Kindergarten graduation? WTF?

[Wcross]

I was talking with the barber yesterday and he was bitching about his granddaughters "kindergarten graduation ceremony". He was pissed off that the kids had to buy a 50 dollar cap and gown set to participate. Is this common in public schools? Why would a school do this to the parents of their children? It seems to me they always cry about a lack of funding yet they want people to blow a good chunk of change on a one time use item.
No wonder our public schools are so screwed up.

(P.S.- any misspelling in this post is not my fault, I went to public schools)

[Mutley]

1. The graduation seems common enough.

I think I might have done one way back in the day. But to make parents buy a $50 cap and gown? That is ridiculous. Why can't they just wear something nice?

[eyesroll]

2. I had a kindergarten graduation in 1980, but it didn't cost anything...

I think we made caps, but just wore regular clothes, and had refreshments after.


$50 for a cap and gown? My college cap and gown didn't cost that much. That's insane.

[Debbi801]

3. I've never heard of them for public schools.....

But, the private/day care kindergartens here have them all the time. Both of my kids went through them because I didn't send them to public school for kindergarten (I work full time and half day kindergarten would have been a scheduling nightmare).

The ceremonies were very cute and did not cost me a thing as far as the cap and gown went. The kindergartens re-used the caps and gowns year after year and just buy new tassles which my kids got to keep.

I'm not sure what the purpose is for them at public schools, since the kids are staying at the same school for first grade.

[Wcross]

4. Oh, it gets worse around here......

... They make the kid participate in fundraising. Now I ask you, why would you ask an 8 y/o kid go door to door trying to sell candy? Are they that stupid? It is always the parents that have to sell the stuff at work. I hate fundraising season because half of my co-workers are selling stuff. I feel guilty by saying no but if I buy from one and don't buy from everyone I come off as an ass. (Not to mention I don't eat candy)
I still have 6 boxes of girlscout cookies I haven't touched!

[Mutley]

5. We had to do that, too.

:D

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. My sister & I both had one.

Neither one of us wore cap and gowns. I was in Catholic school and she was in public school. The $50 for a cap & gown seems ridiculous. My sister is graduating HS this year and it only cost $15 in advance or $20 the day before. Any misspellings would be the fault of not using spell check, not public school. My public school did a great job.

[madinmaryland]

7. Our daughter had a pre-school graduation!

It was kind of cute, though no-one had to buy anything special to wear. Haven't seen that for kindergarten, though they are all in the same school (k-5), so there is no real transition at that point. They do have a celebration for the 5th graders as they will be moving onto middle school.

[LSdemocrat]

8. I had one, but I didn't have to buy anything for it

[Fox Mulder]

9. I never had one.

And I graduated kindergarten in 1988.

They don't have those in my small-town school, either. :shrug:

[slide to the left]

10. I am a cheer coach

for the JV at a high school. A lot of the girls have to miss practice for 8th grade graduation. I think things like this trivialize the actual accomplishment of graduating high school (it is in an urban district). Getting past kindergarten is NOT an accomplishment. I think we pat kids on the back too much and worry WAY too much about self esteem.

[LeftyMom]

11. We did that when I was a kid

But we made our caps out of construction paper.

[realisticphish]

12. fucking A

I didn't have a kindergarten graduation, or an 8th grade graduation, and I just got out of high school a few years ago. I have a feeling his kids are going to a slightly richer school; no poor school would try to get its students to spend that much money

[Wcross]

13. Shelbyville,Tennessee. Median family income 37k/yr. n/t

[realisticphish]

15. hmm

I dunno then. I went to a rural ohio school district (and my mother still teaches thre). They would NEVER do something like that, because they know that so many of the children couldn't afford that. Plus, it's really, really stupid

[Scout1071]

14. My nephew is having a pre-school graduation, but no expense.

I can't wait. I'm helping my sister bake a cake this afternoon for it.

[LynneSin]

16. I remember having one way back in the 70s

but the thing is the school already had a bunch of cap & gowns they just reused each year. I mean, I haven't kept any of my graduation stuff except my college one (I had my sorority on it)

[tjwmason]

17. Goodness.

We don't even have school graduation over here - I've been through one graduation, and that was after 4 years of university.

I can see that it's a charming little thing to do, but to my cynical eyes it sounds a tad too much.

To expect parents to pay for a cap and gown really is over the top by any reasonable measure.

[NewWaveChick1981]

18. I have yet to understand why that is necessary.

*old geezer voice* Back in my day, the only graduation anyone even cared about was high school, and then college if you went to college. Now it's preschool graduation, kindergarten graduation, first grade graduation, elementary graduation, junior high graduation, high school graduation, etc. I have gotten invitations for all of these events from people that I know who have kids, and for some reason, they expect gifts for all of these occasions too. Caps and gowns costing $50+ seem to be the norm. WTF??? :wtf:

I think if parents and schools want to have a little ceremony for these "graduations", that's fine. Just don't send me engraved invitations and expect "graduation gifts" at every turn. I'll be happy to send a HS graduation gift and a college graduation gift, but enough is enough. :eyes:

It's as bad as kids' birthday parties now. My sister tells me that every kid in my nieces' school tries to outdo the other on fancy birthday parties now. When she has parties for her kids' birthdays, she has them at her house with games and cake and ice cream. She doesn't rent reception halls, doesn't hire anyone to perform, or anything like that. The kids who attend love it! I think the BS is primarily for the parents. :P