Did you have a middle-school (or Jr. High) graduation?

[neverlandsky]

I did. DH and the kids didn’t. The reason given for the kids was that the schools didn’t believe in holding graduations anymore because they felt it contributed to the high dropout rates in High School. So it was best to save the graduation ceremony for the actual completion of a student’s entire schooling of K-12.

 

[easyas123]

Nope. And no kindergarten one either! (Sorry, but kindergarten graduations are the dumbest thing ever, in my ever so humble opinion.)

I think there should be one graduation when it’s all done after 12th grade. Too many “graduations” just cheapens the real one, in my yet again ever so humble opinion.

Didn't read past page 2 - but just had to say THIS 100%!
Agreed!
And how about the crazy moms (and yes, as a fellow mom I'm recognizing all you 'crazy moms' out there) going all out for 8th grade graduation? Limo? Getting hair done? But I realize I may be in the minority -

 

[jdb in AZ]

We had a graduation after 9th grade and thought we were so grown up. Now kids are "graduating" from pre-school. Seems a bit much.

 

[Silver saucer]

I did back in the day. We had a grade 7/8 jr high. And there was a grad ceremony for all 600 of us. We had the ceremony and a dance. That was it.

 

[MrsPete]

Elementary school ends in 5th grade and they have what they call a "clap out" at the elementary schools. On the last day of school, the teachers and younger students line the hallways as the 5th graders parade through the halls one last time and are released from school first. The kids really look forward to their turn to be "clapped out."

At the first school where I taught, we had something similar: when we went to the gym for assemblies, each group -- freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors -- had an assigned space in the gym. At the end of the school year, when we had Awards Day, seniors sat "on the floor" in chairs. So the senior section of the bleachers was empty. At the end of the ceremony, the seniors marched out to Pomp & Circumstance, and the juniors were invited to "move over" to the senior section, symbolizing that they were now the seniors /that they were "top" in school. The students LOVED that small tradition.

 

[aprilgail]

Jr. High graduation was 8th grade and it was basically the same as high school graduation-outside, stage to walk up on as name is called but without caps and gowns- 5th grade graduation was smaller and inside but they do were caps and gowns.

 

[happymommy]

My youngest’s school had a kindergarten graduation with paper caps; I thought it was the stupidest thing ever! IMHO you graduate when you graduate 12th grade.

The school I went to had a mass (it was a catholic school) and I think a luncheon or something after 8th grade, and we wore dresses (all girls school), but not called graduation.

My kids school had closing ceremonies (specifically NOT called a graduation) after each level finished (lower school, middle school) then graduation after 12th grade.

 

[design_mom]

I'm a little confused about whether this is all an issue of semantics.

It sounds like MOST people had some sort of 'moving up' acknowledgement event at the end of middle school/junior high. A few had nothing. A few had something "graduation-like" (walk the stage, some have caps/gowns, etc.) However, it sounds like many had an assembly/mass/ceremony where the oldest students in the school were recognized before they moved on to a different school. We called that 8th grade graduation, but some are calling it a promotion ceremony, a moving-up assembly, etc.

Is the issue the issue with the wording of calling it "graduation"? Or is the issue with having any sort of recognition event at all?

 

[brockash]

I've got an 8th grader this year, and I keep hearing so much angst about how it's so awful that they can't have the "traditional" middle-school graduation due to the pandemic. My question at this point, Is that really traditional? One of my older kids had one, but it was the first I'd ever heard of; I certainly didn't have one, and DH didn't either.

(Full disclosure, the district I was in at that age had a strange way of grouping grades. We had "Jr. High", which was 7th, 8th, and 9th grade together at that school, so there really was no change after 8th grade. However, we didn't have any kind of special ceremony or celebration at the end of 9th, either, we just relocated to the high school building and quietly slunk on into sophomore year.)

PS: Since we're telling stories ... for my HS graduation I had an absolutely roaring migraine and wanted to stay home, but my sister had driven in for the occasion and threatened me with death if I didn't walk. So I did, and the photos show me looking VERY green, with my eyes squinted because of the pain. We went straight home afterward because I was so sick. I try not to think too much about that one (and I left for college the following morning, so there wasn't much chance to savor being "done".) The graduations for my two University degrees were much more joyous and important to me, even though I was just a speck in those much larger crowds.

We have a kindergarten, 5th grade, 8th grade and then the real one when they graduate high school.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'm a little confused about whether this is all an issue of semantics.

It sounds like MOST people had some sort of 'moving up' acknowledgement event at the end of middle school/junior high. A few had nothing. A few had something "graduation-like" (walk the stage, some have caps/gowns, etc.) However, it sounds like many had an assembly/mass/ceremony where the oldest students in the school were recognized before they moved on to a different school. We called that 8th grade graduation, but some are calling it a promotion ceremony, a moving-up assembly, etc.

Is the issue the issue with the wording of calling it "graduation"? Or is the issue with having any sort of recognition event at all?

I guess for me what gives me pause is the idea that this is a major life milestone that has always occasioned formal celebration (though this informal survey seems to indicate that it is regional). I don't know any area of the US that doesn't have compulsory education in some form up to age 16 nowadays, so the idea that this is a special accomplishment that deserves formal accolades for completion seems a bit odd; if everyone has to do at least this much and beyond, what exactly is special about it? So, yes, I'm fine with sentimental gatherings, awards ceremonies and things like symbolically moving to a new section of the gym, but the actual traditional trappings of Commencements, such as white-dress processions, academic gowns, stage-crossing with certificates, and tasseled hats? Not so much, or at least, not so much that I don't think it's a big deal if 14 year olds don't get it.