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<p>How is that fun? It strikes me as tacky. Different behaviors are appropriate in different social situations. On the beach? Bring on the beach balls! At a graduation? Why can’t you control yourself to appropriate clapping at the time requested?</p>
<p>I agree with pizzagirl. A graduation ceremony is a happy occasion for all attending – except for the poor people sitting anywhere near the yahoos who think it will be “more fun” by blasting an air horn!</p>
<p>What is the function of an airhorn anyway? I boutght one once-- to use to wake up my s in the morning. Stood in his doorway with it. Didn’t work. Seriously. He slept right through it. I couldn’t stant it for more than a second or so. MAybe it is for alerting people in a fog. He was clearly in a fog :)</p>
<p>Let’s face it - the whole high school graduation thing is out of hand, from the deportment of the families at the graduation ceremonies themselves to the endless round of graduation parties, which I think are just money/present grabs.</p>
<p>S1 - didn’t want a graduation party.
D - wanted a graduation party - only family and close friends.
S2 - doesn’t want a graduation party.</p>
<p>D’s school prinicipal actually sent out a letter this week asking parents/families to not yell or blow airhorns during the graduation ceremony. Apparently it has been a problem in the past… I think it is sad that a letter had to be sent.</p>
<p>^^
And even sadder that a few will disregard all of the admonitions anyway.</p>
<p>It is printed in our big city newspaper every year before grad. that those who get out of hand at grad. will be escorted out. Unfortunately all all the yelling, clapping ,screaming the grads name out at random times does not qualify for removal. </p>
<p>The graduations take place in an NBA arena, you can barely see your kid and…you can just imagine the noise level…maybe some mistake it for a sporting event.</p>
<p>If you have the time (its about a minute and a half, I think), click o the slide show of Tulane’s graduation and enjoy the clever decorations on some of the mortarboards. Different approach to graduation (and by the way, when you get to the one with the little baby doll on it-- thats the prize from a kings cake from mardi gras, not a statement about babies-- just so ya know). [Tulane</a> University - Commencement 2010: Moments and Mortarboards](<a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/051910_mortarboards.cfm]Tulane”>http://tulane.edu/news/newwave/051910_mortarboards.cfm)</p>
<p>^^ Very nice, jym. I hope there isn’t an uncensored version on nola dot com ;)</p>
<p>I went to my brother’s graduation last weekend, where he got his masters’ degree in electrical engineering. He’s going on for his PhD, and he didn’t mention to our parents that he was graduating, so I was the only one in the audience for him. I had my iPhone recording the audio of the conferring of degrees and the calling of his name, had my SLR and telephoto lens to snap pictures of him walking across the stage, listened to the pace that the speaker was calling out names, and shouted out “WOO, (BROTHER)!!” right after his name was called. There were a full two seconds before the next name was called, so I was able to make sure I didn’t yell over someone else’s name.</p>
<p>I’m a former drum major; I can be loud. I <em>may</em> have given whiplash to a few trustees on the nearby platform… I didn’t intend to be as loud as I was, but I’m very proud of my brother.</p>
<p>I have a bad history with graduations. My mom landed herself in a psych ward two weeks before my college graduation and didn’t call me from the time she was admitted until after the ceremony happened, and my parents filed for divorce the day before I got my masters’ degree. Nobody cheered for me and I didn’t feel like hearing anybody cheer for me, either. My graduations weren’t very much fun. But I’ll be darned if I’m not going to cheer my socks off (taking care, of course, to make sure that I’m not going to step on anybody else’s sunshine) for the people I love during one of the most important days of their lives. Some of us only have brains; we’ve never had anybody cheer for us at a sporting event!</p>
<p>I’ll probably shout for my husband when he gets his doctoral hood next year, too, so prepare yourselves for my indecorous hoot if you go to the LSU hooding ceremony… I don’t mind jubilance at a graduation. I think it should be there.</p>
<p>(Airhorns are right out, though. Anything that causes people physical pain is a definite con.)</p>
<p>LOL vicariousparent! Hadnt thought about that! So I cked on NOLA.com to check, and all I saw were pics of the oil spill :(</p>
<p>Sorry for the sadness at graduation, aibarr. You deserve some happiness</p>
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<p>Oh, I had a great wedding, and I’ve got a pretty darned good life. No worries. I just know how important graduations are, and they ought to be cheered for, I think.</p>
<p>I just had my graduation. We were instructed not to clap until after all the names had been read–which, of course, was an instruction promptly ignored. Some people applauded politely, some people screamed loud enough to shake the chandelier (which, okay, that was obnoxious), but I don’t know anyone who remained silent.</p>
<p>Afterwards the audience was treated to the sight of four hundred exuberant eighteen-year-olds simulating a rollercoaster ride, complete with sound effects. There was screaming and stamping; some people threw their hats into the air, ignoring express instructions not to do so until we left the building. It was the most undignified, unsolemn, undecorous part of a not-exactly-staid ceremony. It was also my very favorite moment of the ceremony, and the one I think I will remember twenty years from now, because in no other single moment did I feel more clearly that this graduation was about shared joy.</p>
<p>But that’s just my opinion, of course.</p>
<p>I find it interesting that the students who have posted on this thread have generally supported a more relaxed atmosphere at graduation ceremonies. Most of the parents here are in favor of a silent, solemn ceremony, akin to a service in a church or synagogue.</p>
<p>So whose opinion should matter more?</p>
<p>^^
IMO that’s a false choice. No one is advocating for silence or a funeral-like atmosphere. I think we could all agree that graduation should be joy-filled, relaxed and fun. But simple courtesy is also called for – the realization that one’s child is not the only graduate being honored. Courtesy in this situation precludes loud celebrations that prevent other parents from hearing their child’s name called.</p>
<p>I think that the HOST of the event should be able to set the rules. After all, this is how traditions are formed and maintained. I, for one, love traditions of all sorts. People look forward to them. </p>
<p>So if a certain school, college, organization has certain traditions they feel are important to hold and continue every year they can say so.</p>
<p>It is NOT up to the attendees at a ceremony to do what they feel like doing. It is disrespectful and rude.</p>
<p>Definitely, no air horns for my kids’ graduation…it is not a football game, it is a ceremony!</p>
<p>I’m not a screamer, but for my other kids graduation, two years ago I invited a friend that has a big voice and she said the name of my kid calling the kid’s attention and looking to the stands—what a beautiful smile my kid had I could feel my kid’s emotion… I still have the picture and the memory of that joy in my heart.</p>
<p>Soon I will be attending another of my kid’s graduation. However, my friend with the big voice moved…now I don’t know what to do except to applaud when I hear my kid’s name. Maybe…a “Hi” following with my kid’s “name”…not sure yet. I know that the parents at this school are full of joy and happiness and they release that energy screaming the kid’s name…yes some not many bring the air horns.</p>
<p>However, my friend with the big voice moved…now I don’t know what to do except to applaud when I hear my kid’s name. Definitely, no air horns for my kids’ graduation…it is not a football game, it is a ceremony!</p>
<p>Just back from my a college graduation. Went oh-so-well-and-cheerful. Some loud squeals, some polite clapping, but everyone happy and fun. BUT what I didn’t like at all: some really annoying balloons that blocked our view of the speakers and festivities. It was worse than the old days when some lady with a crazy, too-big hat came with her latest creation. Today those flying distractions came in bunches of two or three or four and were so unnecessary, especially when we were all sitting and trying to listen.</p>
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<p>And I had to suppress a shiver at the word “tradition,” so I guess you see my bias there.</p>
<p>But is a tradition, a ritual, not carried out for the benefit of those in attendance? If the hosts of the ceremony persist in adhering to tradition against the wishes of parents and students, out of some preconceived notions of what a graduation ceremony Should Be, that is silly. No one was harmed–everyone’s name could be clearly heard, I promise you–and we all probably enjoyed ourselves a little more than we would have had we sat Respectfully in silence the entire time. And knowing my school as I do, I very much doubt that flagrant disregard for the administration’s instructions is not a yearly tradition in its own right. [shrug]</p>
<p>Airhorns are obnoxious, yes. We didn’t have any of those, although a few people screamed or shouted out in ways that felt more like a cry for attention than a spontaneous expression of joy, and that was also obnoxious. But cheering and clapping, even loud cheering and clapping? I don’t see the problem here.</p>
<p>(This coming from someone who could never quite manage more than vigorous applause.)</p>
<p>“(This coming from someone who could never quite manage more than vigorous applause.)”—best description, that’s me!</p>
<p>However, I will try my best to “But cheering and clapping, even loud cheering and clapping”… and because I really love graduations, I will laugh and enjoy those that bring the beach balls, noisy air horns and tambourines…</p>