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I Have To Side With The School On This


Subdeacon Joe

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Showing up in his full dress blue Marine Corps uniform, Stanley was denied the opportunity to walk the graduation stage with his classmates because he wasn’t wearing the required standard cap and gown. However, Stanley had been warned. When he participated in his Crown Point High School senior class graduation rehearsal earlier that same day, Chip Pettit, the school’s principal, informed Stanley that he couldn’t wear his uniform to the ceremony.


If it is a long standing and known policy/rule I have to grudgingly stand by the school. While I honor the young man for his decision to enlist, his "unit" for that day, that time, was his graduating class, and the "uniform of the day" was the standard graduation robe and cap.

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Our high school had an Army ROTC unit and encouraged any one who had an official uniform to wear it.  I, along with 117 other Army cadets and 210 Air Force ROTC cadets, graduated college in my uniform with y except my rank on it, then we all went to another auditorium later that same day and were commissioned.

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As a veteran I have to agree with the principal, uniform of the day was a cap and gown.

 

All he had to do was wear the cap and gown over his uniform until the ceremony was over. Then he could have removed the cap and gown and proudly worn his Dress Blues. 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

As a veteran I have to agree with the principal, uniform of the day was a cap and gown.

 

All he had to do was wear the cap and gown over his uniform until the ceremony was over. Then he could have removed the cap and gown and proudly worn his Dress Blues. 

 

 

I have seen this done.

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This seems to be an issue every year.  But this, from an IL instance in 2016, "In a statement, the Marine Corps Recruiting Station Chicago respected the school's position. They believe schools should make their own rules because "graduations recognize the academic accomplishments of the class and the class's final chapter at that institution.""

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I couldn't seem to find a date on that, so I'm not sure if this is another "I'm a Marine so I'm so much more important than anybody else in my school" jerk, or if this is several years old. Because about 6 or 8 years ago this same thing came up. And I was the only one that apparently agreed with the school.

 

When you've got 160 students wearing purple gowns and mortar boards, you have the graduating class of John Brown High School. But if you have 159 students wearing the purple gowns, and one student wearing a Marine uniform, it suddenly becomes the graduation of Marine Private Joe Smith, and 150 or so other people.

 

He was told he couldn't do it, and he showed up in the uniform anyhow, secure in his "I'm better than them" knowledge that they would not refuse it. He called the principal's bluff, and found out the principal wasn't bluffing.

 

If they let him wear his Marine uniform, then the next thing you know they would be letting the Junior ROTC cadets wear their uniforms, and then the band members will want to graduate in their uniforms, and the JCs will want to wear their JC jackets.

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3 minutes ago, Alpo said:

I couldn't seem to find a date on that, so I'm not sure if this is another "I'm a Marine so I'm so much more important than anybody else in my school" jerk, or if this is several years old. Because about 6 or 8 years ago this same thing came up. And I was the only one that apparently agreed with the school.

 

I searched his name,  something I should have done before,  and it is from 2017.  Liberty High in Petaluma,  CA had the same thing in 2018 or 2019.  One of the high schools  in Santa Rosa California had it a couple of years before that.

 

A quick Google search showed similar things every year for the past decade at least.

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Since Stanley was just graduating high school, I assume he hasn't even gone to boot camp yet.  Where did he get a USMC dress blue uniform?  Those things aren't cheap.   I really hope they sent Stanley to Paris Island.  They will straighten out his need for recognition and being special pretty quickly.

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1 minute ago, Badlands Bob #61228 said:

Since Stanley was just graduating high school, I assume he hasn't even gone to boot camp yet.  Where did he get a USMC dress blue uniform?  Those things aren't cheap.   I really hope they sent Stanley to Paris Island.  They will straighten out his need for recognition and being special pretty quickly.

 

He had all his school credits,  left school early,  went through boot camp,  completed that, went back to graduate from high school with his class.

 

Click on the link in the OP.

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7 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

He had all his school credits,  left school early,  went through boot camp,  completed that, went back to graduate from high school with his class.

 

Click on the link in the OP.

Ok, After actually reading the article, I still side with the school's decision.  It's their party and their rules.  

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A Senior can wear whatever they choose under that cap and gown.

As our Seniors gowns were knee length, our daughter wore a nice dress abd the boys wore dress slacks.

We explained to them this was an important right of passage they worked hard to achieve.

We got no flack from them.

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One school had to eat crow over a similar event: "Late Saturday, Liberty High School's superintendent released an apology, citing state legislation that allows a high school student who has completed basic training to wear a uniform at graduation."

State law overrides school policy

I don't see any winners here: viable arguments can be made pro and con.

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When I graduated from college, I wore my AF uniform trousers under my cap and gown.  Once I received my diploma and turned in the cap and gown (the school loaned them, but you had to turn them in to get the diploma), I put on my blouse, headed over to the AFROTC building and was sworn in by the detachment commander, a full bull, and Dad pinned on my bars. Could I have worn my blouse under the gown?  Sure, but it would have been way too hot!  No fuss, no pain!

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1 hour ago, Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103 said:

One school had to eat crow over a similar event: "Late Saturday, Liberty High School's superintendent released an apology, citing state legislation that allows a high school student who has completed basic training to wear a uniform at graduation."

State law overrides school policy

I don't see any winners here: viable arguments can be made pro and con.

 

Only PA, CA, & NH spell out that students must be allowed to wear their uniform.   Surprisingly,  the CA law was passed with zero No votes.  The text:

 

Section 35183.3 is added to the Education Code, to read:

 

35183.3.

 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person shall have the right to wear a dress uniform issued to him or her by a branch of the United States Armed Forces while participating in the graduation ceremony for his or her high school if that person meets both of the following requirements:

(a) He or she has fulfilled all of the requirements of this code for receiving a diploma of graduation from high school, and is otherwise eligible to participate in the graduation ceremony.

(b) He or she has completed basic training for, and is an active member of, a branch of the United States Armed Forces.

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On 3/20/2021 at 6:06 PM, Subdeacon Joe said:


If it is a long standing and known policy/rule I have to grudgingly stand by the school. While I honor the young man for his decision to enlist, his "unit" for that day, that time, was his graduating class, and the "uniform of the day" was the standard graduation robe and cap.

i wont disagree with you here , it seems simple enough as presented , gotts agree he may have to answer to his unit commander as well - but i dont know the rules the military might apply to this situation , 

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On 3/21/2021 at 4:48 AM, Ozark Huckleberry said:

I don't fault the young man for being proud of his uniform, but yeah -- the school's right on this.

 

He's not necessarily a jerk -- youngsters who've just earned the right to wear the uniform sometimes don't recognize when it's a good idea and when it's not.

From the breif description, he is not a jerk.  He is a teenager challenging known rules.  The Corps will straighten him out quickly.

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1 hour ago, sassnetguy50 said:

  He is a teenager challenging known rules.

In Webster's unabridged dictionary, that's the second definition under JERK.

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