Graduation Day

 

Graduation Day

It is one of the proudest days in anyone’s life. For the students, relieved and pleased in equal degree, the parents likewise, the siblings possibly awestruck, depending on their age, Graduation Day is a special day.

The ceremony may be in a grand university hall, a cathedral or any building sizeable enough to accommodate a large number of people, with acoustics suitable to the occasion. There’s a busy hum in the room as guests take their seats and look around. Some halls are more impressive than others but all excite interest.

As the time for the grand procession of academics nears, parents attempt to identify their offspring in the throng, if they have not had to process and have already taken their seats. The majority of the graduands will be wearing identical caps and gowns because they are about to graduate as Bachelors of a specific discipline and all the girls seem to have long, often blonde hair.

As the senior academics and staff enter the hall and step onto the stage, the graduands stand. Then the ceremony begins and the graduands and their guests are welcomed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University. This is the first of a number of speeches.

A heart-swelling moment occurs when the Vice-Chancellor calls on the students to thank their parents for their support and a sea of faces turns to acknowledge their elders. It never fails to bring a lump to the throat, not least because it signifies the end of childhood (even if the ‘child’ returns home to live for a while!)

Eventually, the graduands are called up to the stage in alphabetical order to be presented to the Chancellor and receive their degree. Some walk confidently, others seem anxious to leave the stage as quickly as possible. Some universities require graduands to kneel.

 Shortly after the commencement of the ceremony, parents may regret their surnames, for the applause for each participant, at first so enthusiastic, becomes markedly less so as the list goes on. The final recipients, at the X,Y,Z end receive a mere smattering of claps.

There is one exception. Sadly, a graduand may die before receiving their degree and in this case the parents are invited to be presented to the Chancellor to accept it. The applause that accompanies this is sustained and heartfelt and, I suspect, mixed with a little relief that, ‘There, but for the grace of God, go I’.   

About ninety minutes later, it is all over. Everyone stands as the academics process out of the hall, then chaos ensues as graduates scramble to return their caps and gowns and find their long-suffering families.

Well, it’s around ninety minutes unless your offspring has attended university in Wales, when the whole spoken part of the ceremony is repeated in Welsh. Welsh is a lovely, musical language, but as many Welsh people don’t actually speak their own language, I wonder where the value lies.

Have some sympathy for the academics. They have to attend several ceremonies during graduation week. No wonder they sometimes appear to be dozing!

We have attended seven graduation ceremonies for our children (a mix of Bachelors and Masters). Last year three of our grandchildren graduated, and there will be one graduating in 2024. There will then be a gap of several years before the next family influx of students, if they choose to go to university. A university education is not suited to everyone and I hope that by the time they have to decide, some of the more esoteric degrees will have been consigned to history and that apprenticeships and training schemes will have regained their rightful places.