At my nephew's high school graduation a couple of years ago, the speaker politely asked everyone to hold their applause, as much as possible, until the end, so every kid could hear their name read. Instead, there was so much ruckus that the person reading the names had to stop the ceremony a couple of times. Some people in the stands had huge noisemakers and horns and all this really obnoxious stuff, and their behavior pretty much just got tolerated, even as others in the audience got really annoyed.
I'm thinking, though, that there's got to be a happy medium between that and this:
Imagine cops throwing you out of your own child's graduation just for expressing your joy.
It happened Monday night to several families at a local ceremony, and it was all caught on tape.
KCTV5's Liana Joyce reported live on "KCTV5 News at 6 p.m." that there was a dress code and a behavior code that was strictly followed at the Grandview High School graduation.
One family who got kicked out for cheering their son's accomplishments said it was being taken too far.
It all began when 18-year-old Brandon Sample's family clapped and whistled as the Grandview grad walked across the stage. It may have seemed harmless, but it was enough to get them tossed out of the ceremony...
That was when the officer approached, asking the teen's mother, father, aunts, and even his 86-year-old grandmother to leave.
Well, it made for a memorable graduation night, anyway.
Update: This, on the other hand, deserves a bit of applause. But wouldn't it have been better if all the graduates could have done it in sync?
Posted by kswygert at May 26, 2004 09:43 PM