Hurray, graduation done!

[hauntmeister]

We had a nice graduation last night. About 40 seniors, which is honestly embarrassing if you consider that the school has about 350 students and you would expect roughly a quarter of them to graduate each year. But accounting for the ones we've lost along the way during their four years of high school, the ones who got held back for a year or two

Comments

[in_parentheses]

But evidently other teachers have other thing to do.

That is honestly appalling to me. I can't understand why graduation isn't mandatory, and I *really* can't understand why everyone (at least everyone who taught the graduates) wouldn't want to go.

[happyfunpaul]

Seriously. Our school's graduation was on Thursday evening. Even if it weren't mandatory, of course I'm going to it; I can't imagine not doing so, barring some major conflict (which isn't likely to occur on a Thursday anyway).

[hauntmeister]

The commencement at my internship was completely different. The entire faculty was expected to appear, including interns; we all wore academic robes with cowls representing our majors; and we all processed onto stage and sat there as background for the duration of the ceremony. That -- to my jaundiced ivy-league mind -- is How It Should Be.

But at this school, the assumption seems to be that anything after 1:45 PM, with the exception of a few mandatory after-school meetings, is completely voluntary.

[in_parentheses]

Really? At my suburban junior high and high school, teachers had to stay for 40 minutes of extra help 3 days a week. Is that unusual?

-Dan