I understand the context of your statement, but I would have to disagree with you.
Graduation is certainly a rite of passage and worth celebrating. Sure, it isn’t going to help you build a better bridge or perform gallbladder surgery, but we live in a culture that is increasingly attempting to minimize the value of the individual and enhance the value of the collective, which I think it destructive to both the individual and the culture.
While it is true that celebration is not intrinsically a good thing, it does have value where it IS a good thing. Like it used to be when celebrating advancement to Eagle Scout, or getting a commission in the military, or...graduating from High School.
Granted, they have watered down High School and College so much that the value of graduation is comparatively diminished, but it is still a watershed event in life.
Celebration is fine, but when the emphasis is on the graduation and the degree, colleges get away with a lot less actual education.
We’re obviously in the latter days of a corrupted republic and empire, but deluding ourselves with empty celebrations is pulling us down even faster.