Here’s a photo of youngest son and me after his grad dinner, but before the sometimes boring and sometimes inappropriate speeches. The lack of decorum, by the way, was not on the part of the students or the parents, but by the principal and one of the teachers in their speeches. And in case you think it was just old fogey me who found some remarks shocking, my older children’s jaws dropped during some of the program.
The principal asked questions, intended to be humorous, about the future of some of the graduating students, and several of them crossed the line from funny to rude or humiliating, and at least one had sexual innuendo which was just disturbingly creepy when made by a fifty-year-old principal about an 18-year-old girl student.
In youngest son’s case, the supposedly funny question was about whether he would become a male stripper. I think the remark was meant to be a funny compliment about his athlete’s physique, but it embarrassed youngest son. Made by one of his friends or by his brother in a teasing way, he might have thought if funny; but hearing it from his principal in front of several hundred people, his family included, was a whole different matter.
I’m not sure most 17 and 18-year-olds are ready to endure public roasting type remarks anyway, even if they were all tastefully done. Sure they laugh it off—they have to, or they look like a poor sport—but do you think they enjoy it?
But it was fun to see youngest son all spiffied up and in a tux, and to see all the other students in their formal wear, too. Two of youngest son’s close friends gave a speech together that was short, funny, and superbly done, and I wouldn’t have wanted to miss that, either. So all was not lost.
Here’s a photo I took of all four kids together.