Late last night, I arrived in Jacksonville, Florida. My 18 year-old cousin Laurel graduated from high school today. I believe this is the first high school graduation I have attended since my own in 1988 and, of course (silly me, how could I forget), the graduations I attended as a teacher in Mississippi.
My cousin is adorable. She has long blond hair, is very slim and wears a ton of black eyeliner. She is a typical teenage girl in that she speaks in stream-of-consciousness and segues into new topics without even taking a breath. She even speaks in text. For example, today she was running out to a friend's party, and said to me, "BRB!" Okay, I know BTW, TMI, FYI, BFE, NFW and a few more, but it pains me to admit that I am not cool enough to understand what she was trying to say to me. "Be right back," my 21 year-old cousin Tim had to explain.
The graduation ceremony itself was typical. A lot of "climb every mountain" and "when one door closes, another door opens" and "follow your dreams" type of talk. The valedictorian had a 4.86 grade point average, which I did not even know was possible (God Bless America! What will we think of next?). The experience of being at the high school ceremony brought me back to my own graduation, where our valedictorian urged us, jokingly, to "Stay in school. Don't graduate! That would mean you have to get a j-j-j-job!" And another kid decided he would kiss the principal, and it wasn't just a kiss on the cheek. I mean, he dipped her and planted one right on her mouth, tongue and all. She was a good sport, or just finally used to Tam's eccentricity by the end of her first year as principal.
Naturally, I couldn't help but compare all these graduations. Today's graduating class was about 450 students. Because of the high dropout rate, the graduating class of the high school in which I taught was about 40 (as opposed to a freshman class of about 200), and there were no 4.86 grade point averages. Over 90% of the kids today were going to 4-year and 2-year higher education programs. Many of the kids at my high school went on to Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Penn, Harvard, MIT, and the like. The kids at my cousin's school are largely staying in Florida to pursue their college degrees. The kids in Mississippi barely left their county. Today's experience reminded me of how different we are as Americans and young Americans.
Later on, at dinner, my cousin told me how much she loves George Michael, and she has saved his song "I Want Your Sex" as her ring tone, and her mother can't stand it.
Then again, maybe we're not so different after all.
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I still can't get over the 4.86 GPA. When I lived in France, the highest mark you could achieve was a 20. That was the equivalent of an A, or 100%. No one ever received 20. EVER. The highest mark I ever received was a 17, and I was thrilled, and my classmates were also impressed. With astronomical GPA's like 4.86, it's no wonder Americans become so pumped up and arrogant!
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