance on another evening, and finally a ceremony in the local high school auditorium. Geez, too much!
And, to answer the other part of your question, no, I don't think promotion activities in lower grades will cheapen high school or college graduation. The lower grade activities are just silly ceremonies while high school and college graduation really mean something.
I am not so big on all the interim graduation ceremonies. They are redundant, as on poster stated, and they are a drain on people's time and money. They are unnecessary.
I do think, however, that they should have an awards night for those who have exceeded the average expectations in whatever categories the schools choose. I didn't like the attendance awards because many children were coming to school ill and such. Beyond that, those achievements should be recognized every year, IMO.
I'm not even a fan of high school graduations. Why celebrate something that you should be doing anyway? It's like throwing a party for a father who pays child support.
The best line of many from The Incredibles, when the kid is having a fifth-grade graduation ceremony: "They keep finding new ways to reward mediocrity."
i don't have a problem with celebratory events to mark the transitions, but i think academic regalia should be reserved for high school grads and above. actually, to be perfectly honest, i think it should be reserved for baccalaureates and above, but the high-school custom is so ingrained in our culture, i can't be bothered to rail against it. five-year-olds in cap-and-gown look really silly, though. and, yes, i do think that such ostentatious recognition of these small 'milestones' cheapens true achievement.
I think the elementary and middle school graduation ceremonies are kind of silly. In an area of the country where I live though, I think that high school graduation ceremonies are VERY important. We have big drop-out problems and in my particular neighborhood, poverty issues and teen pregnancy issues and it IS a major accomplishment for many of these kids to make it through high school without quitting or getting pregnant or worse. Especially when some of these kids have zero family support. Many of these kids are not college-bound and that's okay. Not everyone is going to go to college!! I see nothing wrong with celebrating their high school graduation.
Now, it can be taken to the extreme (the focus on high school graduation I mean).. for example, my father never ever forgot that I dropped out of high school. He harped on it for years, even though I got my GED and started college (community, but still) before all my friends were even out of high school. He was FIXATED on the "diploma" which mattered little in the real world, for me. It was silly.
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