Show decorum during graduation ceremonies

I can’t tell you how many graduations I have attended where parents and other family members are screaming and hollering when their student’s name is called. I always feel sorry for the next person in line because no one hears that person’s name. The graduation official will most likely stop calling names until the family quiets down. This causes the already long graduation to be extended even longer, every time they have to stop. Where is the respect? Where is the common courtesy?

It costs nothing to be courteous and it stands to reason that one should be as respectful of other people’s graduates as one’s own. Parents need to learn to follow and respect the rules of schools. Graduations are supposed to be a joyous time for families. Every parent is happy and excited about their child graduating and they can’t wait to hear their name called and to see them walk across the stage. However, parents need to understand that there is a time and place for everything. Parents need to stop treating graduations like football games. You can’t just yell and scream for your child at a graduation because it is rude and disrespectful to the other students whose parents are waiting to hear their names called. School officials have struggled for decades to find viable solutions to parents and family members who disrupt graduation ceremonies by yelling, screaming, blowing air horns and otherwise making noise that causes the names of many graduates to be drowned out. These unruly actions diminish the hard-earned recognition for other graduates and often add to the length of graduation ceremonies further inconveniencing others. When my son graduated from high school his elderly grandmother attended the ceremony. Even though all graduates were told to make sure their friends and family did not yell excessively, several people screamed and made it difficult to enjoy commencement. The graduate whose name was read just before my son’s had a lot of family and friends who screamed at the top of their lungs. They yelled for so long that his grandmother did not hear his name announced. That was not fair to my son, who worked hard to maintain a good grade-point average or to his grandmother who had eagerly anticipated his graduation. Charles County Public Schools have asked all the parents of seniors graduating to respect the Silent Graduation. Scream and yell at the end of the ceremony after every graduate has had a chance for their name to be heard.

Waldorf