When my son graduated in junior high school, the school admin chose a cheaper venue for it: a multi-purpose gym with a stage. Tables were placed in the basketball court in front of the stage. It wasn’t the most comfortable place to eat meals but dining was secondary. There was joy and pride in seeing your child hurdle the challenges and the years in a school of selected top elementary school graduates in your place.
My son chose the familiarity of school and classmates when he enrolled in the same school for senior high school even if private colleges and universities beckoned. The Department of Education offered to subsidize tuition for graduates from the public school system who chose to enroll in private schools to make up for the lack of public school classrooms for senior high students.
My son and we, his parents, were obviously excited when finally the school set the date and the venue for the graduation exercises this year. Parents of public school students do not have much money so there were some grumblings when we met last year to discuss the graduation rites. But many of us gave way to the students’ request that a sash would be added to the traditional toga. That was additional spending, but graduation is a once-in-a-lifetime event – so we agreed to it.
Then we prepared for college. I accompanied my son when he took a scholarship test administered by the Department of Science and Technology. I would have wanted him to take the University of the Philippines-Cebu entrance examinations but he wanted to be an engineer. So again I accompanied him, this time to the Cebu Institute of Technology.
Those moments had me reliving those times when I took every scholarship exams and entrance tests that came my way, both when I graduated in elementary and high school. That was when I realized that I was instinctive. I excelled in multiple-choice exams mainly because, I reckoned then – I was good at guessing the correct answer when given a number of choices. That was one talent I failed to pass on to my sons.
Then the coronavirus came. It has been months since my sons became home prisoners, able to adjust to a routine that mainly included sitting in front of the computer, watching smart television or staring at a smartphone screen. Both have bulked up and are sporting long hair. There have been no complaints thus far, which is good. This should ready them for online and home schooling, I reckon.
The other day, my eldest showed me his final grades in senior high. These were rather high – just a few more points and he would have graduated “with high honors.” I imagined us, his parents, posing with pride with him after the graduation rites. Instead, he would be wearing the toga and the sash at home in a ceremony only us would be cherishing.
Graduation rites are among the noteworthy moments in our lives. For my son, that would no longer be fully experienced because of the coronavirus.
Sad.