“Imagine 4 years. Four years, two suicides, one death, one rape, two pregnancies (one abortion), three overdoses, countless drunken antics, pantsings, spilled food, theft, fights, broken limbs, turf wars–every day, a turf war–six months until graduation and no one gets a medal when they get out. But everything you do here counts. High school.”
– Courtney Summers, “Cracked Up to Be”
Earlier today, a meme was posted by one of the admins on the Urban Intellectuals like page on Facebook. It was about high school graduations and it said, 
“High School Graduation-Where Finishing One Of The Easiest And Most Basic Parts Of Life Is Suddenly A Huge Deal”. The picture caused a heavy discussion on the message thread under the picture. Many were agreeing with the message that the meme boasted. I just shook my head.
So now high school graduations are overhyped and our standards need to be raised as a community because we champion new high school graduates? Graduation day is the event that kids look forward to when they start their fourteen year school journey. It’s special in so many ways! I guess many of the adults who agreed with the meme have forgotten how amazing it is to turn the tassels on the graduation caps and finally be done with school.
High school graduation ceremonies have every right to be a covenant event in the black community. It’s the culmination of everything you worked hard for in all your years of schools. I call it the official passage of a young man or woman into the world. Finally you are done with school. Now, your life can begin!
It’s funny how many people in the adult age bracket are insensitive to the struggles that we have to go through to get to graduation. From the over-the-top drama to non-teaching teachers, graduation is expected but it isn’t always achieved. There are so many potholes and road blocks on the way to that fateful day in May or June. With the hoops we as high schoolers have to jump though, high school graduations should be a celebration! I mean, why not?
I’m not arguing the fact that high school is virtually useless as you enter the very real, adult world. The diploma is basically a piece of paper. It’s especially useless when you haven’t taken the time out to plan for your future outside of high school. I can agree with all the people that are against the hype of a graduation on that fact. However, I wish the conscious people of our community wouldn’t be so cynical and serious all the time! I must admit, it gets rather annoying.
I’m a revolutionary brother in every sense. I believe that Malcolm X and Huey P. Newton look down from heaven and smile when I do my work! I desperately want to uplift my black people. However, let your hair down a little bit. Smile! Laugh! Everything isn’t deafly horrible. When we’re going in on a cheerful, humbling time like a high school graduation ceremony, I believe we have a major problem……..
-We came, we saw, we conquered! My debut publishing effort “Riverview High: Circumstances” reached #2 on the Amazon charts! Check it out on Amazon today. Don’t forget to leave a review!
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