Free Republic

In recent years, graduations have become stages for performative, divisive screeds at a largely captive audience. Americans may not have as many rituals as some other peoples do, but we have some. One of those is graduation, symbolizing the transition from one stage of life to another and a celebration of a young person’s accomplishments. (We may actually overdo these, as what was once a transition from college and high school studies is now often celebrated from even pre-nursery school.) Still, it plays a significant part of life, structuring time and change. Parents and grandparents who sat through boring recitals,...

WATCH: Ratchet graduation season is upon us. Why is everyone so excited? Graduating isn't even hard... FULL SHOW: https://youtu.be/0CPXNtrSOTI VIDEO AT LINK.................

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2010 – Deployed servicemembers with children graduating from Department of Defense Education Activity-managed schools in Europe this month will be able to view a live broadcast of the ceremonies. An estimated 125 servicemembers deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations have children taking part in 14 graduation ceremonies, DoDEA officials in Wiesbaden, Germany, said. For the seventh consecutive year, DoDEA will provide a webcast of the graduation ceremonies to include congratulations videos from the U.S. European Command commander and each service component commander, as well as student messages and graduation announcements. The webcast will feature the graduation...

WASHINGTON, June 5, 2009 – This year, as it’s been for the last five, no high school senior graduating from a Department of Defense Education Activity school in Europe will look around wishing a parent could be there as the sound of “Pomp and Circumstance” fills the air. For the sixth year, DoDEA is providing webcasts of graduation ceremonies from 17 European schools. Two of those ceremonies occurred yesterday, another 12 will take place today, and the remaining three will happen tomorrow, June 7 and June 12. When the DoDEA graduation season is complete, about 125 parents deployed to...

WIESBADEN, Germany, May 20, 2008 – Hundreds of troops deployed from Europe will be able to see their children’s high school graduation ceremonies via live webcasts, Department of Defense Dependents Schools Europe officials announced. DoDDS Europe, U.S. Army Europe and U.S. Army 5th Signal Command have combined assets, talents and technologies to enable the live webcasts. The effort will allow at least 18 graduation ceremonies to be viewed by an estimated 211 deployed parents in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations around the world. The first graduation ceremony will be webcast June 5; 10 graduation ceremonies will take place simultaneously on...

WIESBADEN, Germany , May 2, 2007 – Servicemembers deployed to war zones will be able to view their high school seniors crossing the stage and moving their tassels from right to left via live webcasts on graduation day. The Department of Defense Dependents Schools Europe; U.S. Army, Europe; 5th Signal Command; U.S. Air Forces in Europe; Combined Joint Task Force 82 in Afghanistan; Multinational Corps Iraq; and World Television Services have combined assets, talents and technologies to enable the live broadcasts via the Internet. The effort will allow nearly 100 deployed parents in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and other locations...

Gabriel Whitney says he did not plan to nearly suffocate President Bush in a bear hug. In fact, he did not plan to hug him at all. But when Mr. Whitney, one of 202 midshipmen to graduate from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y., on Monday, stepped forward to receive his diploma, it just sort of happened. Call it irrational exuberance. But after six years of undergraduate school and 4,872 demerits, Mr. Whitney, 25, of Nashua, N.H., could hardly restrain himself. With more reason than most to be overjoyed, the 6-foot-7 midshipman stepped onto the stage...

It’s the time of year when long-suffering tuition-poor parents get primped up and drive countless miles to stew in summer’s heat, sitting on excruciatingly uncomfortable folding wooden seats on damp fields, gnats biting at their ankles and ears. They do this for one reason: to see their offspring get their long-hoped-for diplomas. (After which the detritus collected over four or more years gets piled into the car with the offspring and returned home.)

Did you hear about the college commencement speaker who was almost booed off the stage Sunday because his commencement address was an anti-Bush rant? The speaker was E.L. Doctorow. The college, God bless it forever, was Hofstra University on New York's Long Island. Newsday reported that Mr. Doctorow--or, as Newsday put it in the first paragraph, "E.L. Doctorow, one of the most celebrated writers in America"--gave a 20-minute address "lambasting President George W. Bush and effectively calling him a liar." It didn't go over too well. Mr. Doctorow announced to the crowd that he himself is a storyteller. But the...

Who to Blame when Students Fail, the Scholar or the System? by Phyllis Schlafly Posted Jul 9, 2003 All over the United States, students, parents and teachers are in an uproar about new high school graduation tests and the tens of thousands of students who have flunked them. Threats of withholding diplomas has brought out accusations, recriminations and even angry mobs. States have devised various ways to deal with this crisis. Award the diplomas anyway, stonewall the complainers, keep the students in school an extra year, postpone the deadline to 2004 or even 2006, lower the standards, lower the cutoff...

The New York Times scandal seems to be deepening on a daily basis as the Rockford Register Star reports that a Times reporter was booed off the stage during a commencement address. This past Saturday, New York Times reporter Chris Hedges was literally unable to finish his speech at Rockford College's graduation, because the graduates and their families were unwilling to sit through an antiwar diatribe. His 18 minute speech denouncing the United States as a tyranny over the weak ended after only three minutes as his microphone was unplugged. Meanwhile, the audience reacted with loud boos and blaring foghorns....

By . Posted 7:28:00 AM The New York Times scandal seems to be deepening on a daily basis as the Rockford Register Star reports that a Times reporter was booed off the stage during a commencement address. This past Saturday, New York Times reporter Chris Hedges was literally unable to finish his speech at Rockford College's graduation, because the graduates and their families were unwilling to sit through an antiwar diatribe. His 18 minute speech denouncing the United States as a tyranny over the weak ended after only three minutes as his microphone was unplugged. Meanwhile, the audience reacted with...

<p>Tioga High School senior Tiffney Juneau let out tears of relief at Tuesday's Rapides Parish School Board meeting. The board voted to let her and many others in her shoes walk across the stage at graduation even though they have not passed their Graduation Exit Exam. Tioga High is north of Alexandria.</p>