|
Post by cadoodlebug on Jun 5, 2015 15:44:34 GMT
To me air horns = classless. Yeah, I judge.
|
|
|
Post by scraplette on Jun 5, 2015 15:47:32 GMT
the big high school ceremonies here that have to take place in the professional sports arena to house all of the 1000+ graduates and their families. I've been prepping my kids to let their grandparents off the hook. They'll want to go, but I hate to expect them.
|
|
|
Post by psoccer on Jun 5, 2015 15:53:09 GMT
My son's high school graduation was at the football field. Besides horns, people brought cowbells. It was all kinds of wrong. I hated straining to hear, not just his name, but that of his friends. I am so tired of people thinking it's all about them.
|
|
naby64
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,224
Jun 25, 2014 21:44:13 GMT
|
Post by naby64 on Jun 5, 2015 15:57:44 GMT
Having just sat through DS's graduation of about 245 students and mine was the 4 from the last, our's wasn't as bad I thought it could have been. yay for having a "W" last night. NOT!
We did have the people getting up shortly after their child/family member's name was called. I think I only heard an air horn once and it was far away from me. Our graduations around here are done in a convention center. That helps spread everyone out a bit. It is still crowded though and it is open, good luck seating. You have to get there early if you want a certain spot to be able to make pictures.
That said, there were 2 ladies that decided to stand and talk after their precious had gotten his/her diploma. At the rail but directly in my line of sight to get a picture. AND right in front of a family still seated and watching. Their kiddo had already walked but they were staying to watch the rest of the kids, plus there was a connection to my DS. I was all ready to pull a "hey you, get out of the way" yell if needed but thank goodness they moved on about 20 kiddos before mine. I spared my family the embarrassment.
|
|
|
Post by ilikepink on Jun 5, 2015 16:29:04 GMT
When my ODS graduated 10 years ago (really that long ago? ) I still remember the noise from under the bleachers. We graduate outside at the football field, and tons of extra people usually come. Bunch of already-graduated kids catching up, loudly, right below where we were seated. I was furious. And still I'm still mad at my son because by the time we reached him after the ceremony, he had removed the cap, gown, and tie - made for some "lovely" pictures.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 6, 2024 17:32:31 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 16:32:09 GMT
3 hours is too long for a graduation, they need to make it shorter somehow. our local high school graduated 1055 this past Sunday. Their really is no way to shorten the ceremony. Yup mine was close to that amount. What exactly can the schools do?
|
|
|
Post by gmcwife1 on Jun 5, 2015 16:40:42 GMT
To me air horns = classless. Yeah, I judge. Yep, too many people don't care about class or manners any more It's all about them and being seen or heard.
|
|
|
Post by cmpeter on Jun 5, 2015 16:42:39 GMT
My son graduated last year. About 500 students. It's held at one of the indoor professional arenas (there is tons of space). There is clapping after each name but no air horns and it's pretty brief as they just keep reading the names. A few student speeches and one commencement speech from a teacher or admin. The whole thing is done in 90 minutes. 3 local high schools all use the same place so we have to be out on time for the next ceremony to take place. I found folks very respectful. I didn't notice people leaving early. Most everyone meets up outside for pictures with friends, family and general congratulations.
|
|
|
Post by JustCallMeMommy on Jun 5, 2015 16:46:08 GMT
Back when I graduated in 1991, I HATED the yelling from the audience. Even though the principal asked everyone to wait until certain breaks to clap (maybe the end of each row?), people cheered over other students' names. People also left early at our ceremony, which is really disrespectful to the other families.
I applaud the Senatobia, MS school that asked the family to leave, though putting an arrest warrant out was way over the top. Maybe it will make people think twice next year.
|
|
tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
Jun 27, 2014 18:32:45 GMT
|
Post by tduby1 on Jun 5, 2015 17:18:19 GMT
The school my son goes to usually has about 60-65 graduates. When names are called the entire class claps, hoots and and hollers for every single graduate. The same amount. I've been to two graduations there and both have been the same. there is a huge fanfare and it is the students doing it. The parents clap normally. No one leaves early. It's amazing how careful the students are to make sure everyone feels loved. You would have no way of knowing who was or wasn't "popular". They just all support each other.
in fact it was after the first graduation we went to there that I agreed to let me son switch to there. The district is smaller, poorer and not as many opportunities as our district so it was a hard decision but I was so impressed with the student body I couldn't say no any longer.
|
|
tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,979
Jun 27, 2014 18:32:45 GMT
|
Post by tduby1 on Jun 5, 2015 17:21:18 GMT
There were scholarship presentations (why wasn't this done at an awards ceremony), the principal, superintendent, class president, valedictorian, class sponsor and salutatorian all spoke. Then there was a senior slide show. Then the walking across the stage, reading names and handing out diplomas. This is EXACTLY how it is done at my son's school., all except the class sponsor speaking.
|
|
|
Post by miaow on Jun 5, 2015 17:21:52 GMT
We just attended a public high school graduation of 460 students which was about two hours long. It was lovely. The principal asked for a silent graduation as the names were called. Under 10 families decided they were too important to follow the rules, so it was nice to hear the names and keep things moving. I wish they would have escorted those few out!!
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Jun 5, 2015 17:34:31 GMT
I frequently go to two area high school graduations. I have probably been to 25 of them. They are all similar. Some families bring larger cheering sections than others. One school only gives out ten tickets per family since it is in the gym. It fits 5,000. This year the graduating class at my son's school bought a ramp that went up to the stage. They had two kids in their class that were wheelchair bound and the class wanted everyone to go across the stage. One young man had been in a chair all of his life. When he got to the top of the ramp, his mom was behind him and he slowly got up and painfully walked across the stage very slowly. The crowd of 5,000 people was silent. At the end of the stage he sat back down and the crowd cheered for several minutes. It was amazing. At the other graduation this year, the last guy through did a flip after he received his diploma. Things like these happen that are memorable, but I haven't seen too many people act obnoxiously. One speaker at a graduation said that the families that are the most obnoxious are the ones who are worried that their kid might not receive his/her diploma.
|
|
|
Post by traceys on Jun 5, 2015 17:40:11 GMT
Mercifully we had no air horns this year. I hate those with a white hot passion.
I have organized the graduation program at my school for many years. They called me this year (I retired) to come back and do it again. I love doing it, but people don't know how much planning goes into it, and how important it is to try to comply with requests so that things go smoothly.
We have around 100 in our graduating class every year. (About nine years ago, we took the scholarships and awards out of graduation and started a separate Senior Honors night.....huge, huge improvement!!!!) We have it in the gym, and things go pretty well until the end. We ask....beg!.... for people to stay seated until the graduates leave the floor via the recessional. Falls on deaf ears. Fully a quarter of the gym will swarm down onto to the floor, grabbing their student, stopping them for pictures. Meanwhile, everyone else is stopped in line. They don't know what to do, so sometimes they try to go around, only to find the exit door jammed with all the spectators who are trying to rush out. Drives. Me. Crazy.
I spend hours trying to think of a way to fix the problem....aside from having armed guards! I'm about to give up on the whole idea of a recessional!
|
|
|
Post by gorgeouskid on Jun 5, 2015 17:46:38 GMT
DS's culmination was on Wednesday night. There were 700+ students and the ceremony was in an outdoor stadium.
There were about 50 instances of airhorns, and at first there were chuckles, but after a few, it became annoying. On a more than a couple of occasions, the blasts prevented subsequent students' names from being audible.
I felt it was gross.
ETA- Even worse than the airhorns were the hundreds and hundreds of shiny mylar balloons. They blocked vision and shone in people's (my) eyes.
|
|
|
Post by genny on Jun 5, 2015 18:00:50 GMT
Our school district has police officers in the arena during graduation. If you are caught being disruptive when your kids name is called, they will escort you out and your child cannot get their diploma until after a certain amount of community service is completed. They are pretty harsh with it. They reiterated the rules to the kids multiple times leading up to graduation and it was mentioned at the start of the calling of the names as well.
So what they did was call out a full row of kids, then everyone could clap, yell, blow air horns or whatever for about 20 second, then everybody shut up as the next row stood. It worked out pretty well - you still got to hear your kids name being called, but still go to clap and holler if you wanted to as well. Ours was about an hour and a half, I think there were 325 kids.
|
|
|
Post by papersilly on Jun 5, 2015 18:03:00 GMT
I do. I clap but I don't whoop and holler when the name is called. I bring a poster board sign but only hold it up after graduation during picture time. I don't like when people use horns or are distracting. it's unfair to the other students and it prevents you from hearing the next name especially if that is your child's name that comes right during the long horn blow or loud cheering.
|
|
|
Post by cyndijane on Jun 5, 2015 18:03:03 GMT
I just attended my nephew's graduation last weekend and there were 450+ kids graduating. His last name starts with F so there were still lots of people there but by the M's, people were dwindling. I admit to leaving in the W's but we had a 9 month old who had had all she could take and was being very disruptive. She made it almost 3 hours though. I felt sorry for the last few people. There were a few air horns but overall, a classy event. It was held in an arena so it wasn't loud when people were leaving. On a different subject, the school principal said "theirselves" 3 different times. Really, lady? Really? 3 hours is too long for a graduation, they need to make it shorter somehow. When I graduated, there were 4 schools in our city. At the time, we were graduating roughly 1000 seniors each year. We all graduated on the same day, from the same location. Our graduation times were staggered, 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm. So, our total graduation lasted about 75-80 minutes, because we all had to be out for the next group. Looking back, I have no idea how they pulled it off every year, but they did. I can't imagine a three+ hour graduation ceremony! ?
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 6, 2024 17:32:32 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 18:37:21 GMT
I sat through DS1 8th grade promotion outside. I sat through 300 names before his name was read. There's almost 340 in his class. Throughout the entire ceremony, people kept getting up to go down to the lower level for better pictures or just flat out leaving. The only time DH and I moved was to go down a few rows after the kids cleared out of their seating area (football stands). Despite several emails and calls about the ceremony, people still showed up late. Be there by 1, not leave your house at 1!
I told DH I will need a glass of wine next year for DS2's 8th grade promotion and probably a whole bottle for high school if this is any indictation on how the parents are going to treat it.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 6, 2024 17:32:31 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 18:44:45 GMT
3 hours is too long for a graduation, they need to make it shorter somehow. When I graduated, there were 4 schools in our city. At the time, we were graduating roughly 1000 seniors each year. We all graduated on the same day, from the same location. Our graduation times were staggered, 10am, noon, 2pm and 4pm. So, our total graduation lasted about 75-80 minutes, because we all had to be out for the next group. Looking back, I have no idea how they pulled it off every year, but they did. I can't imagine a three+ hour graduation ceremony! ? Because some schools have that many graduates in one school. Nothing to be done really. It will be long.
|
|
scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
|
Post by scrapaddie on Jun 5, 2015 18:57:59 GMT
You would think that high school graduation was the best thing a kid would ever do.... Face it, it is not that hard to graduate!! This is more of a beginning.... But some people are so rude in applause and air horns.... They were strictly prohibited at pur school...and kids who were air horned had yo go back to the school. The following week to get diplomas
|
|
|
Post by polz on Jun 5, 2015 20:15:20 GMT
In New Zealand we have random acts of haka (traditional dancing). If you watch this video from about 1.15 to 2 minutes you will see what I mean. Not everyone does it. It is considered an honour to have someone haka for you at your graduation. I've seen people have 10 people in the audience haka for them. It's an expression of pride/support in the graduand.
|
|
|
Post by wholarmor on Jun 5, 2015 20:18:10 GMT
I don't remember how people acted at my HS graduation, but we had 500+ graduating, and we were one of two high schools in our town. I'm glad we didn't have over 1,000 like mentioned earlier! Yikes! I used to work as an usher for the Washington State University graduations. They split the graduations up into 3 different sections. I don't know how many students were per section, but quite a lot. They still keep the ceremony to about an hour/hour and a half.
People are so rude during graduations. They gripe about seating(first come, first served). They stand on the inner concourse at the rails, and get mad when we tell them they can't stand there. They blow airhorns. They leave early, or they will go stand on the inner concourse and block it up, and get mad when we tell them that they either need to go back to their seats or leave. Of all the events that I worked there- football, basketball, concerts, etc., it was the most stressful event of them all.
|
|
|
Post by jmd74 on Jun 5, 2015 20:46:32 GMT
My son graduated from high school last week and there were many, many air horns and a lot of yelling. Despite being told not to. People also made HUGE posters and blown up pictures and were waving them around, blocking people's view. People also started leaving after hearing their graduates name which I thought was pretty rude!
In Hawaii graduation is like nothing I have ever seen. After the ceremony there is a lei ceremony where the graduates relieve lei's from loved ones and a couple people made stages for their daughters to,stand on while they received their lei's, while most people made huge signs and banner with flashing lights and music. The graduation was held at the stadium where the Pro Bowl has been played in the past and there were 681 graduates.
|
|
|
Post by Karmady on Jun 5, 2015 21:29:53 GMT
My son graduated from highschool this week. He was in a class of 500 in a large auditorium. It was 2 1/2 hours and everyone stayed. A few got up to use the bathroom or whatever but came back. Everyone was respectful.
|
|
|
Post by disneypal on Jun 5, 2015 21:39:55 GMT
I haven't been to a graduation in about 10 years but I had a cousin's child graduate (in another state) and her family posted a group photo with her in the middle of all the family and I was surprised at how they were dressed - T-shirts, shorts, jeans. I always dressed up for something like that. If you are going to wear jeans, at least wear nice (non-faded) ones and a nice button up shirt. It is just respectful - those kids worked hard for that day - they deserve some respect (IMO)
|
|
|
Post by gmcwife1 on Jun 5, 2015 21:46:20 GMT
Our school district has police officers in the arena during graduation. If you are caught being disruptive when your kids name is called, they will escort you out and your child cannot get their diploma until after a certain amount of community service is completed. They are pretty harsh with it. They reiterated the rules to the kids multiple times leading up to graduation and it was mentioned at the start of the calling of the names as well. So what they did was call out a full row of kids, then everyone could clap, yell, blow air horns or whatever for about 20 second, then everybody shut up as the next row stood. It worked out pretty well - you still got to hear your kids name being called, but still go to clap and holler if you wanted to as well. Ours was about an hour and a half, I think there were 325 kids. I'm sure some people think this is harsh, but I love it. I'm tired of rude and self centered people!
|
|
|
Post by epeanymous on Jun 5, 2015 21:47:16 GMT
This story is fairly local to me and I think maybe a little over the top. That being said, graduations have been getting out of hand the past several years and I think they are trying to make an example out of these people. Your tax dollars at work. Plus criminal convictions make it hard to get jobs. This is such a ridiculous decision (to charge people). Our graduations are law school graduations, and there are some really loud cheers, but, otherwise, it's pretty sedate, and relatively quick (graduation speeches are kept very short, and we have the marching across stage down to a science). I will say that we do them indoors now and they are fine, but when they were outdoors and we were having a hot day, I couldn't have blamed people for leaving if they did.
|
|