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To cheer or not to cheer for HS grads

June 7, 2012 @ 9:59 am (Updated: 12:15 pm - 6/7/12 )

Another parent is called out after cheering for her son during his high school graduation ceremony.

Recently, a South Carolina mom was arrested and taken away in handcuffs after she ignored the school's announcement to "hold your applause" until after all the graduates' names are called.

Now an Ohio high school is withholding a grad's diploma and requiring community service as punishment for what it describes as "overly boisterous cheering" by his family during his graduation ceremony. Technically he graduated, but won't get the official document until he completes 20 hours of community service.

HSGradOn Monday, we'll have the first of dozens of graduation ceremonies for the state's more than 80,000 seniors.

If you have a high school grad, will you scream for him or her?

If they asked me not to make a huge fuss, I'd probably applaud and give a quiet "woo hoo" because I'm a rule follower.

"My daughter keeps telling me I need to scream when they announce her name. I, too, am a rule follower and am stressed out," says Leah Lorenz of Everett. "The school has already said they don't allow screaming out for all the reasons you mentioned. My daughter needs to understand I will totally be screaming inside when they announce her name. She thinks mom is lame and I should be proud enough to break the rules."

There a few reasons why schools do this. They want to prevent the commencement ceremony from dragging on. If you had to pause 10 or 15 seconds waiting for applause to die down, that time adds up. Also, you loud applause and screaming makes it difficult to hear the next name called.

"I think they are trying to fix the unnamed problem with the graduation rules - the poor kid who only has one person to cheer versus the child with 10 people so that the cheers are uneven," says Amy from Sammamish.

Sean also points out the applause interrupts videos people are trying to make and "It's rude as hell, but no one seems to get it."

A solution might come from Leonard in Kent, who suggests if the school doesn't want cheering for individuals, maybe they shouldn't recognize students individually. Just have everyone stand up and let people hoot and holler for them.

"I believe the families and friends of a graduate should stand up and cheer for their graduate. It's a form of honoring that child for their accomplishment," he says.

By LINDA THOMAS

AP file photo

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Comments (12)


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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Oh, pity the poor kid who has noone to cheer. It's Sooooo non-inclusive.
    June 7, 2012 9:40 am
    At least the Ohio school said 'overly boisterous cheering' (SC allowed none, period). But, since when does a PUBLIC school get off requiring 'community service'. Or, in SC, actually jailing a parent?

    It's nothing for any of the kids. What we have is too many cases of too many petty academians too caught up in their own self ego/image that they think they are gods.

    But if moderators were really concerned about too much time, they could look at the past Republican debates - or any Obama campaign rally.

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  • kata wrote...
    ron - re: community service
    June 7, 2012 10:08 am
    Washington Administrative code (WAC) 180-51-061 handed down from the State Board of Education. Culminating projects are a graduating requirement - but criteria varies from district to district. It can include community service.

    I attended two graduations last year. The refrain from applause was stated in the program to "move things along" -- but people still hoot and holler (with no arrests)

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  • mihalyim wrote...
    community service
    June 7, 2012 11:01 am
    Requiring community service for graduation is one thing but this is punishing the student for something they did not do.
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  • kata wrote...
    he asked how it's possible
    June 7, 2012 11:19 am
    I can't even begin to explain the why.

    A state creates the BOE and gives it the authority to create graduating guidelines (which is why I mentioned the WAC#) it leaves criteria open ended for just about anything. That includes rules (again, varying by district preferences) to follow to graduate right up until the moment they put the diploma into a graduate's hands. Given that community service is already in this State's arsenal I guess I am not as shocked to see it meted out as a punishment.

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  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    It's A Graduation, Not A Funeral.....
    June 7, 2012 10:37 am
    I have 3 kids and have been to all the elementary and middle school 'graduations' and it gets pretty out of control with parents running up the aisle to give their precious darling balloons, or flowers, or both, plus the keys to a new car.

    It has turned more into a show for the parents than anything else and the kid just looks embarrassed. "Hey everyone, look at me and what a wonderful parent I am and how much money I make and can spend on my kid with no worries".

    Then we have the limos ( not making this one up either folks ) for the elementary and middle school 'graduates' waiting out front so that everyone can oooooh and aaaaaaah over how wonderful it must be to have rich parents and live like someone on MTv.

    Cheering for your kids is one thing that I guess is up to the moderator to just keep moving the process forward instead of letting it get out of control. Does it have to be deathly quiet for the next name to be announced.....really?!

    Just keep announcing the names and let the attention seeking family members cheer for their child; the kids don't want to be sitting there any longer than the people in the audience.

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  • Rushfan wrote...
    hpygolkyone, your report astounds me
    June 7, 2012 11:18 am
    People actually act like that?! In real cities, or just in CA? I've attended a few high school graduations in the last two years and saw polite clapping for the kids - but those were mostly homeschool co-op graduations (35-50 seniors each time). The point to me in these stories is, Can people agree that a certain behavior is wrong without criminalizing it?
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  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    @ Rushfan.........
    June 7, 2012 12:57 pm
    I can only report what I have seen with three kids going through elementary and middle school. High school graduations are next.

    My conclusion is nothing much is going to change, it only get's worse.

    I have made nothing up.

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  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    Well..........
    June 7, 2012 12:58 pm
    I exaggerated on the keys to a new car comment, but you get the idea. :)
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  • Snout wrote...
    Yeah,
    June 7, 2012 3:37 pm
    they did something they were supposed to, by law, do. Please. And if everyone cheered, how long would these masturbatory ceremonies run? Cheer if they are the valedictorian but the rest of us who finished high school did just that. Finish what we were told to do. It isn't a big deal if everybody (with exceptions in some communities) does it.
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  • rational wrote...
    I'll channel my best shot at being a leftist...
    June 7, 2012 4:56 pm
    They should post a sound meter and require everyone peg to the exact same volume in cheering for each graduate so that every one of the students feels equally appreciated. And that should be enforced under penalty of prison for those in the crowd if they fail to cheer appropriately. Oh, and no big sodas!
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  • Moondoggie wrote...
    Idiots
    June 7, 2012 9:50 pm
    Last year, I drove 300 miles to be at my Granddaughter's HS Graduation. It was too bad that nobody heard her name announced, because the idiot family of the kid in front of her had to make fools of themselves.. Unfortunately the school principal, even with two Masters Degrees and a Doctorate , wasn’t smart enough to pause a few moments.
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  • flipper wrote...
    Kimmel
    June 8, 2012 8:14 am
    Kid from Cincinnati and his mom were on Kimmel last night. Jimmy did a GREAT job of fileting the school district. The kid's job is at a retirement home so I believe he does more service to others on a daily basis than the school has done. Nice to see his school district is teaching him how blackmail works.
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