Am I the only one seeing this madness flying up and down the internet all in the name of graduation ceremony? Because at this point, it’s giving a sense that we’ve completely lost the plot.
How did we even get here? When did finishing nursery school become such a massive production? We’re now organizing fullblown dinner parties for kids who still need help tying their shoelaces. Schools are renting halls, decorating venues, printing invites, hiring MCs and DJs all because someone just graduated from KG 2 to Primary 1? Haaaaaaaa
Even the parents are not helping. Little children are being dressed like red carpet celebrities in tuxedos, ball gowns, custom makeup, studio shoots all to celebrate what exactly?
‘He can now recite A to Z without stopping?’
Oya, Congratulations, but must we break the internet over it?
And let’s not even start with the “graduation to secondary school” ones. The way some schools plan it, you’d think the child just defended a PhD thesis. Next thing, we’re seeing teens in heels they can’t walk in, makeup thicker than their notebooks, and money spraying videos that look like a wedding.
And then the kids too have caught the virus. They’re doing TikTok transitions in graduation gowns, giving motivational speeches they clearly rehearsed with their mums, posing like what I don’t know. What exactly are we celebrating?
Is it the academics or the aesthetics?
See, we are creating a pandemic. A very deep one. A culture where appearance is starting to matter than achievement. We’re teaching children that every small milestone must come with loud celebrations and aesthetics, whether or not it was earned, and guess what happens when the real pressure of life sets in, they won’t understand why nobody is clapping for them for showing up.
Let’s not even pretend it’s for MEMORIES. Most of the time, it’s for content. Some of these events are even sponsored by debts. And for what? To go viral? Who do us like this?
It’s not that graduation ceremonies are bad. In fact, they can be sweet and memorable when done in moderation. But this new level of extravagance, especially at the lowest educational levels, it’s unnecessary. If we’re not careful, we’ll raise a generation of children who think hard work must always come with glamour, and who measure success by how loud the celebration is not the quality of what was achieved. Let the kids enjoy school. Let them be celebrated for real growth and effort. But, let’s reduce the pressure, the show, and the unnecessary drama.
Not everything needs to trend. Some things should just be simple and meaningful.
