“Kind of sad for the middies who may be the only class in years that will be denied this rite of passage.”
My husband, who is a Naval Academy graduate, agrees with you.
Traditions are important.
When I went to Alden Partridge’s school in the Green Mountains they had done away with several traditions that my Grandfather and Uncle experienced.
They’ve re-instituted several of them. When I talk to recent grads and they tell me of the traditions, its as if they went to a different school. And in some ways, I feel as if I missed out.
And it shows in the annual donations to the school. The four or five years around my class years generally are at the lower end of the list.
But then again, they dont have secret societies anymore and they don’t burn cars on the UP after the switch to summer uniforms in April. So we have that going for us.