Graduation Insanity

I read a lot of information that relates to parenting, mostly so that when I become a parent I know what to expect (as much as that is possible). Well, the past month, I've read several articles about high school graduations. I read that in Tulsa, several of the public schools have the graduation around a week or two before the end of school, mostly so that they can control the students and their families during the graduation. I also read of 5 students who were being denied their diplomas because their families cheered for them. Then I read about some family or friends of a student who got arrested for cheering at the ceremony.

Ace and I are wondering when the celebration of achieving a goal turned into the government (these were all public schools, I believe) trying to control the reactions of excited people. I wonder why we have all of these traditions that must be kept during the graduation ceremony (of course, I mean the long, boring speeches that are forever the same). Why do we seem to think that because these have been done for a while they should continue? I realize there is some comfort in things staying the same, but this kind of thing takes it to ridiculous extremes.

I remember that when I graduated from high school (8 years ago), it was after the year ended. There were some people who made noise, excited for their loved one. My graduating class, of over 400 people, all behaved ourselves well and did nothing to make our school look bad. We were proud of our accomplishment, but we wanted to treat the ceremony with the dignity we felt it deserved (plus, it was being video taped). There were no threats of not getting our diploma if we didn't behave (or having to do community service to receive it), and no one was kicked out or arrested (as far as I know). We all just smiled, walked across the stage, shook hands, got our pictures taken, and went back to our seats. And we got our diplomas about a week later. It was simple, we weren't punished for someone else's behavior. Nor were we allowed to walk across a stage without having earned the diploma.

In other news, it's been a long, busy day with no sign of a period showing up. We are hopeful.

TTFN!