Here's the piece to which I am responding:
https://americanenglishdoctor.com/cap-and-gown-graduation-for-kindergarten-is-absurd/
As a kindergarten teacher who feels ambivalent about kindergarten graduation , I am surprised to feel myself saddened by this article and the comments following it. I had looked up this article hoping to hear a strong argument for why kindergarten graduation could cause harm in order to have a more informed viewpoint as I consider myself ready to be swayed by either side of the argument. However, I found no truly robust evidence here of why k graduation is problematic. How can someone's very vague approximation of a formalized graduation cheapen the graduation ceremonies of those who graduate from high school, college, or with advanced degrees? Does a child playing dress up as a doctor, teacher or police officer cheapen the work of those of us who hold those positions and passed the tests required to do so? (Well, if kindergarten graduation literally cheapened college and graduate school, I'd be all about that! But that's another topic, right?!) 💸
I hope that kinder/preschool graduations, when they happen, are aspirational, teaching little people that they too can reach for the stars--and one day graduate from high school, college, or beyond, if that is what I decide is their path. Could k graduation truly help these little ones believe they belong in such a space, however? I don't know. As folks pointed out there are no readily available studies of the long-term benefits of graduation ceremonies for ks. But an quick and dirty) Google search didn't yield any studies about the long-term importance of graduation ceremonies for HS or college degrees either.
Do people who don't attend graduation ceremonies do better or worse in life? The ceremony seems to mean so much less than the degree. And k graduation is definitely not celebrating a degree! It is an arbitrary celebration, much like a birthday.
Do people who celebrate birthdays do better or worse in life? There is not a ridiculously high bar for these celebrations, just as there is not a high bar for kindergartners to participate in a graduation ceremony. To get a birthday, you just need to have lived your life and been lucky enough to keep breathing past a particular date. And there are "big birthdays" (quinceaneras, sweet sixteens, 18, 21, 30, 40, etc) and little ones--kind of like there are years of school that are considered bigger rites of passage than others--and these vary regionally and culturally, which makes sense because they are probably largely arbitrary.
In some people's hearts, K is a big transition year--from being a baby to being a big kid. Why did kindergarten get picked rather than 1st grade or a particular year of pre-school? Why is your 18th birthday a big deal and not-so-much 19? 30 and not 31? No doubt there was some cultural reason once upon a time, but now it's primarily just a matter of tradition.
The main work of kindergarten, if you agree that it is a pivotal year, I would say, is to really get some practice "learning how to learn" (ie how to be curious and find out more about something, how to get along with peers, how to negotiate the requirements placed on us by those in power--just keeping it real, here!-- and how to get as big of a jump start on academic subjects as possible, especially those, like reading, that will make future learning easier). Will kids who don't get very far on this path or don't attend much school be excluded from kindergarten graduation? Nope, they won't be excluded in most cases.
And does this tarnish graduation for the students who by luck or by hard work were able to excel beyond some of their peers? Well, you know, I think that really depends on what these 5 and 6 year olds decide is important. And for that they look to us.
So maybe we want to teach them to compare themselves with others and to allow others to diminish them or make them feel higher and mightier? Or maybe we want to teach them to compare themselves with who they were previously so they can focus on their own progress towards their goals? Or maybe (again being real here) it's a bit of both? I've been around the block enough by now to realize there are no easy answers to questions like these, even if, as a dreamer and great love of humanity I lean a certain way personally.
If kindergarten graduation annoys you because it's expensive, preparation for it takes too much time away from academics, or access to it is not equitable for all families of kindergartners due to transportation, timing, or other similar factors, then you know, I feel you. Those kinds of issues burn me up. But if there isn't much harm being done (and I have lived long enough to know, alas, that pretty much everything causes harm some way, somehow) and it's just a matter of putting up with annoying folks trying to create some joy for no good reason, I think I might just be able to turn a blind eye.
And maybe lets look for some low-harm ways to have some joy of our own?
With a needless amount of joy,
Edie
