“8^th grade graduation debate”

By

Gerry Niskern

“Adams we sing to thee,

School that we love,

Let our voices ring out clearly.

To the skies above”

            Those were the words we sang as my 8^th grade graduation class marched into the auditorium at Adams School one morning in May of l946.

Much has changed since then.  As those students went on to high school, college, marriage and raised families, many of our social trends changed too.

The more rapidly our society became affluent, the ways in which we honored our 8^th grade graduates grew more elaborate. Parents gradually went overboard.

The ceremonies became more elaborate in most schools with expensive suits for the boys. The girls tottered across the stage in high heels matching $200 dresses.  There were limos ordered to transport the graduates to their parties in many areas.

I’ll be the first to admit, years later , as the parent of a middle school graduate, I was as guilty of succumbing to neighborhood peer pressure as anyone else. When our first child graduated from middle school, we were living in an affluent California neighborhood. My daughter and I spent hours shopping for the perfect dress and then, of course,  she had to have her hair done. Next we found out that “everyone’s parents were taking the graduates out to a special dinner before the ceremony”. Needless to say, our budget did not match the norm at that school!

That’s how it starts. Everyone’s doing it.

Later there was a move by the Arizona state lawmakers to prevent school districts from issuing certificates of 8^th grade graduation. There was concern that with the elaborate celebrations the kids will get the idea that their education is finished.  The lawmakers also felt that immigrant families need to be reminded that education is not complete at 8^th grade. They need to pursue higher education.

Perhaps the legislators will also reconsider the law they passed this year ruling that “Dreamers”, no matter how many years they attended school here or regardless of scholastic achievements, had to pay “out of state” tuition at our universities? How encouraging is that?

Let’s not lose sight of one fact that graduating from 8^th grade has always been a sense of accomplishment; 8 years of classes, homework and test were completed!

That class of mine that marched into the auditorium of Adams School years ago singing the school song was accompanied on two pianos by two girls from our class. We girls wore dresses we had labored over in Home EC class. Identical pattern, but  a choice of pastel eyelet material.  The boys wore dress pants and good shirts.

When the ceremony was over, a group of us, boys and girls, trooped several blocks west to our primary school, Jackson, to say hello to our former teachers. We stopped by one fellow’s house and his mom took snapshots. At the next stop, My mother threw together  some sandwiches for my  unexpected crowd. Then off we went downtown to the movies.

In other words, we made our own celebration, the best kind.