Kids Choosing to Skip Graduation?

[StarGirl11]

I walked for my HS graduation but am planning to not for my CC graduation. This is more due to conflict of schedule though then not caring about walking. I do the Tink half every year and the weekend for the race is the same as my schools graduation. When I finish my 4 year I am planning to walk that (may change my mind though considering how college graduations are, I have a few years to figure it out though). I just don't feel the urgency to walk for this even if it is the closing of a book on a long complicated part of my life.

 

[mom2rtk]

I half expected my daughter to opt out. She had a not so good experience in high school. She just wasn't connected to the school or to very many people there. But she was asked to read the welcome at the ceremony and she graduated with honors. So she walked and enjoyed it and waved buh-bye and said I'm done...lets go

Good for her! For many the ceremony is all about saying goodbye to a great experience and friends. But don't underestimate how many are there to say good riddance!

 

[Frozen Canuck]

I half expected my daughter to opt out. She had a not so good experience in high school. She just wasn't connected to the school or to very many people there. But she was asked to read the welcome at the ceremony and she graduated with honors. So she walked and enjoyed it and waved buh-bye and said I'm done...lets go

This was my daughter as well. She gave the speech to the parents, so needed to be there, but after she walked out those doors, she never looked back. I was never so glad to be done with a building in my life and I wasn't even the one who had to attend there every single day.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I don't know of anyone who didn't walk for high school or college, but I do know many who didn't walk for grad school. I think that, as long as the graduate and their family are all comfortable with the decision, then they should do what works for them.

I don't know any who didn't walk for HS, but tons who didn't for college. Probably more who didn't than did.

 

[momto2girls]

I don't know of any classmates who didn't walk for our high school graduation. There might have been some, but no one I knew. I never considered not walking, but I found it SO boring. I did not walk for college or grad school graduations and I don't regret it at all. I don't care if my daughters walk for their graduations or not. If they choose to do so, I will sit through the whole (boring) thing, but if they choose not to, they won't hear a word of complaint from me. It is really overrated in my opinion.

 

[klacey1]

I didn't walk for my undergrad. The ceremony was the Sunday following the Monday that I began my full-time, career position. It would have felt strange to "go back," plus the travel (3 hour drive) was not something I felt up to doing after my first week at my job. No regrets.

 

[ksjayhawks]

Our district has an alternative program. Many of the students who graduate from this program choose not to walk across the stage--for a few it is shyness, for many it is because they didn't have a good experience at the high school and have no desire to step back in the building or participate in anything associated with it. Others do choose to walk.

 

[prprincess]

I wish I had the option not to walk for HS. By the time I got to senior year, I really was just sick of the whole scene and wanted to say good riddance. I'm one of the rare people who does not keep in touch with anyone from HS.

 

[aprilchem]

We were forced to go to our HS graduation or (we were told) we wouldn't get our diplomas. I suppose that was an empty threat, though.

I went to my college graduation because I wanted to. I wanted to skip my Ph.D. graduation and actually had told the school I wasn't going to it, until my mom found out. I then very quickly told them I'd made a mistake and would be there! It was still lame though...

I'm a college professor now, and I would estimate about 10% of our class doesn't walk at graduation. Some of them graduate early and have moved to other areas of the country for graduate school or jobs, some have no interest, and some just start jobs right away and don't want to bother coming back.

 

[Skippy918]

I went. There was no way I was going to skip out on something that I worked really hard to get.

 

[scrhsa]

This was my daughter as well. She gave the speech to the parents, so needed to be there, but after she walked out those doors, she never looked back. I was never so glad to be done with a building in my life and I wasn't even the one who had to attend there every single day.

We spent 7 yrs total between each of my girls at our school. Not a single one cares about the school at all. I don't think my teenagers ever really liked other teenagers I'm not saying they were more mature than all the others, they just couldn't stand all the drama that teens made themselves go through

 

[Frozen Canuck]

We spent 7 yrs total between each of my girls at our school. Not a single one cares about the school at all. I don't think my teenagers ever really liked other teenagers I'm not saying they were more mature than all the others, they just couldn't stand all the drama that teens made themselves go through

This was definitely our experience as well, although we only needed to deal with it for 4 years given the overlap of our kids. My son was the exact same way. He hasn't kept in touch with a single person he knew in high school. He wasn't particularly close to anyone, just people he hung out with, but nothing lasting. With my daughter, I completely get what you are saying about the "maturity" thing. It isn't precisely the right word (perhaps social maturity would capture it better), but it seems to be the one that gets the idea across the best. She really had no use for the constant high school bullying, bickering, and drama and came home repeatedly saying that she didn't fit in with a lot of the kids there as a result, despite being on a sports team, student council president, etc. Everything seemed to be turned into a battle against those who felt they deserved certain positions instead of her, how they were better than her, or other issues. The administration and other aspects of how things operated at the school really pushed me over the top some days. I'm so glad all of that is behind us for the time being, but we do have one more child coming up in a few years. Ugh!

 

[tvguy]

I only walked for HS because they told us No Walk - No Diploma - I didn't attend my college graduation ceremony.

For my kids, that was the rule, and because it was a Catholic High School, the Baccalaureate was mandatory too.
I don't recall whether is was required for me, I just know the Baccalaureate was optional.

 

[Hikergirl]

My dd graduated last year, two of her friends didn't walk. I had no idea it was optional, but my ds graduates next year and I wouldn't care if he chose to skip it. The venue is too small for the crowds of parents and families and parking sucks.
I would rather see my kids walk for college graduation than HS, but that is just me.

 

[ronandannette]

For my kids, that was the rule, and because it was a Catholic High School, the Baccalaureate was mandatory too.
I don't recall whether is was required for me, I just know the Baccalaureate was optional.

Here the actual credential is issued by the Provincial Ministry of Education - not the individual school. The diploma comes in the mail some weeks after the school year concludes and all the final exam marks are submitted. Kids get a symbolic certificate only at their grad ceremony. There's no possible way a diploma could be withheld from anybody for declining to attend the ceremony.

 

[Shanti]

I only went to my high school graduation due to family pressure. High school wasn't a happy time, and our graduation gowns were powder blue . After college, I chose to go to graduation, but as I graduated mid-year, the ceremony wasn't that big, and the main speaker was poor. I can understand why some people choose to skip the whole thing.

 

[pryncess527]

I'd say the vast majority of students I know -- HS, college, and graduate level -- only walk when someone else is making them. I only walked in undergrad cause it was important to my mom. I did choose to walk for my grad degree on my own.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I don't know of anyone who didn't walk for high school or college, but I do know many who didn't walk for grad school. I think that, as long as the graduate and their family are all comfortable with the decision, then they should do what works for them.

This is funny. My DS is the exact opposite. He says he'll walk, when he reaches his final goal, which is grad school. DH & I support whatever he wants to do, but I'm really hoping he'll walk then. We have family that would like to see him graduate at least once.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

My DD is skipping HS graduation in a few days. She's so OVER high school and all the drama and just wants to get on with her life. There are 475 in her class, so I can't say I'm disappointed that I won't have to sit through that. (Three years ago we sat through my oldest DD's graduation in a class of 425 and it went on FOREVER). Anyway, she got her Mickey Graduation Ears when we went in April and will be taking a graduation trip to WDW next Tuesday, so all is well in her world.

 

[bethbuchall]

I guess I never really thought not to walk in high school. I have seen most kids walk here. Funny enough I did not walk when I graduated college. I constantly have dreams about missing exams or showing up in wrong exam room.... etc... Soneone told me years ago that people who have those dreams typically did not walk and hence did not gave proper closure. Who knows if that is statistically true, but I thought it was an interesting observation.

I walked, and I still have those dreams. I also have the dreams where I'm trying to find the exam room and realize that I haven't been to class all semester.

I know that I didn't want to walk in high school. I never have liked to be any sort of center of attention. My parents told me it wasn't open for negotiation and that I was walking. I knew that it was expected in college, too, and I complied a bit more happily then. Knowing how I felt, I'd like to say that I'd be fine with my kids choosing not to walk, but I don't think I would be. (My husband would be, though.) Fortunately, the last graduates from high school this year, and none have questioned it.