I'm Graduating High School!

[L Verge]

Betty,

I graduated both high school and college in the '60s, so no Daisy Dukes. We were allowed to wear only our (full) slips under those gowns and had to keep the gowns on until everything was over and we could decently get back into street clothes.

Most schools were not air conditioned then, but both my high school and college commencements were held outdoors in early-June. College wasn't as bad as high school because it was high in Maryland's mountains, but it was still hot in those garments, and those of us who wore honors hoods had even more layers. The gowns in those days (and the mortar boards) were much thicker than those lightweight nylon robes of today.

In both cases, the ceremonies were solemn and dignified -- even the audience members. The recent graduations that I have attended have been travesties of misbehavior on both the graduates' side and the audiences'. Some of the parents are worse than the kids.

I'm dreading my grandson's graduation in three years. He's a straight-A student (so far), but announced to us yesterday on his 15th birthday that he was not going to be either valedictorian or salutatorian of his class because those students have to give speeches! No way is he going to do that... I was #2 in my class (salutatorian), and his mother was #4. We decided that we will be perfectly happy with him being #3.