I'd have gone back if I'd been in the country. It's much less hoopla than a graduation ceremony. Which it seems are had at the drop of the hat in the US.

At our school there were tangible benefits - the awards were gift certificates.

But I *liked* high school, and I'd have enjoyed the opportunity to see folks again, and find out how they were liking their first little bits of university, even without picking up my Maths prize.

At High School there's an awards ceremony, but there is nothing remotely beginning to consider approaching the hooplah of graduation in the US and Canada.

According to my mother, there was a big deal for grade and high school graduations in America when she went to school back in the early-mid 20th century because it was not uncommon for that to be the end of any schooling that a person received. It was really only after WWII that college became an option for the masses. I suspect we kept the graduation ceremonies for the lower schools because -- dear me -- we do seem to love them. I see that in some places we have grad "ceremonies" for the little tykes when they leave pre-school.

I barely went to my graduation, skipped the baccalaureate or whatever the prayer meeting thing was called, and wouldn't have returned for an awards day.

But yeah, in the US now there are kindergarten graduations, elementary school graduations. It's very strange. I guess for my high school, most students went no farther and didn't get any awards, so they had to have some ceremony.

Again, ita speaks for me.

But yeah, in the US now there are kindergarten graduations, elementary school graduations.

Okay, this is bleeding insane.

There are an insane number of graduations over here now. And people have parties for them all. Just ridiculous.

I remember 8th Grade graduation (due to the arrangement of schools in my district, this would have been a combination middle school/junior high setup). It seemed very dumb, and I was too busy being terrified of going to the big high school in town and having to go from class to class instead of the teachers changing rooms, like I'd been used to.

I know in my home town two generations ago they were miners so 8th grade graduation was the end of schooling for a lot of them.

But kindergarten graduation makes me roll my eyes for.ev.ah.

But then we have almost no organised stuff at school. No proms. No cheerleading. No going to watch the school team play football. No pep squad. No school newspaper/TV show. We just have smoking behind the bike sheds &

School Spirit is an entirely alien concept in the UK. It's the difference in our approach to Buffy, I think; the idea of vampires isn't that much more far fetched than the idea of electing a couple to (as I understand it) wear tiaras and ritually copulate once a term.

the idea of electing a couple to (as I understand it) wear tiaras and ritually copulate once a term

Well, only the one member of the couple wears a tiara.

(and hey, you people started the Maypole dance!)