Anyone else want to go back to 1992 when every single grade didn’t have a “graduation” ceremony?

[lazar]

@monkeym24 I went to kindergarten in 1990. I graduated kindergarten and got a middle school class ring.

 

[ziegw]

@monkeym24 I swear every year I hear about another grade having a graduation it’s crazy! There’s gotta be something else we can do!

 

[queensophia]

@monkeym24 I was in Kindergarten in 95 or 96, and we had Kindergarten graduation. We also just moved down the hall, too. I thought it was pretty normal in US. We didn't have theme days like they seem to do now.

 

[morningcoffee]

@monkeym24 I don’t like the idea of paying for each of these graduations. But I’m looking forward to them in the future with my one year old twins.

I have a 18 year old that just graduated high school, she didn’t have all those ceremonies growing up, just a graduation from elementary to middle school. But seeing how fast these kiddos grow up makes me want to celebrate every occasion to the fullest. It feels like just yesterday I was walking my daughter into kindergarten and now she’s looking at college

 

[noldoxis]

@monkeym24 When I grew up, kindergarten graduation was just paper caps and gowns in our classroom. The only real pre-high school graduation was 8th grade graduation for (usually Catholic) private schools where the students went to all different high schools after that. I haven't heard of any other ones but why are we doing this? Why is everything a "thing" now?

 

[njohn63]

@monkeym24 Today I saw a house with one of those graduate lawn signs for a preschooler and thought that's a little excessive.

We have a 5th grader moving to middle school and an 8th grader moving to high school. They call them promotion ceremonies, and there are no caps & gowns. The principal makes a few remarks, awards are handed out, and that's it. The downside is that parents do need to get time off work to attend because they're held during the school day - high school graduations are at night.

We had similar ceremonies for 5th and 8th grade back in the early-mid 90s, so they're nothing new.

 

[jrfhopps]

@monkeym24 I am a preschool teacher at a public school district in the Midwest and no one in the entire district is allowed to use the word “graduation” for a ceremony except seniors in high school, which I 100% appreciate and support. I do a “end of the year celebration” with preschool certificates at the end of the year but honestly wish I didn’t have to! The kids would rather be spending their time having extra recess and popsicles then sitting in front of parents making them feel weird by crying and hooting and hollering like GD they are 5 I strictly put on my save the dates this year NO BALLOONS because parents show up to my classroom every single year with balloon displays for their one kid. Like mam, this is a preschool classroom that is already too small for our class every day

All this is say — I agree!

But as a millennial I did have an 8th grade graduation, but I do not know if they still call it that in my hometown or not now

 

[curious_heathen]

@monkeym24 I graduated from kindergarten in the early 90s, it’s definitely not a new thing!

 

[koroman]

@monkeym24 My kid is going to “graduate” pre-school and go to primary school in September. He’s very excited for his graduation as they’ve been practicing songs and dances for it for ages.

In the UK the only thing you usually graduate from is university. Not high school, not primary school, though you’d probably have some sort of leavers event at primary school and a prom for high school. Though apparently we now graduate preschool!

 

[revelation220]

@monkeym24 I “graduated” from prek, kindergarten, and 6th grade in the 90s it’s always been a thing.

We did not wear a cap and gown though. There was no additional money required from my parents.

I think it’s cute and I can’t wait to see my LO do this!

 

[jackee]

@monkeym24 I enjoy it and I also had several graduations in the 90’s. You may be experiencing Maycember or just bummed that it’s during work hours. You surely can’t have beef with pre-k and kindergarten graduation on its own.

 

[patticats]

@monkeym24 My son’s school didn’t do anything special for K or 1st grade, just a promotional certificate for finishing. His daycare did a little pre-K graduation though with the caps & gowns.

The only grade school graduation I recall was 8th grade, but it was a small ceremony. We already had the gowns from Confirmation ( I went to a Catholic school).

 

[hkdr]

@monkeym24 Oh this is malarkey. If it were me (and if my son didn't care to participate) I would skip this altogether and take him to Disneyland or Knott's to celebrate

 

[monkeym24]

@hkdr I think it’s awesome that you can take a random weekday off to take your child to Disneyland. Not everyone can reasonably do that.

 

[hkdr]

@monkeym24 I don't get weekends off. I think it's awesome you do.

But I agree that these schools insisting on a graduation ceremony for pre-K or kindergarten to first grade, is some malarkey. It's best to save it for the older kids.

 

[monkeym24]

@hkdr Yeah, I’d love to skip all these theme days, but there are just so many of them!

 

[joelviramontes]

@monkeym24 Born in 1976. Only graduation I had was hs in 1994. Fine by me. My child was in a a pre k where they all "had" to graduate.. except my child was not going to kindergarten, because his birthday was after the cutoff. So I had to take time off to sit thru that. Ridiculous

 

[acecomando101]

@monkeym24 I had Kindie grad in 1985. It was low-key - in the gym. We had a cake, and our teacher made hats and flowers to hold out of construction paper. We wore our "good" clothing. They put our names and artwork on the walls. Our parents brought cameras and took pictures, which was a bigger deal in the 80s lol. It felt like a big deal.

Fast forward to my son's kindie grad - it was basically the same thing - minus cake. Speech by the principal, a few songs sung by the kids, and a little ceremony of giving them their certificates. It was nice, and let's be honest - the move from Kindie to Grade one is a big deal for these kids - at least here. Kindie is all play-based, inquiry-led learning. Grade one has way more structure. Desks. Kindie kids have their own outside time, the grades all go out together at recess. Unfortunately, my daughter had her Kindie grad post covid so there wasn't one, and we were bummed about it.

 

[holidayforchildren]

@monkeym24 It seems weird to me how big the smaller level grads are. But honestly, it's not my place to judge how or why others like to celebrate stuff. I try to worry about my own kids' stuff, and then when I see something like a massive backyard grad party with bounce houses, etc, for a 4 yo graduation from daycare I keep the thoughts as inside thoughts. Maybe that family had something going on and that kid is like their miracle baby or something. Some families just like an excuse to get people together and have a good time.

I took my kids and dog to a dog birthday party this weekend. It was fun. Like everything kinda sucks in the world right now. But we had a good time. That was a good day.

 

[misshawkins]

@monkeym24 As a Kindergarten teacher, if we didnt have a graduation, we would be exiled by the parents. They are more often responsible for making it such a production. I would be THRILLED to stop doing it as most of the kids attend PreK and have a big to-do when they go on to K.

As a child of the 90s, I had a Kindergarten graduation, a 5th grade graduation, and an 8th grade graduation.