I attended South High Schools graduation and was IMPRESSED at how well the students and those in attendance acted. It was a dignified ceremony.

~JAT

We attended an 8th grade graduation here just like yours, Jennifer.  You must've been the same attendees we did 4 yrs ago.  We were so appalled at the lack of decorum, we did not bother attending the other graduations. 

Jennifer, thank you for that lucid description of most graduations.  I attended the Stockdale High School graduation, and was surprised and disappointed again at the behavior of the audience.

I felt like 75% of the screamers were within 15 feet of me.  Nearly every name was met with offensive noise and behavior.  Halfway through (there were 580 graduates) I had to stick my fingers in my ears to try to drown out some of the irrelevance of the audience.  I told my wife that if I go next year (I have another grandson which will graduate) I will make some kind of change so as not to be assaulted by the rudeness of so many.

Sadly, it's another example of the dumbing down of the Country.

Otherwise it was a extremely well planned and executed ceremony.

Honestly, I'm sure you had a lousy time at the graduation, but let's not make light of torture by comparing an air horn to simulated drowning. There's nothing funny about torture, and I'm sure you were only trying to put a little humor in your article. If you were to actually experience the water torture, you wouldn't be making jokes about it.

What you didn't see was AFTER the ceremony, when these same tacky parents put their flip-flops back on and ran down to 7-11 to get their kids the most expensive beer they could afford.  After all, they deserved it! 

What you didn't see was AFTER the ceremony, when these same tacky parents put their flip-flops back on and ran down to 7-11 to get their kids the most expensive beer they could afford.  

Wow, that has to be the most racist comment I have read on this blog...

Oh good, Ron.  Maybe you should report a violation on me then.

I didn't realize tacky was the description of a race.  I seem to recall tacky people of all races putting their flip flops back on and running to the little mini mart next to South High(1992) for beer after my high school graduation.  Of course that was after gathering up the beach balls and blow up dolls that were floating over the crowds.     

 Is it really necessary to prove that your child is popular by jumping up and down, hollering and activating the air horn (water-boarding has nothing on this particular torture device).

That reminds me of my college graduation ceremony.. only instead of a few hundred graduates, imagine a few thousand.

Overall, I agree with what you're saying.  I went to a choral concert last year for my wife's cousin at BHS and almost smacked a couple kids behind me for being idiots.  Obviously, the only thing that stopped me was the fact that I'd get charged for assault on a minor.

How ironic - I was going to do a blog about this after attending my nieces 8th grade graduation at Independence tonight.  It reminded me of being stuck in a day care - children screaming and crying everywhere, people chatting away with each other (the kid behind me gave a lurid description of how you could see this one girl's panties through her gown!) and people generally being rude and inconsiderate toward others.  One loud black girl had balloons on the steps in the aisle and yelled at people as they pushed past them to leave - I laughed inwardly as someone deliberately popped one and another took a deflated dive on its own accord.

The recitation of The Pledge of Allegiance was an absolute f'ing joke.  You stand up, then "ok have a seat".  There was an audible gasp from those who expected SOMETHING other than this trifle.  Then came the band, if you could call it that.  I've never heard Pomp & Circumstance played so poorly.  The speakers, who should be called mumblers, were all but inaudible because they didn't learn how to PRO-JECT and ENUNCIATE and it was like listening to some 3rd grader stutter through a story on Mother Goose.  It was obvious the mumblers were chosen because of their, oh, let's say "ethnicity" rather than their mumbling ability, because it looked like a UN summit up there.

The only good thing about this graduation was that it was mercifully short - 45 minutes.  We made up the extra time with a fun trip to Rosemary's afterwards. 

I'm changing my stance on 8th grade graduations now - we don't need them.  I'll buy my way out of the next ones by giving extra large gifts and complaining of gout.  There's no point in me getting dressed up to go sit in the hot sun just to watch a bunch of minorities misbehave - I'll leave that job to the police & prison guards.

I never had an 8th grade graduation.  Seems pointless to me.

Jennifer: boy do I know what you are talking about.  I won't go into my own stories of graduations, but you sure hit the nail on the head.  BTW, I thought comparing the torture of the air horns & waterboarding was quite humorous. 

erikbako: your story was quite comical.

Thanks for the last laugh of the night!

Oh and Cat, some people are sooooo sensitive about flip-flops & 7-11's ;>).  I have no idea why they would think flip-flops or 7-11's are only used by 1 race.  What a silly (can't use the word stupid, I might get into trouble, oops, I just did) comment!   

I was late to work this morning because my neighborhood was clogged with people trying to find a place to park for the graduation ceremony at the nearby junior high. I didn't realize the graduation was this morning, or I would have left for work early. I guess having the ceremonies at the school instead of CSUB was the compromise made out of the whole "canceling graduation due to budget" thing.

Jen

We've talked about this before on the blogs and nothing ever seems to change.

It's funny that of all the graduations I've attended in my life, including my own, there's one that stands out in my mind in perfect detail.  It's the eight grade graduation of my sister Sherry.

There's a picture, somewhere, taken that night after the ceremony which shows her on stage wearing the yellow dress she wore for the occasion.  The picture captures only one moment of the event and can't possibly convey the beauty and solemnity of the night.  So, I'll try to do it here, since I'm probably the only living person who still has that memory etched in my mind.

This was the era of three station TV so there wasn't much to distract us from the everyday sameness of life.  A community celebration was a big deal.

The graduation took place in the courtyard between the 7th and 8th grade classrooms at Richland School.  It was dusk on a perfect June evening.  Everyone was seated and absolute silence fell  as the strains of Pomp and Circumstance began.  We all turned our heads to watch as the graduates entered the courtyard  from the back and walked down the center aisle to the stage.   The boys wore gleaming white shirts and black pants.  The sight of the girls took my breath away.  They wore every pastel color of the rainbow.  They looked like butterflies fluttering across the lawn in the last rays of sunlight.   My eleven year old heart swelled at the sound of the music and the dignity of the graduates.

My sister's dress was, in my eyes, the most beautiful thing either one of us had ever owned.  It was a sun dress with a full skirt  held up by a mile of crinoline.   Thick white lace outlined the bodice and stood out in the dim light.  I thought my sister looked like a movie star in it.  Her curly, honey blond hair and tanned skin glowed in the light from the stage.  I thought she was the most beautiful girl on the stage as she walked across the stage to accept her diploma.  There was not one peep, other than applause,  from the audience during the entire ceremony.   No one would have DARED to interrupt. 

Jen I was glad to read that you and your sister attended your niece's ceremony together.  Cherise those times you have together.  Remember that song, "misty water colored memories"  Of The Way We Were?  This is what I think of whenever the subject of graduations comes up.  My sister in her yellow dress.   A memory to last a lifetime.

I've often wondered why there is a graduation for 8th graders. Makes no sense to me...must have something to do with 8th graders feeling good about themselves.

As far as celebrating at graduations, I don't get your complaint. Is it because it's loud (air horns, screaming) and it's only some students who get that response or is it the talking behind you? That's not unique to graduations, that's almost any setting.

I may be naive, but which race of people wear flip flops and buys beer from 7-11? I really,  really don't know!

All in all, it's not that serious.

gr8

It's the ME generation!  You have my condolences.

Eighth grade graduations used to be meaningful and, as Audrey pointed out, were solemn, but happy, occasions.  When I attended my first granddaughter's eighth grade graduation, I could not believe the disrespect shown by nearly everybody under the age of 40.  They acted like monkeys in a zoo.  It was horribly embarrassing to me; I have to say I was shocked.  One almost felt sorry for the children whose families were not whistling, cheering, stomping, screaming, endlessly. 

I wondered where these people had been brought up.  Wherever it was, manners and respect for "authority" and respect in general were all meaningless.  And even though it was asked, nicely, that all applause be held till the end, this plea may as well have been shouted into the wind. 

 We are living in the "anything goes" culture where boorish behavior is embraced by the ignorant.  When you have a polyglot society, it is hard to establish social rules.  Welcome to your future...

I have to agree that I was completely unaware that "tacky" was exclusive to only one segment of society, but Ron assures us that only one race can claim that distinction, so my question now is:  which race is that, Ron? 

But that's our Ron-- the very soul of sensitivity.  I'll always remember when he called Barack Obama a racist, too.  Thank you for being our blogging moral compass, Ron!  LOL!

which race is that, Ron? 

The human one. 

Well I went to my son's graduation and yes people yell, as Virgil would say "A hoot and A holler" but to me it was not that bad, maybe I was Happy, as I told my son tomorrow is promised to no one, so who is to say I will live to see high school,

Cat: I wear flip flops and go to seven eleven, Ron soons forgets about Michelle

msjenny--I think ron is laboring under the belief that if he spreads his bitterness far enough and wide enough, it will finally stick to someone else.  Unfortunately for him, I'm rubber and he's glue.  LOL!

Parents and relatives acting like idiots is only a sign of the lack of class and the heightened level of illiteracy of that family.  I'm sure many of those parents who acted up didnt actually graduate high school themselves becuasue they felt school was stupid.  It seems to be a self fullfilling prophecy out here in California where illiteracy becomes a generational trait that apparently they are proud of.  Maybe that's why California has the lowest rated school system in the United States with the highest paid teachers.  Obviously, the current plan that the state board of education is using is an utter failure and needs to be thrown out.  High school graduates here in Bakersfield are at least 2 to 3 years behind those in the midwest, where I was raised.  The classes at CSUB are no harder than an AP high school class in the midwest.  This state is doomed for failure if they dont overhaul the education system here.  Its a joke and will only develop more illiterate parents that act like drunken idiots at their child's graduation.  I'm sure there were many students who wished their families would have shut up and acted more appropriately at such a significant event so they wouldn't have been so embarrassed by their classless parents.

 and the heightened level of illiteracy of that family.  I'm sure many of those parents who acted up didnt actually graduate high school themselves becuasue they felt school was stupid.

That's a bit assumptive. 

That's a bit assumptive.

But most likely true. Graduations started becoming noisy  in late 70's early 80's and has only gotten worse. If one is judged by the way one is dressed, ones behaviour, and the company one keeps then I'd have to say the majority of the idiots in the audience are illiterate unclassy human specimens.

There's nothing funny about torture

PEE-PEE you are absolutely right...............and those air horns and the screaming, yelling and rudeness that prevails these days is PURE torture to those of us who want to see AND hear the event. We would also like to hear our child's' name called out and that is virtually impossible anymore.

There are plenty of people who are well educated that act like idiots.

What I hate is when they dumb down a ceremony so it doesn't offend anyone.  No pledge, no prayer, nothing controversial just a bunch of mumblers and stutterers and apes going wild in the crowd.  I think once the whites are outnumbered I'm going to request minority status and our own separate graduation.  I can see it now - grandma spitting her snuff on someone's sun dress; grandpa shouting at everyone and spraying them with spit because his hearing aid bat'ry is dead and he can't find his false teeth;  Aunt Luella drunk on Jack and pulling bobby pins out of her pink hair; her husband Uncle Ray trying to touch my leg and tell me what a good boy I am.  Ah, the good old days.  At least everyone was Christian white and straight and no one misbehaved!

"Maybe that's why California has the lowest rated school system in the United States with the highest paid teachers"

Not true on either count.

To DirtyShirt,

Please review the AFL/CIO national teacher's union report by state for salaries ofteachers.  California is ranked #1 with the highest paid teachers.  Maybe the local teacher's unions are purporting something different in an effort to petition the school districts into higher salaries.  As far as the lowest rated school system you are right.  California is actually ranked 49th out of 50.  Hope that makes the state board of education feel alot better.

Here you go from the AFL/CIO American Federation of Teachers

Table II-1: Average Teacher Salary in 2005-06 and 2006-07, State Rankings

5 Rhode Island 12 $51,243

6 Illinois 4 $56,685

7 Massachusetts 5 $56,336

8 Maryland 8 $54,333

9 Michigan 7 $54,739

10 Pennsylvania 9 $54,043