Monday Meanderings - 5.22.2017

The church Barb and I attend partners with Anderson High School, located just across the street. That means we actively seek ways to be a good neighbor - such as providing proctors for examinations, drivers and buses for off-campus activities, and the ever-popular "Lunch for the Teachers" at the beginning of every school year.

We also host events in our auditorium throughout the year - especially around graduation time. This week we hosted the Student Awards ceremony and the Baccalaureate service. I ran the sound for both these events this past week, as I often do, and once again I was impressed by the future generation.

The Awards ceremony was particularly impressive; several hundred students were honored for their academic achievements, and the list of accolades for each was lengthy. The members of the senior class each spoke of their college destination and field of study and there was a long list of prestigious colleges and universities and some serious career choices presented. Well done, class of 2017.

I do have one question, however, concerning the ritual of graduation. Have you ever considered just how weird the caps are?

I mean, just what is the significance of that flat "mortar board" fastened on top of a skull cap? I sorta get the gowns (though the Student Body President did comment, "Our parents want us to 'be real' but they dress us up in Hogwarts outfits"), but the caps are just strange, dear hearts

Coinciding with the Anderson Baccalaureate service, yesterday was "Senior Sunday" at our church, honoring our own graduating seniors. We have a family with 4 daughters graduating; 3 triplets and a younger sister who graduated a year early. Can you imagine 4 children heading off to college all at once? We gave today's collection to the poor dad. It was the right thing to do.

Speaking of scholarship, there was a viral Facebook post recently of a letter that some parent wrote to their child's teacher that basically said "Stop assigning so much homework. Our kids are loaded to the point that they don't have time to be kids anymore." A similar post was from a teacher, who stated that, for the same reason, she was no longer assigning homework. Both got a lot of likes, as I recall.

Which caused me to think of my own homework boycott back in the 3rd or 4th grade. Basically, I told my teacher that my mother didn't want me to bring books and stuff home anymore because I couldn't keep up with it and often left it at home, requiring a parental trip to school. I'm sure my mother did say something to me about forgetting my books and assignments, but I seriously doubt that she said "Don't bring any more of that home." That, however, was the message I conveyed to the teacher. And it worked!

I quit taking books and assignments home and I did get promoted out of the 4th grade, so it must have been a successful scam. I don't recall that I tried that again in higher grades, and since I distinctly remember homework I can only conclude that if I did try another boycott, no other teacher bought into it. Pity.