Graduation regalia: What's the point?

[Random Variable]

Universities lacked buildings of their own when they were first established and thus studies were conducted at nearby churches. Historians believe that academic dress originated when scholars, who were largely clerics or aspiring clerics in the church themselves, wore long robes and hoods to keep warm in these unheated buildings. The practice of wearing gowns became more widespread when gowns were established as the official dress of academics in 1321 and ?excess in apparel? was frowned upon.

http://www.herff-jones.com/capgown/college/index.cfm?at=8&con=8

I guess it's so just one of those practices/traditions that we continue to honor for no good reason.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

some of the outfits, especially for phds seem very cultish, esp with the 'hooding' and whatnot

nowadays its just for someone to make a buck. i think herff jones has done all 3 of my graduations (2 diff states)

 

[RallyMaster]

hate formal crap. herff jones runs the stuff in my state as well. hate them to hell.

 

[TallBill]

Dunno, but whenever I get around to graduating college I will not be attending the ceremony. Give me the paper, and buh bye!

 

[Random Variable]

some of the outfits, especially for phds seem very cultish, esp with the 'hooding' and whatnot

I've read elsewhere that the hooding stuff can be traced back to the Druids.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: TallBill
Dunno, but whenever I get around to graduating college I will not be attending the ceremony. Give me the paper, and buh bye!

The ceremony was much more for my parents than me...I didn't even get the paper at the ceremony...

 

[brtspears2]

I got a feeling the OP doesn't want to spend $40 on the cap and gown for his graduation. I had the same feelings too.

 

[mercanucaribe]

I think it's cool, but I don't like that you pay a huge amount of money for polyester robes and hat. It's basically the same quality as the stuff you buy for halloween.

 

[Injury]

For my graduation, my parents wanted to buy me something nice to reward me.

I asked if, instead, it would be cool if we just skipped the ceremony and they took me, my grandparents and some of my close friends out to dinner, and they liked the idea, too.

It was a lot better than sitting in a gymnasium on a nice spring day listening to crap I don't care about and sitting through a few hundred people having their names called that I will probably never know if I didn't before. It wasn't about the price of the cap and gown and all that stupid stuff, it was about the fact that if I spent 4 years of my life working towards this to celebrate having my name called over a PA system then I felt I'm fooling myself into thinking that I've been successful. Anyone can graduate college. Sure, some programs are harder and some degrees are worthless, but anyone can do it if they want it. Getting a job that you love, spending time with the people that you love and living your life how you want it to be is the real goal. In 10-15 years, the only thing college will be is a couple lines of text on my resume and paper on my wall... maybe a foot in the door when looking for a new job. Yeah, I know it's a big milestone and marks a big change in life, but what do hundreds of other students and an arena full of people give a crap about my hitting that milestone for? Gimme the people that I love to share the moment with, then wake up the next day and get moving again.