On page 25 of last nights Edmonton Journal was a picture of a group of delightful little five and six-year-olds, all dressed up in gowns and mortar boards for their graduation from kindergarten. I don't know why parents allow their children to be part of this kind of ridiculous nonsense. We now have full graduation ceremonies from kindergarten, grade school, junior high school, high school, and finally college. Graduation used to be a special, once in a lifetime thing for a young person. Now by the time a child graduates from college, chances are he's already been through at least five other similar ceremonies, and mark you, these play school and grade school graduations are not just play acting. They are complete with all the trimmings including caps, gowns, valedictorian addresses, and diplomas. What are my objections? First, it cheapens the whole idea of educational accomplishment. Instead of holding out that great day of graduation as the culmination for our children's years of working and studying, we hand it to them as a sort of charade for passing "sandbox" at play-school. If a young person goes through a graduating ceremony every three or four years, he soon gets the idea that really they can't be very important affairs. We rob that child of what could be and should be one of the great single events of his life. Second, why can't they let five-year-olds just be five years old and when the kindergarten term is over, take them out to Borden Park for a swim, and some hotdogs and foot races. No sir, we have to push these toddlers into caps and gowns and make them act like 20 year olds with these ridiculous "graduations". You are only a child once, and more and more, parents seem to figure that once is once too often. And they just can't wait to force their children into adult experiences, 20 years before they are ready.
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