Poll: Which pre-high school graduations did your schools have? (please read OP before voting)

I voted “none”; we didn’t have a high school graduation either. All we got was a day in the middle of the summer holiday where we could come in to the school and get a printout of our final results sent by the Department of Education. Edit: This is in South Africa.

A diploma for graduating from junior high :eek: :dubious: :frowning:

Kindergarten graduation

Grade 6 graduation (in a school system where Elementary school is K-6, high school is 7-11). Mine was the last class to graduate from that school before it shut down permanently.

And although you didn’t ask for it:
High school graduation (after 11th grade)

Cégep graduation (after 2 years post-secondary, general education studies)

University graduation

Well, what’s the purpose of any graduation really?

I had a preschool graduation, although the only reason I know this is because I have seen pictures of myself in my cardstock mortarboard.

I have a vague recollection of having something at the ends of elementary and middle school, but I think those were more just parties then “graduations”.

My school has graduations at the end of grades 8 and 12. The 8th-grade graduation is important because it marks the end of schooling for the Amish children (always a few in public school).

We had a graduation ceremony at the end of junior high. I think it might have been a holdover from the time when that really was the end of school for a fair number of kids. No caps or gowns, but nice suits for the boys and church type dresses for the girls (by tradition white).

Then of course high school graduation four years later.

My kids had 8th grade graduation from their Preschool - 8 grade school, but that was largely because it was a parochial school and they would be scattering to different high schools from there.

When I graduated from parochial school at the end of 8th grade, we had no ceremony, observance, celebration or anything else, unless you count the principal coming into class at the end to say goodbye and good luck.

Of course, we were pretty no-frills.

Me, born in '74: Eighth grade and high school (and two Associate’s Degrees).

My son, born in '93: Kindergarten, Eighth grade, high school (and one Associate’s Degree; expecting a Bachelor’s Degree in '13).

My daughter, born in '05: Preschool and Kindergarten so far. Her school also has Eighth grade and high school graduations, and knowing her, I expect we’ll also sit through a Bachelor’s and Master’s, at least. :smiley:

I f’ing hate graduations. I have no problem at all with the kids, of any age. It’s the damn families. We had four graduations this summer (one for me, two for my son and one for my daughter) and all of them were filled with rude, loud (not just cheering loud, just a constant stream of conversation held at ballpark level), pushing to the front and standing in front of seats to try to take pictures…just ghastly things, graduations. I don’t even really feel like they “count” until you have a Bachelor’s and above, to be honest. I’d rather have skipped all of them, but felt like I had to go to make a point to the kids about the importance of education…

Just from sixth grade, which was the end of both elementary and middle school. If I’d went to the public elementary schools, I’d have also graduated in fourth grade, but my private school didn’t do graduations at all.

If that sounds weird, it’s because K-6 was traditionally elementary school, but, because the schools are so small, they only cover K-4. And then we have another school that some call a middle school that covers just 5th and 6th grades, but it’s still officially classed as an elementary school. Then we have the three year split for junior high and high school (7-9 and 10-12, respectively), although you are still still a freshman in 9th grade and your grades count towards your high school transcript.

It’s why I was always surprised that sophomoric was still an insult elsewhere where high school really started with freshmen. I thought it was a word we made up because they were the lowest on the totem pole.

And since some people are addressing post secondary, they tended to have a graduation for each degree. But getting your AA or AS was optional if you were going for your bachelors.

They were not customary in Spain back then, at any levels. Some universities are having them now.

I didn’t have a graduation ceremony for my undergrad (Spain), didn’t bother attend the one for my graduate degree (USA) and have been having problems with the information about graduation from my Scottish graduate degree because it was all about “the graduation ceremony” and I don’t care about that - I just want to graduate! Oooh, turns out you have to fill in the paperwork for “attending the graduation ceremony” but there’s a square to be ticked if you’ll be attending in absentia… ooooo… k (and excuse me, but isn’t “attending in absentia” an oxymoron?).

The Kidlet got one for kindergarten and his mother loved the notion, but The Kidlette (3 years younger) didn’t get one; I understand that most parents’ response to “Kindergarten diplomas” and cardboard mortarboards had been “we’re American now? When did that happen?”