<p>Went to sons college graduation this weekend. Very traditional and proper. It was asked that you hold applause until the end as parents and family would like to be able to hear their students name being read as they come across the stage.</p>
<p>So about half the people remained quiet and about half yelled out and a few even used airhorns drowning out the next students name.</p>
<p>I was disappointed in general for the lack of decorum by the audience. This just seems to be the direction ceremonies are headed. It didn't lessen my enjoyment of the graduation. It just gave me that "oh, well" kind of feeling.</p>
<p>I think it’s the height of rudeness. HS graduations are the worst but it’s disheartening to know that it has spread to colleges, too. I can’t imagine why anyone would think shouting, whistling and air horns would be a good idea anywhere other than maybe a sports venue.</p>
<p>At my son’s high school graduation, we had planned to follow the directions and hold our applause. However, due to alphabetical order, he was one of the later ones to walk across the stage and if we hadn’t clapped, the silence would have been deafening because everyone was “hootin’ and hollerin’”! I really can sympathize with those who are enthusiastic and want to recognize their student’s achievements but polite applause or maybe a hearty “Yay” is all that’s needed. I definitely draw the line at air horns!!!</p>
<p>Very CON. At S1’s college grad last year, family sitting behind talked the whole time, loud enough to hear they weren’t the smartest family around, then yelled, screamed, stood on chairs, when their kids name was called. Thankfully, S1’s name was well before theirs. I was embarrassed because some of my extended family traveled 800 miles for this.</p>
<p>Just a sad statement of our times that common sense and common courtesy and respect do not exist at important events like graduations and weddings.</p>
<p>Apparently my high school graduation was so bad that part of my family left in the middle of it and didn’t even see me graduate. I’ll never forgive that- if I can manage four years of that craziness they can manage 3-4 hours! </p>
<p>I don’t mind clapping and calling out names. I went to my friend’s graduation and it wasn’t that bad. The person calling the names even had great timing and knew not to call names one after the other so people couldn’t hear. Usually it’s only a few families that ruin the fun, and in those cases I don’t think it would kill graduation speakers to wait a few minutes. I loved being able to support my friend and cheer for her. I think it would just be awkward if the graduation was silent until the end.</p>
<p>What bothers me is people getting up and down all throughout graduation. My friend’s graduation was hardly over 2 hours long, and this one family sitting near me- the <em>whole</em> family- got up and down about 3 different times and kept leaving and coming back! To me that’s a lot more rude than clapping and cheering! </p>
<p>I am against the air horns though. They’re completely ridiculous!</p>
<p>P.S: a lot of graduations are held in a sports venue In fact at my HS graduation they still had the electronic advertisements turned on around the arena! It was SO tacky!</p>
<p>An AIRHORN? At a college graduation? No, no, no…</p>
<p>Applause, yes (there’s no way everyone is going to wait till the end on that so it’s pointless to ask them to). Yelling? I’d prefer no.</p>
<p>But an airhorn is beyond the pale. If I were the college president I’d have stopped the ceremony, told everyone that the ushers would be looking for the airhorn and escorting the offender out, and anyone else with an airhorn would also be asked to leave immediately.</p>
<p>We have a large high school. During graduation, if the noise gets too loud, or the kids have a beach ball or something, the principal simply stops calling names, and stands and waits (with perhaps a glare in the direction of the problem), until things calm down. It’s usually pretty effective.</p>
<p>Very rude and inappropriate. As a high school teacher I walk with the students at many graduations and I have seen students cringe in embarrassment when their families make a big “to-do” in the stands.</p>
<p>At a huge football-stadium type college graduation, I doubt that anyone would find an airhorn objectionable. But then, in that environment, individual names are not called anyway.</p>
<p>Sons graduation was in an all purpose arena (due to size of the class)yet the school did it’s best to decorate with backdrops, plants (trees actually), carpets, podiums and a large stage in order to set the mood. </p>
<p>I like ceremony, I like tradition, I like respect. </p>
<p>I do not like call outs and especially airhorns.</p>
<p>I don’t see the point for people to make unpleasant noise during graduation ceremory. I think this is rude. Besides, the noise ruins other people’s videos.</p>
<p>Con. Rest of my sentence, the people yelling out seem to be having way more fun than the rest of the crowd. However, it has always struck me as in very bad taste, especially when they are requested not to do so. (I must not multi-task, why I posted before the answer was finished.)</p>
<p>I guess we’ve lucked out. Our HS graduations are held in the HS gym for the class of about 250 graduating seniors and of the many graduations I’ve been to there, I’ve never heard an air-horn. Enthusiastic clapping and maybe yelling out, “Go Joe!” but that’s about it. When my kids graduated from college, they were also small affairs at LAC’s so no air-horns there either. I think moderate celebration is fine.</p>
<p>Not only rude, but try to imagine how a grad might feel if nobody applauded, for whatever reason. Hey, what if the student was unpopular? What if the student’s parents were in Iraq and there was nobody there to step in and hoot ‘n’ holler? What if the student had no friends or family? Talk about rubbing salt into a wound…</p>
<p>Funny story. I went to a pretty quite conservative school for 1-8 and we had our graduation ceremony for 8th in a church. By that time all my close friends were older (11th+) high school students and they came to the ceremony. Everyone was told to hold applause until the end, but they didn’t care and exploded hollering my name. It was the best.</p>
<p>Con. I sit and clap for ourselves; my son can’t hear any of it. But I’m respectful of those around us. Nothing annoying. Save those airhorns for a football game; graduation is not the time.</p>
In fact at my HS graduation they still had the electronic advertisements turned on around the arena! It was SO tacky!</p>