I’ve been thinking about doing this blog on pre-k graduations for awhile now. But not until I read this article that I felt like I needed to quickly get this blog wrote and published. After reading the article, I thought to myself, this little boy gets it. He understands that his sister did something to warrant wearing a cap and gown.
https://www.today.com/parents/photo-crying-boy-hugging-sister-pre-k-graduation-goes-viral-t157170
I hear companies say “don’t call it graduation, don’t allow them to wear the cap and gown and don’t play the graduation song”. I scream inside, Oh my gosh! Stop already. Just like every aspect of Early Childhood, graduation is changed or should I say belittled.
My Carpet for my Aladdin theme 
Let’s call it Promotion another supposedly intelligent person decided, so there we go, it’s now called “promotion”.
By definition graduation means “the receiving or conferring of an academic degree or diploma.” Looks like we could call it graduation seeing that the students are receiving a diploma for academic success. Most of them have learned the basics for kindergarten including social/ emotional development.
I also looked up the definition of promotion and it was a little difficult to define, since being promoted covers a lot of different aspects. Here is the information I found; I took it to mean that a promotion is designed to encourage others to keep doing what they are doing, which can also be used in Early Childhood.
noun
- 1.
activity that supports or provides active encouragement for the furtherance of a cause, venture, or aim.
“disease prevention and health promotion”
| synonyms: | encouragement, furtherance, furthering, advancement, assistance, aid, help, contribution to, fostering, boosting, stimulation, development; More |
Let’s talk a little about cap and gowns and where they originated; Unfortunately the gown wasn’t used for graduation it was used by some of the students to stay warm because the heating system wasn’t good in the universities.
The hats were originally worn by scholarly clergies, to show their superiority and intelligence.” These hats became popular in the 14th and 15th centuries and were only worn by artists, humanists, students, and all those learned.”
So as you can see, the caps and gowns were not for a specific age group, it was for those who were learning.
https://www.youniversitytv.com/college-tips/history-origin-graduates-wearing-caps-gowns/
It was important for me to write this blog, since I think that graduation or promotion can be used to celebrate a student’s success, without putting so many limitations on what a teacher can and cannot do. I understand that each school has their own policies and procedures and that is their own belief system and understand and respect that.
But I also think that the accomplishments that our little ones work so hard at, is understated. People think that they learn the basis; letters, numbers, colors, shapes. Which they do, but social/emotional development is much more important, and they do it, some without hesitation. I can see their growth from the first time they entered my class, until now, and it is an amazing sight to see. That child that cried and ran in the corner, now stands up and says ” that’s mine, give it back!” that one child that cried five times a day, only cries two times a day. Is that an accomplishment? yes, it is, because at some point both of these students have learned to self-regulate in some way or another.
I will always support my students in any way that I can, and make them feel like their accomplishments are worth celebrating, whether it be promotion or graduation. I see nothing wrong with the cap and gown aspect of graduation and playing the graduation song as well, every time they hear it, they know they have accomplished something.
