Time for toddlers in togas

Congratulations! University graduates got to enjoy graduation day in the last few weeks, a time-honored tradition marking the formal acknowledgement of their educational achievements and their graduation to adult responsibilities.

Still, the celebration is no longer limited to those who have toiled in university or college.

Those toga gowns now come in all sizes, tailor made also for little folks aged four to six, or maybe even younger. For in the past 10 years or so, Hari Wisuda has been stripped of its dignified monopoly of higher education, just as the hallowed batik designs once confined to royal courts are now draping the backs of us commoners.

Hence we have proud pictures of almost toddlers in togas with their parents, all the way up to high school, something which I have always ridiculed. Why pay for some useless memento? Have we merely taken a trend from another country, or are we leading the way in providing graduation days for all ages?

Reality hit home last month when a text message requested that I attend a school meeting. Lo and behold, it was a meeting of parents preparing for Hari Wisuda at my daughter's junior high school. It was the second or so meeting on the issue, meaning that a decision had been taken and I was only needed for some committee job.

I gulped and prepared a few lines to express my feelings. These included that the troublesome wisuda should be reserved for higher education. That parents had to think about all the money needed to enter senior high, let alone the Rp 500,000 cost of the ceremony, after paying so much for compulsory, additional lessons before exams and for the exams itself. And that we should not be merely imitating everyone else and not for a minute consider holding it at a hotel.

But I failed to lecture the other parents convincingly. I admit that I've never had the slightest idea of the philosophical background of graduation ceremonies. I had gone through all the fuss years ago just to please my mother and found I had worn the toga back to front, not understanding the sense in having to wear a pretty kebaya (traditional blouse) only to cover it in black.

And the response of the school committee?

Bu (Mrs.), it is no longer an issue whether or not to hold a graduation day like at universities; all schools from kindergarten on up have held wisuda for years (actually, many don't). Besides, it serves as motivation for children to one day have a real graduation day at university.

Oh? That's news to me. What if students feel content with graduation day at junior high and decide to rest on their laurels? Like my daughter, who said, "You don't really mind if I don't get into that (private senior high) school? I did make it to the hall (for the entrance test) ..."

The committee parents won anyway, discussing earnestly the ceremonial details -- "What's that Latin thing they usually say?" -- with me all the time thinking they should say "serves you right" if the child of the particularly gung-ho parent happened not to graduate.

To avoid bad luck, I kept my peace. Hopefully the "motivation to study till higher education" materializes for these students, regardless of the fact that the Rp 500,000 contributed by each of the 50 students could help the needy, many of whom might still be wondering whether they can afford to even continue school.

And I found another "motivation" for graduation day for the little ones as I looked at pictures of my grinning nephew, stepping up for his kindergarten graduation day in a blue toga and flanked by his proud Mom and Dad as they stood before a very realistic backdrop of an imposing bookcase.

The ceremony had been really nice, my sister said, with teachers shedding tears when the children and teachers sang to each other in a farewell tune.

Joking parents greeted them with, "Congratulations, dear, and where do you plan to work?"

And grandparents had enthusiastically joined the event despite the heat.

"I might not make it to his real graduation day," one grandma said of her motivation for coming. "So at least I can see my grandson in a toga now."

Oh. I see, but ...

Well, enough about being the lone voice of dissent. Let's just prepare for graduation day! I've got my kebaya ready as a willing committee member, grandma says she's coming, too, and we can think of the poor another day.

-- Ati Nurbaiti