Commencement hooligans
A letter writer today laments the rudeness at Page High School's graduation this year. She is not alone.
NPR ran a thoughtful piece over the weekend on high school graduations and the continuing trends of grown people to hoot and holler at commencements like hooligans at a rasslin' match.
In one interview, a valedictorian from last year recounted how her commencement speech, near the end of the program, was drowned out by an impatient audience. One heckler yelled, "Get on with it!"
In the other interview, people were expelled at a ceremony by school officials who had perhaps overreacted to growing commencement misconduct.
One of them reportedly had clapped out of turn. He was asked to leave. Also expelled: a minister wearing his clerical collar who had come to the offending applauder's defense.
Yes, the administrators overdid it, the minister said in an interview. But you've also got to have reasonable rules of decorum.
Amen.
Comments (2)
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Allen,
I went to a cousin's high school graduation in Rutherford County. No one heckled any speakers, but there were a number of, er, overly enthusiastic spectators.
Even though school officials passed out flyers requesting that folks refrain from yelling and cheering, some people (all adults, mind you) still whooped it up. One spectator even brought an air horn. I felt bad both for the graduates and for the school officials, who put together a classy ceremony.
Posted on June 8, 2005 12:52 PM
My husband's nephew graduated from Madison County High (in the hills north of Asheville) last weekend. They tossed beach balls during the principal's speech. But they also had hundreds of tiny "super bounce" balls, which they proceeded throw around during songs and speeches. One kid slipped on the ball when she was getting her diploma and fell into the principal's arms.
Toward the end of the ceremony, some students were dousing each other with silly string after they received their diplomas. It was so wild, you couldn't hear the graduates' names called.
Posted on June 8, 2005 4:33 PM