It’s Graduation Time Again
By Clarice Feldman
June 1, 2025
It’s Graduation Time Again
By Clarice Feldman
Americans may not have as many rituals as some other people do, but we have some. One of those is graduation, symbolizing the transition from one stage of life to another and a celebration of a young person’s accomplishments. (We may actually overdo these, as what was once a transition from college and high school studies is now often celebrated from even pre-nursery school. Still, it plays a significant part in life, structuring time and change.) Parents and grandparents who sat through boring recitals, sports events, prize days, supported kids dealing with difficult interpersonal issues, hard courses, college admission hurdles, and sacrificed to pay the cost of schooling can now cheer (or mourn) that those activities are now over.
For all the relatives’ work, they now get to sit in hot, muggy weather on uncomfortable folding chairs and listen to a variety of speakers selected who knows how. I’m old enough to remember when, at worst, we heard boring, anodyne speeches to graduates about making your mark, improving the world, and sharing the blessings of your newly acquired knowledge with a world desperate for the pearls of newly acquired knowledge. Maybe a few dumb jokes were thrown in. Then everyone got their diplomas and headed for the nearest bar.
In recent years, graduations have become stages for performative, divisive screeds at a largely captive audience. You don’t have to tolerate this. Years ago, I walked out in the middle of some of these speeches at very fine universities, Duke and UCLA law school. I’m not sure the even more offensive ceremonies these days would lure me to stay seated for more than 10 minutes.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/06/it_s_graduation_time_again.html
