Charles Ungerleider, Professor Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[permission to reproduce
granted if authorship is acknowledged]
"Eighty percent
of success is showing up," is an often-repeated quip. In February of this
year the Ottawa Carleton District School Board received a recommendation from
its senior staff to enshrine the sentiment in policy. The recommendation would alter
the Board’s Graduation and Commencement Ceremonies and
Awards policy
to move from holding graduation ceremonies to organizing commencement
ceremonies.
If approved, the
FAQs about the proposed change say that the policy would celebrate all students
who have concluded their “secondary school journey.” The proposed format would “ensure the
inclusion of all students who are celebrating their achievements when they are
eligible to leave high school at the age of eighteen.” This would include
students who for a variety of reasons have not fulfilled Ontario’s graduation
requirements.
As I have written
in other blogs, good intentions (for example, the desire to “to
ensure welcoming, inclusive communities in our schools and system”) can have
unintended consequences. A friend’s experience illustrates the point. The
friend’s daughter did not complete the requirements for graduation but was
encouraged to take part in graduation ceremonies by donning a cap and gown and
being recognized as she crossed the stage.
When her mother
suggested that she might return to school to complete the requirements
necessary for graduation, she said, “No way, not after everyone saw me walk
across the stage. There’s no way I can go back there.”
The proposed
shift, from graduation ceremonies to commencement ceremonies strikes me as a
misnomer. Commencement refers to a beginning, typically one in which degrees or
diplomas have been awarded. Leaving secondary school without a diploma is not
much of a beginning. It sounds more like a ‘send off’ than a commencement. “We
wish you well on your journey, even if we didn’t prepare you very well.”
The quip about
success and showing up makes the point that an important step in achieving a
goal is making the effort. But just showing up isn’t good enough. Reaching the
goal or not reaching the goal has consequences. Except for a very small number
of students with cognitive impairments, all students should earn graduation.
When they do not, it is a failure of the education system.
I doubt that
students who have failed to achieve graduation feel better (more included)
simply because they have celebrated coming to the end of a less than successful
experience. Celebrating that failure is not a foundation for commencement.