Graduation: What's it good for?

What does graduation mean? I'm talking about the actual ceremony here. Is it important? Should I go?

My final semester of law school starts tomorrow. That's obviously a great thing— 5 down, one to go. But it also means I have to find that job, figure out where to sit for the bar, and whether to go to graduation.

Yeah, that last one might be a no-brainer for most law students. You go to school for three years, borrowing an arm and a leg for the privilege, jumping through all manner of hoops to get this Juris “Doctor” degree, so why wouldn't you go to graduation?

My answer is not very clear, but it begins with the fact that I've never really thought much of such ceremonies. They seem to be empty gestures, silly rituals devoid of meaning. Will I actually feel any different after I hear my name called or walk across a stage and receive a ceremonial piece of paper?* I don't think so.

In addition, I don't really want to be part of or support a big ceremonial event that will consist largely of my school bragging about how great it is. Although I feel I have received a fine, relatively average legal education at GW, I see it as a very average sort of law school and therefore a cog in the larger machine of legal education that is failing its students and the general public by producing classes of money-grubbing technical functionaries rather than effective advocates for true equality and justice in this country. In this light, attending graduation and joining the collective self-congratulations of the school and my fellow graduates makes me more complicit in the whole broken system. That's stupid, I know. If a graduation ceremony makes me complicit, what does three years of school make me? I'm a cog already.

So what it comes down to is I have what may be an irrational desire to, in some small way, express my disappointment in GW and the larger legal education machine of which it is a part, and I have this idea that refusing to participate in graduation will constitute such an expression. Plus, as I said, it seems like an empty gesture and a big hassle and expense for myself and my family to attend. It will cost my family upwards of $1000 to get and stay here for a few days and since they've all been to D.C. before, it just seems like a waste. I'm pretty sure they would rather use their vacation days and dollars some other way.

Finally, graduation from law school seems so anticlimactic. The hard part seems to be making it through the first year; after that, the real challenge is passing the bar and getting a good job, so graduation shrinks to little more than a door prize on the way to those main events. Why make a big deal out of such a relatively small thing?

On the other hand, I could be all wrong. Perhaps there is something about graduation that makes it more than an empty gesture. Does it play a role in people's lives like other ceremonies or rituals? For example, a funeral is not for the person who died—being dead, that person can't get anything out of it. So the funeral is for those left behind, a ritual to perform in order to assure themselves and others that the deceased was beloved by and important to them. Weddings have something of this about them as well—if two people choose to marry, they shouldn't need a ceremony to confirm their feelings; rather the ceremony confirms those feelings to those who attend.

So, again, what purpose do graduations serve? It seems possible they are a way for the graduate to thank those who have supported him/her through school. If this is true it seems you thank those you love simply by inviting them. Do you need to actually go? But perhaps there is also a value to those supporting family members in actually attending a graduation ceremony; perhaps in some small way it allows them to share in the sense of accomplishment that comes from graduating law school. Maybe even I, as a graduate, would get something out of it. Then again, maybe not.

What do you think? Have you attended the graduation ceremonies for which you were eligible? If so, why? If not, why not? Do you think I should attend mine?

* At the only graduation I attended (high school) I recall that when I walked across the stage I got a nice looking folder w/the name of my school embossed on the front. Inside I thought I would find my diploma; instead I found a piece of paper that said I would get my diploma in the mail some time in the future once final grades were calculated and they were sure I had graduated. This wasn't because there was really any doubt about my graduating; it was just the standard way the school did graduation. But like I said, that made the whole exercise seem pretty meaningless.

Posted 02:27 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack | 3L

Congratulations Caravan4Christmas

Congratulations to Law-Rah for successfully collecting and delivering a truckload of toys to needy kids whose Christmas was dramatically changed by hurricane Katrina. The project was a big one and she and her team had to overcome many obstacles along the way, but they did it and it looks like it was a huge success!

Posted 12:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | law school life generally