As many people know, this time of the year is graduation season. Whether it be college or high school, there is always another graduation party happening. However, in the North Shore, I realized that people take graduation way more serious than in other places. The first time I noticed this was when I was driving through Kenilworth and saw huge, 8-10 feet banners in the yards of people, saying "Congratulations graduate!" I thought to myself 'okay, that is a really big banner, but I guess high school graduation is a big day'. However, after looking closer at the fine print at the bottom of the sign, I realized it was for their 8th graders, and they were congratulating them on graduating junior high. I don't think many people would even consider celebrating junior high graduation, but on the North Shore it is a big deal.
As we have been talking about in class throughout these past few weeks, there are many different factors and indicators of class. I think that these graduation signs are a clear indicator of the class of people living in the North Shore. I was talking to a friend, and she had said that her mom grew up in a small town in Michigan, and when she graduated 8th grade there was no party, no ceremony, basically they just expected you to go to high school. No questions asked, no congrats given. It wasn't a big deal. When comparing the North Shore to small towns around the country, like the Michigan example given, there is clearly a big difference between the two places and their cultures.
These graduation posters and parades are just one class marker, and there are tons of others littered all around the North Shore, things we do that don't seem to be a trend in other towns. But, after all the discussions we have had in class about social class, when I saw this trend I immediately made the connection. It connected our discussions perfectly to the reality of our surroundings, and I couldn't help but blog about it.
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