Posted by Mike Field on November 17, 2007 at 00:17:34 from 203.129.54.231 user mikefield.
In Reply to: Re: TarBoard:educational, was Re: Fireworks and Responsibility ! posted by John Giddy on November 16, 2007 at 06:17:07:
No graduations for me -- I couldn't stand them, even though we only had them at university level. I always graduated in absentia and had the degree mailed to me.
BUT, my eleven-year-old attends a "central school" here in Melbourne. There used to be lots of them in this State, but now only three are left. They cover the first nine years of a child's education -- Preparatory, then Grades 1 to 6, then Forms 1 and 2. The Prep year isn't "counted" in the numbering system. It's a sort of transition year between kindergarten and school. So Form 2 is the equivalent of Year 8, after which four more years at a High School will take you through to Year 12 (matriculation,) from whence you can go on to university.
Now, Carina's school covers two campuses, divided by a large public park. Preps and Classes 1 and 2 occupy the Junior School on one side of the park, while Classes 3 to 6 and Forms 1 and 2 form the Senior School on the other side. At the end of Class 2 most children would graduate to the Senior School across the park, while a few would be leaving for other schools.
So when the children completed Class 2 and were leaving the Junior School, they did indeed hold a "Graduation Ceremony" for all those students. Each was called to the platform in turn to receive a few personal words from the Junior School Principal, together with a Graduation Certificate (colour-printed on one of the school computers) to mark the event.
It was a remarkably moving and solemn ceremony, which the children obviously took very seriously. Importantly (and in my mind providing complete justification for it) it was a rite of passage that marked the end of an important early stage in their lives.