Editorial: caps and gowns are overrated

If you’ve ever been to a public high-school graduation, you know it is nothing like Country Day’s.

At other schools’ graduations there is a big auditorium. Every ticket is claimed. Hundreds and hundreds of identical caps and gowns sit in neat rows. The three-hour-plus service seems never-ending as student after unknown student marches across the stage.

Recently seniors Natalie Polan and Jianna Gudebski petitioned the administration to have seniors wear caps and gowns at the 2013 graduation.

Their argument: “We want a traditional graduation.”

But wearing caps and gowns does not make it a traditional graduation.

Instead, it takes away the uniqueness of our ceremony.

We embrace our non-conformist ways here by toasting or roasting every senior. Only such a tight-knit community such as our own has the opportunity to do this.

Another part of this individuality is the seniors’ freedom to dress in a personalized, yet classy, style.

Our graduation is this way on purpose. We can afford to be unique because of the small class sizes.

“Country Day is such a special place and we are treated as adults, and that is represented at graduation through the roasts the teachers give us,” Meredith Bennett-Smith, ‘06, said.

“And the individuality of everyone not looking the same on stage along with the roasts really showcases each individual’s personality.”

Therefore, why would we try to mimic something that we are not?

If they want a traditional graduation, then should we eliminate the toasts and roasts?

It’s hard to imagine the traditional individuality of this event with everyone looking the same up on the stage.

The high-school faculty is unanimous in their opinion that each student should dress as they please. Anyone who wants to wear a cap and gown is welcome to.

Not only will these seniors be attempting to ruin an unbroken “non-tradition,” but they will also be trying to force those students who are opposed to caps and gowns into wearing something they are not comfortable with on one of the most memorable nights of their lives.

It is understandable that some seniors may have imagined their graduation day for years—tossing their tassled caps high in the air along with a few hundred other clones.

But that is simply not what Country Day is about. We are about celebrating individuality, not conformity.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email