too many graduations

On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.

Beliavsky wrote:
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.

I'm not a huge fan either, but on the other hand,
I don't think it causes irreparable damage. I rather suspect
the preschoolers and kindergarteners don't really understand
the concept of graduation enough for it to make any difference
in how they think about HS or college graduation. As far as
they're concerned, it *is* just an end of year party. And I've never
heard of any school doing it for every grade. They tend to do
it at preschools (because they're moving from preschool to
kindergarten), kindergarten (because they're moving from kindy
to "real school"), and then not so much until HS. *Maybe* you
might find some moving from elementary school to middle/jr. high
school, but I can't think of where I've actually seen that.
They usually just throw and obscenely over the top end of year
party for the 6th graders.
Secondly, even though I think it's ridiculous to put
4yos in caps and gowns, I do think there's value in rites of
passage. I think we have too few of those. And really, a
"graduation" is just a rite of passage, a moving from one
environment to another. So, in the simplest sense, they *are*
graduating from preschool to kindergarten, or kindergarten to
elementary school. I just think the cap and gown thing is over
the top. I don't think you'll find a kid out there who'd
think graduating from high school or college isn't important
because he already "graduated" out of preschool twelve or more
years back. For that matter, I'd drop dead of shock if you
found a high schooler who thought a preschool graduation came
anywhere close in importance to his HS graduation. So some of
this worry is just parents imposing their mindset and issues on
kids who don't really have that baggage. Whose graduation is
being devalued? Maybe it's the parent feeling like his or her
past graduations were devalued, not the child feeling like that
some day down the line.
Where I raise more of an eyebrow is the graduation
gifts/parties from family and friends. If they're getting
a big blowout for making it through preschool, what are they
going to expect when they make it out of high school!? Of
course, in this affluent area, I suppose even that doesn't
matter all that much, as some of these kids are getting
huge blowouts for just about anything that happens. I
won't be surprised to see party invitations for losing the
first tooth next. Recently saw a birthday party for a middle
school girl where the favors were Louis Vuitton bags. Sheesh.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Beliavsky wrote:
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.

A graduation ceremony is a fairwell. The commencement of the next phase
of life. The real learning and accomplishment is during the regular
school year.

On the other hand, there are actually far too few graduations. I guess
about 1% of kids who start school don't live long enough to graduate.
And of those who do, about 40% of the kids in NYC drop out of school
along the way. Other urban populations have similar drop out rates.

In NYC, they usually have 8th grade graduations. After 8th grade, the
students go to many different schools. The same is probably true for
preschool and maybe kindergarten. When I went to school, there were kids
who entered and left school along the way, but once kids started school,
the kids stayed together until the end of high school (there were about
6 elementary schools, which fed into one middle school which fed into
one high school).

Jeff

"Beliavsky" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.


I think they are a lot of fun. We just did a preschool graduation and the
kids were great. It was a nice way to end the year.
It amazes me when adults resent kids having fun.

"Beliavsky" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.

Absolutely agreed here. As the music teacher, I had to deal with a preschool
"Graduation", Kindergarten "graduation" and 6th grade "Graduation", all in
the space of less than a week. Sigh.

I can kind of see a pre-K ceremony when children are leaving the building
and moving on to a new school, just as a way of marking that change (and
parents enjoy it). However, many are not age appropriate. Young children
don't do a good job standing and waiting, or saying memorized lines, or
singing on demand in front of an audience, and too often these events turn
into a scared kid on stage while an adult hisses their lines at them, while
the others fidget, bored out of their mind.

I can see doing a walk around the room, and if the parents want the 5 yr
olds to wear little paper graduation hats so parents can get their photo
opportunity, fine (there's a really good song in one of the old Music K-8
magazines designed for this purpose), then having a party with the parents.


I see no benefit for a kindergarten graduation when Kindergarten is just
another school grade, and by 6th grade, the kids should understand what a
graduation really is and that they haven't finished anything. I know when I
finished 6th grade, there was an extra certificate in the report card, and
that was it. About the only "commemoration" was getting to spend a day at
the Jr/Sr high visiting and picking classes.

On Jun 14, 9:28 am, "Knit Chic" wrote:
"Beliavsky" wrote in message

ups.com...

On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.

I think they are a lot of fun. We just did a preschool graduation and the
kids were great. It was a nice way to end the year.
It amazes me when adults resent kids having fun.

One of my 10 yo son's preschool friends was over the other day, and
they were looking at photos from their *graduation* They remembered
it being fun. So do I. They didn't wear caps and gowns, but my son
did insist on wearing a shirt and tie. The kids marched into the
assemby room, each class sang a song, all of the pre-K then sang
together, then there was a big party.

Five years later, there's not a single kid from that pre-school in my
son's current school and grade (there is one girl who was held back a
grade behind him), so for him at least, it was a real ending. (As an
odd aside, although they're not in school together, 3 of his closest
friends are from nursery school; he's worked hard to maintain the
relationships.) It was also most definitely the end of one phase of
their learning and education, and a celebration of the fact that they
had all learned enough to go on to the next level. No, it wasn't
quantum physics. But they all knew their numbers and letters; they
all could write; and most of them were beginning to sound out words.
Pretty impressive, IMHO.

His next graduation, with any luck, will be 8th grade. Again, that
will be another huge transition, to a new school with new expectations
and a new type of curriculum. In the interim, though, we do have
various celebrations of milestones in their education. We enjoy them.

Barbara

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
and then not so much until HS. *Maybe* you
might find some moving from elementary school to middle/jr. high
school, but I can't think of where I've actually seen that.

We have a fifth grade recognition with cake and punch to honor them going to
middle school. I think it's kind of nice, imo.

They had a special dance for the middle schoolers going to high school. It
wasn't a graduation, but an acknowledgement that they are leaving middle
school. I thought that was nice too.
--
Sue

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
Absolutely agreed here. As the music teacher, I had to deal with a
preschool
"Graduation", Kindergarten "graduation" and 6th grade "Graduation", all in
the space of less than a week. Sigh.

Maybe as a parent now, your views will change once your little one is moving
on in life.

I can kind of see a pre-K ceremony when children are leaving the building
and moving on to a new school, just as a way of marking that change (and
parents enjoy it). However, many are not age appropriate. Young children
don't do a good job standing and waiting, or saying memorized lines, or
singing on demand in front of an audience, and too often these events turn
into a scared kid on stage while an adult hisses their lines at them,
while
the others fidget, bored out of their mind.

We never had any kind of ceremony like that for the little ones. It has been
a party/picnic at the park. The teacher handed out little awards for the
kids and she said something positive about every student as they came up for
their award. The kids did absolutely fine with that. Then they resumed
playing on the playground.

I see no benefit for a kindergarten graduation when Kindergarten is just
another school grade, and by 6th grade, the kids should understand what a
graduation really is and that they haven't finished anything.

Well here, the 5th grade moves on to middle school, so there is a fifth
grade recognition that they give and I like it. It is an ending and they are
moving on, so essentially they have finished something. )
--
Sue

On Jun 14, 9:00 am, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
Beliavsky wrote:
On Friday my son's preschool will conduct a "graduation" ceremony.
When I visited the school he will attend next fall, the
kindergarteners were rehearsing for their graduation. My first
graduation was of high school in 1987. I think having yearly
graduation ceremonies devalues the important ones. A real graduation
ought to signify a particular level of academic accomplishment,
certified by grades and possibly standardized tests. If children in
preschool and kindergarten are too young to be evaluated in this
manner, they are also too young to be having graduation ceremonies.
Instead I'd prefer that the schools just have a party on the last day.

I'm not a huge fan either, but on the other hand,
I don't think it causes irreparable damage. I rather suspect
the preschoolers and kindergarteners don't really understand
the concept of graduation enough for it to make any difference
in how they think about HS or college graduation. As far as
they're concerned, it *is* just an end of year party. And I've never
heard of any school doing it for every grade. They tend to do
it at preschools (because they're moving from preschool to
kindergarten), kindergarten (because they're moving from kindy
to "real school"), and then not so much until HS. *Maybe* you
might find some moving from elementary school to middle/jr. high
school, but I can't think of where I've actually seen that.
They usually just throw and obscenely over the top end of year
party for the 6th graders.

Shaina had a graduation from 6th grade (going into middle school) and
another from from 8th grade (going into high school). I saw no problem
with either one, though we certainly didn't send out announcements or
anything. (I don't specifically remember now if she had a kindergarten
one, but she did have a preschool one.)

Naomi

Knit Chic wrote:

I think they are a lot of fun. We just did a preschool graduation and the
kids were great. It was a nice way to end the year.
It amazes me when adults resent kids having fun.

Eh, I think there's a difference between having fun
(parties, etc.) and staging preschool graduations with caps
and gowns and such. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts it wasn't
the preschoolers clamoring to wear the caps and gowns, nor
do trappings like that have any historical relevance to the
preschool crowd. As I said before, I'm all for fun, and
all for rites of passage, but the whole caps and gowns
thing is a bit much to me. And, as I also mentioned, some
of these celebrations seem a bit over the top to me. The
amount of money and effort that goes into our school's
6th grade celebration is staggering, while some (though
not many) other projects go begging.

Best wishes,
Ericka