A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
Congratulations, Graduates. You made it. Now, make something of yourselves. Be generous. Smile. Laugh. Love. Continue learning. Stay out of jail. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, not because you think you can’t get away with doing the wrong thing. Do these things, and catch a bit of luck, and you will, as Spock would say, live long and prosper.
Ripoffs. Graduating from high school, a once in a lifetime experience that most students and their parents want “done right,” can get expensive, reports the Los Angeles Times:
The expenses at North Hollywood High included a $450 package for a cap and gown, prom ticket, senior class panorama picture, yearbook, letterman jacket and other items. The $400 senior portrait package. The $300 class ring. The $250 prom dress, with another $220 for hair, makeup and nails, $85 for a limousine and $65 for shoes. The $120 for grad night at Disneyland and other expenses.
Overall cost: about $2,225.
That’s pocket change for the rich, empty pockets for the poor, and what I suspect are obscene profits for the vendors who sell class rings and such. Most of that money would be spent better helping the new graduate get a start in life.
An arresting graduation ceremony in Mississippi. Literally. Despite being asked by Senatobia Superintendent Jay Foster to hold their applause until the end of the ceremony, four parents parents cheered when their children walked across the stage to receive their diplomas. Foster had the parents removed from the ceremony. Later, he persuaded the authorities to arrest the parents for disturbing the peace, an offense punishable by fines and/or imprisonment. Their court date is tomorrow.
Superintendent Foster is white, most or all of the parents are black. Some think Foster’s decision to treat the parents as criminals was motivated by racism, or at the least an unprofessional obtuseness toward cultural norms in a diverse society. That’s certainly a possibility. But I suspect that mostly Foster acted as he did because he’s an anal retentive, authoritarian kind of guy who regards a breach of decorum at a graduation ceremony as blasphemy that must not go unpunished. The cheers spoiled his masterpiece, the solemn, dignified, ritual he’d been planning all year. He was madder than hell, and decided not to take it anymore.
Let’s hope the judge throws the case out of court and lectures Foster on the need for common sense.