A few weeks a go, I wrote about my middle school graduation. It was a big accomplishment for me - completing my first year at my new school and graduating successfully. My school recognized how important it was and they celebrated our graduation with a nice ceremony, a formal dance, a breakfast, and an appropriate appreciation of my grade’s collective accomplishments.

It never struck me that anybody thought eighth grade graduations being a “big deal” was problematic until I saw this New York Times article.

My interest was piqued when I discovered that the principal of my former school was quoted in the article (towards the end).

So I read the article and I’m now sufficiently annoyed at those who say middle school graduations are overblown. The naysayers’ rationale is that completing middle school is not a big enough accomplishment to warrant a big celebration. Even Barack Obama said, “Let’s not go over the top. Let’s not have a huge party. Let’s just give them a handshake. You’re supposed to graduate from eighth grade.” I disagree with you on this, Senator Obama. You are supposed to graduate from eighth grade, just like you’re supposed to live to see your next birthday. Just because it’s expected of you is no reason not to celebrate. The supposition that we will live to see our next birthday does not mean that we won’t have a birthday party when that day rolls around.The fact is that graduation is a big deal. When you accomplish something, it is right to celebrate it.

The Times quotes Dr. Timothy Knowles who is the director of the Uniiversity of Chicago Urban Education Institute as saying, “…if the impression that’s left is that you have croseed the stage, the threshold, rather than, ‘You’ve have made it halfway through the trajectory to college,’ then we risk those kids walking away from the ceremony thinking they have accomplished something — when they haven’t.” I think Dr. Knowles should spend some time in one of the four charter schools he oversees to look at the accomplishments students make everyday. Middle school is a time of transition and celebrating that the transition has been completed seems logical. I do agree with Diane Ravitch, an education scholar, who says, “I don’t think anyone should say, ‘Hey, it’s only eighth grade.’ Lots of parents celebrate their kids’ accomplishments and we don’t say, ‘Hey, it’s only Little League.’ At least we have parents celebrating their children’s educational achievement. It says, ‘There are good rewards to staying in school.’” She’s absolutely right.

What drives me even crazier are the schools (like my former school) that don’t call middle school graduation “graduation,” but instead “moving-up.” Those people need to take a look at a dictionary. Merriam-Webster defines a graduation as “the receiving or conferring of an academic degree or diploma; the ceremony at which degrees are conferred.” Graduates do receive diplomas so call the ceremony what it actually is!

It’s disappointing to see that more than a few schools are trying to diminish the accomplishments of graduates. Some people look back on middle school with fondness, others with hatred, and most with mixed feelings. But it cannot be denied that the eleven-year-old who enters sixth grade is worlds apart from the fourteen-year-old who leaves eighth grade. The pressure of school, both academic and non-academic, at the very least warrants a ceremony. A graduation is a graduation and there should be no effort to diminish its power by changing its name or changing the ceremony. No eighth grade graduate is confused. We know that we celebrate now, then start an uphill climb towards college in September.

But some schools still don’t get it. Ann Edwards, principal of the school I used to attend takes the watering-down of school ceremonies a step further, and is pretty careful to imply that eighth graders are incapable of attending elaborate dinners. Traditionally, graduates were given a formal dinner, but it has since been reduced to a casual lunch. Edwards said of the dinner, “…the kids looked so awkward, it was so age-inappropriate, it was ridiculous.” That’s frankly insulting. Graduates deserve a nice dinner, but quite apart from that, how is such a meal “age-inappropriate” and “ridiculous”? When asked about the parties that parents give to celebrate graduation, Edwards said, “We’re fighting the culture of the communities in which we work.” Yes! How terrible that parents give their children a party! I’m also surprised at the combative nature of the comment that educators are “fighting” the more formal takes on graduation.

I’m glad that my school handled graduation well. It was tastefully done, called by its proper name, but not overdone. As for the schools that don’t handle graduation so well, I’m appalled.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

-Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill certainly had a way with words.

Graduating from middle school is definitely nowhere near the end, but it gives me the opportunity to reflect on my experiences in school and the experiences switching to my new school has allowed me to have. In this one year, I feel as though I have aged one hundred years. I turned fourteen. I discovered video podcasting, then audio podcasting and blogging. I gained friends and grew distant from others. I had good days and bad days. I wrote good things and pieces of writing that were quite simply too terrible to look at. I extended my social network online, met Cali Lewis and Neal Campbell, and discovered Twitter. If a person’s life is the sum of their experiences, then I think I’m off to a good start. And I’ve only just begun.

In everything I do, there’s always a chance that I will get tired of it. Every once in a while, I reflect on something and decide it’s time for a change. I looked at my career at Mac News Weekly and decided it was time to move on much as I looked at my public school career and decided I need to go somewhere else. There may come a time when I will feel the same way about my current school, but I doubt it. There are always more opportunities in advanced placement and honors courses to keep me challenged and I can always challenge myself outside of school (by writing things like this).

Wednesday marked the end of my first year in my new school. I made the transition from public school to private school and gained a much better education. I lost economic diversity in the student body, but it was overall the best move I possibly could have made. The public school I was attending was one of the best in the country and had a few excellent teachers, but it was a slave to standardized testing. Now I get to go to one of the best private schools in the country and still have excellent teachers, but I am no longer a professional test taker.

I’m indebted to the teachers I’ve had this year as well as my classmates, if for no other reason than they have been willing punchlines when I need them. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was in a good class, but I’ve found that it is not until the end of something that one realizes just how extraordinary something is.

Whether or not a class will be good is hit or miss. There are so many factors. Is the teacher good? Are students eager to learn? Is the topic interesting? If the answer to all three of those questions is yes, then the class is generally excellent. If the answer to any of those three is no, then my experience leads me to believe that the class will be either great or terrible. If the answer to all three is no, then there’s a problem. I’m not well versed in probability, but the chance of having every class fall into the first category must be astronomical. I suppose I’m just lucky.

I will be posting all summer, even while I’m away. To stay sharp, I’ll be reading this, this, and this. Have an excellent summer (even if you don’t get a break) and check back regularly for updates.