Back in the years when graduation was an exclusive and dignified activity of institutions of higher learning, then graduation was an eventful and significant achievement that one looked forward to with excitement and sense of fulfillment, students and their parents saw it as a climatic-rewarding exercise that needed some kind of celebration that higher education was done.
Today, it seems like children are graduating from everything under the sun from crèche, nursery school to senior secondary education level. As discerning members of the public continue watching and rolling their eyes, one wonders, who are these “graduations” for? These “graduations” most certainly do not have any historical antecedents; they neither are fallouts of educational policies nor mandatory curriculum requirements.
Proprietors of private schools should not send children the message that each and every step in their path is one where parents need to shop and celebrate. There is nothing wrong with parents treating their children with a sense of reward, sure life is grand, but, proprietors of schools should not reduce a serious academic exercise like graduation ceremony to a kind of mediocre activity greeted with mundane sentiments.
Parenthood is a joyful experience in many ways, not minding its challenges, parents would always want to watch their children hit milestones, but not all milestones are created equal, in fact, some milestones are just made up, and that’s exactly how the society feels about the creation of the crèche, kindergarten, primary and junior secondary graduations.
Graduation is something that should happen as an event when one has truly accomplish something, and to any discerning mind, passing a class that you are expected to pass as a child is not worthy of a graduation.
Some parents would think it’s cute to put their kids in little graduation caps and gowns, but the truth remains that paying additional cost to school fees, and sundry charges really pains them. Graduation ceremony and other celebrations like children birthdays, cultural days, and all of that stuff puts additional financial stress on parents, and in this time of economic downturn, graduation in nursery, primary and junior secondary schools should be discouraged as a matter of government policy, if not legislative restraint. Parents shouldn’t see graduation as trendy, but a dishonest way by which profit-driven school proprietors fleece their lean financial resources. Making every occasion one that is ceremony-worthy can start to send the wrong message. The real world isn’t going to celebrate our children every time they do what is expected of them. Parents should set examples that their children would need to grow with in the real life, and the real life isn’t a world of fantasy, but a school of hard knocks. It’s not noteworthy that parents announced their children officially as kindergartens, because it’s expected. It isn’t a rite of passage to put on a cap and gown every time a child moves from one school level to another.
The national policy on education has stipulated that our educational system should provide an egalitarian society where equal opportunities abound for children, irrespective of their background. And one wonders why graduation should continue trending in private schools, without any measure to curb the extortionist tendencies of school proprietors? The practice in itself is discriminatory and stigmatizing. Graduation from senior secondary school could be tolerated because it signifies the ability of the graduate to be in control of his life and destiny, and according to the national policy on education, you have a choice whether to continue on in your education, or take up trade or skill. So, graduation at that level could be yet another milestone and a significant moment to wear a cap and a gown. But why should our children ever care about that when by the time they reach higher institution of learning they have already participated in up to two –three ”graduations?”
All this faux-graduation business really does is cheapens the experiences that were once really special and meaningful.
The worst part in all of this is that parents are forced to participate, and they awfully play along, even when they grumble. The government should wade in to stop this national insanity of endless graduations in the most elaborate of make believe set ups. Isn’t it ridiculous for parents to ignore PTA meetings which seek to bring parents to a face-to-face interaction on the cognitive well being of their children, but quick to embrace trumped up celebrations just in the name “doing it for the sake of my child?” Parents need not to pretend that being forced to spend between fifteen to twenty five thousand naira on “graduation” is fun, it injures their pockets, especially in the prevailing economic realities. Parents should do themselves and their children a favour by requesting an end to these graduations because they are a ruse and serve no purpose.
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