Baccalaureate an honored tradition
BIANCA GARCIA – Hoof Prints Staff
Baccalaureate has been going on for years; it is practically a tradition. A baccalaureate service has always been held on the Sunday before graduation to honor the graduating class. After years of homework, projects and tests, what senior, or any other student for that matter, would mind getting honored for their accomplishments? But recently it has been questioned if there should even be a service.
I do not see a problem with having a baccalaureate service. Seniors have worked hard for years on their school work, so they deserve to be honored. Also, the attention is not only on the seniors but on the top students in the junior class as well. The top juniors get the honor of leading the senior class out on the court and handing out programs. However some do not see this as a way to honor students; most think it is just a waste of time, even though it lasts at the most maybe an hour.
Probably the biggest problem that naysayers have with this service is that its main point is for a preacher to give his blessing to the senior class. Some may say that since praying and the discussion of God is not allowed in school then there should not be preaching during the baccalaureate service. I just think people need to get over it. They may say it is going against their religious views, but really 30 minutes of preaching is not going to burn anyone’s ears off. If anyone’s mind is truly set on a certain religion then 30 minutes shouldn’t change their mind.
All in all, baccalaureate is one of the most traditional ways to honor seniors for their achievements. They have worked for years to get this far and an hour would not be a waste of anyone’s time. A traditional ceremony that commends the seniors for their successful completion of all thirteen years of school should not be done away with simply because there is preaching.
Baccalaureate a waste of time
KAYLA STACY – Hoof Prints Staff
Why is it so wrong for school officials to participate in any religious events at school yet it’s okay to hold baccalaureate, a religious ceremony used to honor the seniors, at the gym?
Just to let everyone know, I have nothing against religious events. I think they are wonderful, but I don’t think we should continue to have baccalaureate.
To put it simply, baccalaureate is a waste of time. The time that the students are sitting in the gym listening to a short sermon could be used to actually go to church and attend a full sermon or practice their own religion in a different way.
I don’t see what is so important about baccalaureate. All it consists of is a sermon presented to the senior class as a farewell. I also believe that it presses religion on the seniors. I know a majority of the senior class is religious, but what about the small portion that might not be? They won’t want to attend this ceremony. It wouldn’t be so bad if the individual churches in the community presented this ceremony privately and separately to honor the seniors that attend their church.
The thing I don’t understand most is how it’s okay for our teachers to advocate baccalaureate when they can’t advocate or take part in any other religious events at school. The government is supposedly against teachers leading any religious events in school yet every year we have baccalaureate. Sure, our school officials aren’t the ones giving the sermon or leading the prayer, but they do attend. To me attending is the exact same thing as participating.
An easy way to solve these problems and this double-standard is to just eliminate the ceremony.
