Monday, May 31, 2004
My oldest son graduated high school (public) on Saturday. My older kids attend(ed) the fourth most diverse public high school in the nation. The school is fairly evenly split between black and white and then again between asian and hispanic. There is also a growing block of Eastern European immigrants. I didn't notice any diversity training classes or the like, the kids study hard and get along well. I think most of them take pride in the diversity of their school, but that isn't the focus of their day.
One place where the clash of cultures does appear is at graduation. The instruction to the crowd is to hold all applause until all have received their diplomas, but, bless their hearts, the African American families give joyful shouts and screams when their child's name is read off. After screaming, the family members stand up as a whole and walk out full of smiles, escorted by the day's rent-a-policemen. Some people, especially those taping the ceremony, get upset by this and consider it selfish behavior; at times it gets the crowd buzzing and it's hard to hear the next name announced and, of course, those families are walking out and not seeing the rest of the class graduate.
This has nothing to do with RCIA. :)
One place where the clash of cultures does appear is at graduation. The instruction to the crowd is to hold all applause until all have received their diplomas, but, bless their hearts, the African American families give joyful shouts and screams when their child's name is read off. After screaming, the family members stand up as a whole and walk out full of smiles, escorted by the day's rent-a-policemen. Some people, especially those taping the ceremony, get upset by this and consider it selfish behavior; at times it gets the crowd buzzing and it's hard to hear the next name announced and, of course, those families are walking out and not seeing the rest of the class graduate.
This has nothing to do with RCIA. :)
