Tonight is graduation, and then three more days of school - two of those are semester tests.
On Thursday they had a school awards assembly in the gym. They gave out all sorts of awards to all students and scholarships to the grads. It was amazing how much money was out there for such things (millions). At least three speakers (Masons, DAR, etc) said that they had more money to give to students, but no one met the requirements of writing an essay. Good grief! So much money, so many scholarships - for students who have done a mediocre job. Valedictorians get a full ride, which is nice. But CHS valedictorian only did better than fifty other seniors. Is that fair for kids at larger schools who had more competition among their class? Heck, even I graduated in the top quarter of my class, but when your class is over 500 people, you get nothing. At the awards ceremony yesterday, the valedictorian said a few words. He started off with, "Me and my family want to ...." Good grief!
Anyway, I asked one of my fellow teachers about graduation tonight - what time we had to be there, are we to march in, where do we sit, etc. He looked at me as if I had three heads. We don't HAVE to be there. We don't march in with the students. We don't sit together as teachers. Really? I guess teachers are not very important at CHS. I will probably go anyway, because I have some seniors that I want to see walk across that stage - ending one segment of their lives and starting anew.
6 comments:
I think the affairs used to be too long. Shorter is better, and a BBQ is even better!
That is very weird that the teachers are not part of graduation. And yes, the brains may not be too brainy. Should have Googled a speech. Ha.
Hope the last couple of days are good and you have a great summer.
Thanks Jo. The grads are pretty good kids when all is said and done.
I applaud your idealism and passion for your students. I got burned out after years of (forced) attendance at graduations. I ended up imitating my students and hiding a magazine or digital device inside the graduation program to keep the boredom at bay.
CTT, I thought about taking my phone. I weighed how important it was to be there or not to be there. Would the students care one way or the other? I decided that it was important for me to be there even if they did not care. High school kids are pretty vulnerable.
I went to the graduation at my son's school, since some of his friends were graduating. They were selling popcorn! It was almost like a non-event. I must say I cringe along with you on the opening words of the speech. The horror!
FF
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