dd's outfit for grad rejected

Fox

Fri, May 30 2008, 4:25 pm

louche wrote:

Your source for this? My mother is a product of the NYC public schools, having been graduated from 6th grade in PS Whatever in 1938. You'd better believe they had a graduation with white dresses and diplomas. The kids were leaving PS Whatever and going on to JHS Somethingelse, though it's quite likely that some of them were going to go out to work and not go on to JHS Somethingelse, mandatory education law or no.

My sister was graduated from our local Hebrew Academy Grade 8 in 1961. You'd better believe they had a graduation with white dresses and diplomas, too. I hardly think any of the kids qualified as "underprivileged', and every single one went on to high school.

Neither the 1938 ceremony nor the 1961 one was a "pseudo-graduation". when you complete one stage of education, whether or not you're going on to the next stage, and whether or not your education to date renders you fit to enter the workforce, it's appropriate to celebrate the milestone with a ceremony of some sort.

Actually, it makes a great deal of sense historically for NYC public schools to have adopted this custom much earlier than the rest of the country. The NYC public schools were dominated during the middle of the 20th century by graduates of Barnard College/Columbia University Teachers' College, where much of the research and thought concerning the role of schools was being done. Diane Ravitch discusses these issues in several of her books on the history of public education in the U.S.

However, you can see that the practice is not universal even today. I completely agree that a ceremony to complete an educational milestone is completely appropriate -- that's why I gave the example of my son's school. What I disagree with, however, is the notion that we can simply appropriate the idea of a "graduation ceremony" and academic dress for our own purposes.

There are rules and guidelines regarding these things. While it's obviously true that the academic regalia police are not going to swoop down and arrest anybody displaying the wrong robe color, I am bothered by the message it sends. What's next? We like the color of the doctoral hoods in agricultural studies, so we'll just order a bunch of those, too!

I'll be clapping like crazy when, I''yh, my kids wear academic gowns, and I've worn them myself both as a graduate and as a faculty member. But I'd prefer they earn the right to wear them.

I do apologize for hijacking the thread somewhat -- I guess the whole topic of graduations pushes a button for me. For those who are interested: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Templ.....rical

In the meantime, I can start fuming about the latest outrage: it seems my dd's 8th grade will have a valedictorian and a salutatorian. Since their grading system doesn't really allow for any quantitative ranking, they're apparently "choosing" the honorees. Grrrrr!

lubmommy

Sat, May 31 2008, 11:58 pm

I stopped into the principal's office on Friday. On the good advice of a friend, I didn't bring up any hashgofa issues I had with the whole situation (with this principal it would not be a good idea). I just said that we would look for a jacket but if we couldn't find one could dd wear a black shell instead to make it look more "formal" (thanks cassandra). I also mentioned that we bought clothes for Pesach and really didn't want to spend any more on clothes now.
She told me that she would discuss it with the teacher and mentioned how nice the outfit looks on dd. Now we wait to hear.