| Senior denounces trivial graduation practices (4/08) | | Print | |
| Written by Anna Vignet | |
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The moment the glossy senior portrait pamphlet came in the mail I knew that I would be a whirlwind of cynicism when it came to senior activities this year.
ABC School Portraits boasted shiny smiling photographs for prices ranging from $24 to $300. Pay hundreds of dollars for very boring, very posed school portraits? When there are photographers on Craigslist asking to take people’s pictures all the time? And student photographers like myself who love to point the camera at anyone and everyone? Pshh. No way. My struggle to understand a student’s desire for commemorative portraits soon spread into complete distaste for the entire business of time-honored graduation traditions. Senior rituals like portraits and graduation have become overrated and too profit-centered. Over the years, companies have found a way to capitalize on the event by packaging meaningless memories and selling them for exorbitant prices. But graduation is not the momentous occasion these memory-generating companies have made it out to be. It’s just a marker of age, a ceremonial affirmation of how old you are and how much you know. A bland, boring four-hour event with inspirational speakers who remind us to stay true to ourselves and accomplish our goals, blah blah blah — the same pointless cheesy mantras we tell little kids. The importance of graduation has been passed down in time-honored tradition and no one has stopped to question its meaning. Upon hearing the Bill Graham Civic Center wouldn’t be available due to construction, seniors protested the two-ticket-per-student limit, disappointed that their parents and extended family would not be able to attend because of space constraints. I only felt disappointed that I wouldn’t get to walk across the same stage that had seen bands like Modest Mouse. While graduation does represent the triumph of the trial of toiling through four years of rigorous academics, the ceremony itself is not what’s important. You really graduate from high school the minute you walk out of your last exam. After that, the gentle swishing of the hat tassel becomes purely a formality. Students with family members disappointed that they won’t get to see graduation should use their own creativity to reenact that precise handshake, diploma-snatch moment if need be. Parents only really want to see their own kid walk across the stage anyway. Businesses like ABC School Portraits do not make memories. Use some of your own creativity, and whatever you create will be worth a lot more sentimentally without costing a dime. In the end, I’ll be there, sitting through the ceremony, shaking hands and taking the diploma, participating in this blasted graduation ritual along with everyone else. But I won’t be buying senior portraits, class rings, graduation announcements, shoes, shirts, bracelets, watches or commemorative keyrings. |
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to listen.
