Graduation?

The New York Times ran an article last Saturday about the increase in homeschool graduation ceremonies.  Maybe if we end up homeschooling all the way through high school, I’ll change my mind. But for now, I can’t imagine why we would do such a thing.

Here’s what one parent said about why her family was participating:

“My daughter, Vanessa, really didn’t want to do it, because it was all strangers, and she didn’t think it was a big deal,” Brenda Orr said. “But I thought she was incorrect, so I convinced her. I imagined her walking across the stage just like I did at my graduation, and I didn’t want her to feel she’d missed out on something.”

You didn’t want her to feel like she missed out on something?  Isn’t it a little late for that?  I mean, you know, she “missed” the entire four years of high school.  Friendships, proms, sports teams, passing notes during class, amazing art teachers, peer pressure, lockers, holding hands in the hallway, pep rallies, great science labs, smoking in the bathrooms, and giant textbooks whose content is controlled by Texas and California.  It wasn’t all great, but when I look back on high school, it’s not graduation that I’m thinking about.

Maybe I’m missing something.   Does anyone have fond memories marching across the football field while you tried to find your family in the bleachers? Were any of you moved by the valedictory speech?  Did the rest of you go to schools that threw amazing graduation ceremonies?