Update: Just a note

Presuming, of course, that anybody noticed it the first time around, I have updated the post on Jonathan Golob’s series on nuclear power at Dear Science to reflect recent the latest installments in that series.

Crime and punishment in South Carolina

When I was a high school senior, word came down that we would not be allowed to throw our caps in celebration at the graduation ceremony. This, of course, sent ripples of discontent through the class, and I remember one teacher in particular making the point that graduation was not about us as students. We should stop being so selfish as to think the presentation of our diplomas had anything to do with us.

And while years of perspective would still, probably, call bullshit on that had I bothered to think about it ‘twixt then and now, there is, in the end, a certain merit to the proposition. After all, what did we care? We just walked across the stage, took a blank diploma case, and got a handshake and a hug from a couple of school officials while our parents snapped pictures or, in some cases, wept with joy and relief. And then, a couple weeks later, the school would send us somebody else’s diploma.

Really.

You know, it was just one of those things.

An Associated Press report out of South Carolina has me wondering why schools bother with graduation ceremonies anymore: