Rapid City, SD graduation walk fiasco

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Bigred_inSD

All-Conference
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/rapid-city-central-high-girl-with-brain-cancer-won-t/article_a6f4ae57-fa3d-5bc4-aae8-9fdc6b28d936.html

Just wanted people's thoughts on this.

I feel bad for the girl, but you are 6 credits short. That's a decent amount.

This also got picked up by the NY Times so I'm betting the school district caves, but this just opens Pandora's box.

What about the kid who has a parent with cancer, or a terrible accident, gets pregnant, or claims to have anxiety and depression like 70% of my Facebook friends.

 
I'm sympathetic to her situation, but she hasn't graduated. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“She just wanted to participate in graduation with the kids she’s been in school with since kindergarten,” Polanco said. “She knows she’s not finished, she knows she’s not getting a diploma.”
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OK, so attend the ceremony and applaud when they get their diplomas. Don't expect to walk the aisle when you haven't reached that point - through no fault of your own, granted.

Finish school and get your diploma when you've completed your work.

 
She has to know alot of the class below her too right? I mean it's not like they are strangers..if she wants to walk the aisle she can but I agree just finish up first. I don't understand the big deal around the whole graduation thing anyway. Is high school really that hard for most people? And it's not like you can be finished with your education at that point in today's world

 
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Nebfanatic said:
She has to know alot of the class below her too right? I mean it's not like they are strangers..if she wants to walk the aisle she can but I agree just finish up first. I don't understand the big deal around the whole graduation thing anyway. Is high school really that hard for most people? And it's not like you can be finished with your education at that point in today's world
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I was just about to say that "it's only a high school graduation, let her go through the ceremony." When I graduated from undergrad, I thought "why don't people celebrate college graduations more than high school graduations? You are supposed to graduate from high school. Why do they celebrate things you are supposed to do, especially when the majority of adults in the U.S. don't have a college degree "

But, the high school graduation is celebrated because it's the unofficial time that most people go from "being a kid, living solely on their parent's dime" to "someone who is more out on their own" (even if college is being paid by the parents, and the kid comes home during summers and other college breaks).

 
There has been a precedent set:

Talley added that the graduation ceremony is “to hand out diplomas for graduates” and that he has received similar requests in the past, but “it’s just not something I’m comfortable doing.”
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Six credits is essentially an entire semester? Complete them and have a special ceremony just for her - bet most of the school would turn out. Or maybe a "certificate of attendance"

 
Haven't read the article but this really, really doesn't seem like a big deal. It's not like they're going to give her the diploma for free. Universities (at least some) will let people walk with their class even if they strictly can't get a diploma yet for whatever reason.

The main point of these dumb ceremonies, if you're up for them, is to attend and celebrate with her friends. She has little to no reason to do this next year with a class to which she doesn't belong.

 
Most schools will get out in front of this. I have done this 3 times (I think, maybe more) where we have made sure a person that has been through hell and back...or is going through hell and back...graduates with their class. It is no sacrifice on my end to offer a hand of help for someone that has had major problems.

 
zoogs said:
Haven't read the article but this really, really doesn't seem like a big deal. It's not like they're going to give her the diploma for free. Universities (at least some) will let people walk with their class even if they strictly can't get a diploma yet for whatever reason.

The main point of these dumb ceremonies, if you're up for them, is to attend and celebrate with her friends. She has little to no reason to do this next year with a class to which she doesn't belong.
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^^ This. I mean, it's just a ceremony. What possible harm would come from letting her walk with her classmates? Are they afraid other non-grads would purposefully contract brain cancer in order to wear a cap and gown up on some high school stage?

Then again, maybe I just don't take these ceremonies very seriously. I blew off my own undergrad graduation ceremony at UNL so I could attend a hs friend's wedding on the same day.
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I heard about this but didn't realize it was in my relative neck of the woods.

Colleges and universities let students participate in graduation ceremonies ahead of completing all necessary coursework, at institutions that don't hold Summer or Winter ceremonies. Let her walk and don't confer the degree until she completes those last few classes in Summer school. Can't believe they tried to take a firm stance against her case to start with.

 
mrandyk said:
I heard about this but didn't realize it was in my relative neck of the woods.

Colleges and universities let students participate in graduation ceremonies ahead of completing all necessary coursework, at institutions that don't hold Summer or Winter ceremonies. Let her walk and don't confer the degree until she completes those last few classes in Summer school. Can't believe they tried to take a firm stance against her case to start with.
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They do have a summer ceremony here though, and she was an entire year short of credits. Also, there have been kids with other illness and family situations who weren't allowed to walk when they were half a credit short.

 
I mean, all of this is purely *ceremony* policy. Seems like they're ascribing far more value to such decisions than they deserve. Those other kids shouldn't have been denied either, but I guess that makes it hard to start doing something as simple and right as this.

It seems that these administrators feel like they're protecting something, like their school's academic standards, by denying her. If so, they are sadly deluding themselves.

...oh, WOW, and here I was thinking she was just doing poorly in school. Finally read through to find out it was due to battling colon, then brain cancer and not even knowing whether she would survive to the original grad date. Jeezus. How tone deaf can they be to choose this moment to take a stand against "unwelcome" precedent?

 
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If the ceremony doesn't mean she's completed the work, then why not just let anyone walk? The Janitor, Bob the neighbor from down the street, Aunt Mildred from Waukegan... if it's just a ceremony, what would that matter?

 
It is interesting to see some of the flip-floppers about certain topics, I must admit I enjoy seeing that people can change their mind about things.

Like I said in my post above, most schools get out in front of this.

 
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