Graduation Ceremonies Should Return to High Schools
The trend for the past few decades have been for high schools to
hold graduation ceremonies at venues far off of campus. Unfortunately,
this trend should be reconsidered by most schools for reasons of
finance, safety, and convenience.
Every high school in my county in southwest Ohio holds its commencement exercise at a site at least 45 minutes from the campus. Most of them take place at one of the local colleges, either Northern Kentucky University, Cincinnati, or Xavier.
These institutions were constructed with college-age students in mind, making the navigation from the parking lots to the graduation site often very difficult for the disabled or elderly. Unfortunately, most of the crowd at high school graduations are grandparents, since nearly every senior has twice as many of those as he or she does parents.
Not only do the grandparents have to climb steps and walk a considerable distance to the building hosting the commencement exercise, but they also must undertake the task of getting to the venue in the first place.
Too often these elderly folks have to drive themselves to the ceremony, which is usually three times farther than anywhere they are used to driving. In our county, to get to either of the three colleges requires traversing the expressway, an action that many elderly drivers dread.
The rest of the graduation attendees, mostly teenagers, are traditionally worse drivers than their grandparents. They, too, must undertake the drive on unfamiliar thoroughfares in order to attend the commencement exercise many miles from their school.
This combination of elderly drivers and teens behind the wheel creates a danger, which could easily be avoided if districts would simply hold their graduations at their high schools. It would also save them a lot of money as well.
Most public schools have been facing financial hardships since the new millennium, so why are they spending exorbitant amounts of money renting college campuses to hold their graduation ceremonies? It is much cheaper to use their own, taxpayer-funded facilities to recognize their graduation classes.
According to AZcentral.com, school districts spend an average of $10,000 per graduation ceremonies held off campus. The cost for one held on its own grounds is just $3,000, which includes lighting, audio-visual, and security.
In addition to the economics, there is also an emotional benefit to holding graduation at one's own school. The students should be posing for pictures not in front of a building they have never entered, but in front of the building where that have spent the last years of their childhood.
School districts should give heavy consideration to bringing graduation ceremonies back to their own campuses, instead of making attendees suffer through the unnecessary troubles inherent in out of town venues. Too often administrators spout about economic frugality, safety and community involvement, yet they increase spending, endangerment and community reluctance by outsourcing their most important annual event.
Every high school in my county in southwest Ohio holds its commencement exercise at a site at least 45 minutes from the campus. Most of them take place at one of the local colleges, either Northern Kentucky University, Cincinnati, or Xavier.
These institutions were constructed with college-age students in mind, making the navigation from the parking lots to the graduation site often very difficult for the disabled or elderly. Unfortunately, most of the crowd at high school graduations are grandparents, since nearly every senior has twice as many of those as he or she does parents.
Not only do the grandparents have to climb steps and walk a considerable distance to the building hosting the commencement exercise, but they also must undertake the task of getting to the venue in the first place.
Too often these elderly folks have to drive themselves to the ceremony, which is usually three times farther than anywhere they are used to driving. In our county, to get to either of the three colleges requires traversing the expressway, an action that many elderly drivers dread.
The rest of the graduation attendees, mostly teenagers, are traditionally worse drivers than their grandparents. They, too, must undertake the drive on unfamiliar thoroughfares in order to attend the commencement exercise many miles from their school.
This combination of elderly drivers and teens behind the wheel creates a danger, which could easily be avoided if districts would simply hold their graduations at their high schools. It would also save them a lot of money as well.
Most public schools have been facing financial hardships since the new millennium, so why are they spending exorbitant amounts of money renting college campuses to hold their graduation ceremonies? It is much cheaper to use their own, taxpayer-funded facilities to recognize their graduation classes.
According to AZcentral.com, school districts spend an average of $10,000 per graduation ceremonies held off campus. The cost for one held on its own grounds is just $3,000, which includes lighting, audio-visual, and security.
In addition to the economics, there is also an emotional benefit to holding graduation at one's own school. The students should be posing for pictures not in front of a building they have never entered, but in front of the building where that have spent the last years of their childhood.
School districts should give heavy consideration to bringing graduation ceremonies back to their own campuses, instead of making attendees suffer through the unnecessary troubles inherent in out of town venues. Too often administrators spout about economic frugality, safety and community involvement, yet they increase spending, endangerment and community reluctance by outsourcing their most important annual event.
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