Dear Principal Christopher: BITE ME

 

1. Mixed feelings here, boss.

   In “our day” people still had some sense of decorum.  I’d like to see a few hauled off around here, too.

   I just can’t believe how little class people have any more, how many will not control their children, or think of anyone besides themselves.  School “concerts” and the like in my (somewhat redneck) area are a depressing travesty of uncouth people demonstrating their utter lack of class.  I really can’t stand it.

   Add to this those who simply MUST take flash pictures after being told not to—being told it endangers the dancers on the stage, for example—in spite of the fact that the whole thing is taped in HD and frame-grabs made available at cost to prevent such a risk.

   To me, the sad part is that it takes cops to enforce decent behaviour…

   DD

   Posted by Dedicated_dad       06/11/2008  at  07:28 PM  



2. What, no floggings?!  When I graduated six years ago, the only sounds came from the organ and the designated speaker.  And everyone knew there’d be hell to pay if either the graduates or the audience did more than sneeze.

   Posted by Zebster       06/11/2008  at  09:49 PM  



3. I can’t disagree about the lack of decorum. I think it’s all part of the trend of the ghetto-ization of society. And I don’t know how disruptive the cheerers were at this graduation ceremony. When I graduated, it was mostly my family and friends applauding, which lasted perhaps 8 seconds. That’s my assumption of what went on here. Perhaps it was utterly out of control, with boom boxes, music, strippers and fireworks. But there are times when it’s best to just let the people sound off, and resorting to having the police arrest people seems more than a bit extreme.

   Posted by Drew458       06/12/2008  at  08:40 AM  



4. They made that ‘please hold your applause’ at the last two HS graduations I went to (2005 & 2006) - and some people just ignored it. Of course for the people whose name starts with A and B - things were more controlled than those of us with a W or X. . .It did not however, hurt our feelings (as by the time , the crowd in a steaming hot indoor arena, with 700+ students wearing what have to be some of the heaviest and hottest robes ever made - surrounded by hundreds of family members - the 2+ hours to get to the Ws & Xs is death defying at best) at all . . .So a hoot and holler woke us all up.

   And for this HS which has an amazing 97% graduation rate and a high college attendance rate - still leaves a percentage of kids (sadly this is a Union deathgrip held area - and they still buy into a Union job will do you for life) that this is it - the high point of their lives. . .Which probably explains both the lack of decorum and the outragious cheering. It may be the only time in their life it happens.

   Reminded me of my oldest son’s graduation from HS (ST Louis suburb, 1993) the only cheer (and ended up being a standing O) was for a young man - whose mother lived long enough to see him graduate - it was the family’s brief high moment in a long sad tragedy - and the entire HS gave them it, in spades. As I recall - she passed away a few days later.

   I do think though - that unless nudity, physical assualt or death occurred - the use of police and arrests was over the top.

   Posted by wardmama4       06/12/2008  at  10:12 AM  



5. The abuse of power is endemic in academia - they get to make the rules because they can make the rules. They love “zero-tolerance” dictums because they have zero-tolerance for making judgements beyond establishing zero-tolerance rules.

   The tradition of applauding individual accomplishemnts goes against the academic’s fairness doctrine because the applause will be unevenly distributed - if all cannot share equally none shall share.

   Graduation is a family event covering the close, extended and chosen family groups - to stifle pride is to denigrate the accomplishment and insult the effort, great or small, it took to achieve it. Decorum should not be more important than pride, love and support.

   With both a decent p/a system and logistical setup the individual applause period lasts from the graduate’s name being announced to just after receiving the diploma when the next name is announced - the ceremony is only prolonged by academic harangues to be quiet.

   Educrats seldom use common sense - it’s hard to codify it into a policy manual and, even worse, is unavoidably subjective.

   Posted by BigAed       06/16/2008  at  11:09 AM  

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