School Forced Seniors to Sing at Graduation—So They Picked a Song Guaranteed to Get Canceled
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Schools want to make sure that the graduation ceremony is great for both the students and the parents.
What would you do if you were a student and the school decided that they wanted to make the graduating class sing a song at the ceremony, but they would let the students pick the song?
That is what happened to the class in this story, so they picked a silly song that wasn’t completely inappropriate, but would have been awkward, so the school cancelled the singing.
This was a pretty fun and harmless way for the students to push back on the administration, and I’m glad it worked out for them. Read through the full story below and see what you think.
Force highschoolers to sing at graduation…but let them pick the song…
We were the first ever high school graduating class at the district’s flagship school, a new K-12 academic magnet school.
Kids may not like these schools, but they are very effective.
This was a public school for gifted students, actually named after the district superintendent himself.
Now, this school had a penchant for trying a little too hard to emulate an elite private school, with strict dress codes, fancy educational philosophies, required sports…you know the type.
Well, this isn’t a bad idea. In theory.
As the commencement of the first graduating class approached, the school administration wanted to make sure our graduation ceremony was extra special.
They wished to add even more pomp to the circumstance. Some higher-up had the idea to have the seniors sing a song at graduation, choir-style. Out of 60 nerds probably only 15 could carry a tune, but, well, it wasn’t my idea.
Please tell me the administration was smart enough to put restrictions on the song.
The senior class was less than enthused and balked heavily when we were told we were required to sing, which the administration had predicted. The deal was this: we were allowed to pick the song.
Cue malicious compliance…
These all seem like decent songs.
A nomination and voting process was held later that week. A few predictable, even halfway decent songs were nominated.
Vitamin C’s “Graduation” and John Lennon’s “Imagine” both seemed promising. Then…one of us nominated “Be a Man” from Disney’s Mulan.
Great, it is a fun song.
We thought this especially clever considering the academic gauntlet our school fancied itself it to be.
As I’m sure you predicted, “Be a Man” won in a landslide.
Maybe I don’t remember the song well, but I don’t think there was anything wrong with it.
To our merciless glee we were going to be singing about being “a spineless, pale, pathetic lot,” “as swift as a coursing river,” and “defeating “the Huns” in front of our grandparents, the mayor, a few state senators, and our school’s illustrious namesake himself.
The administration realized they had been beaten. Alas, the chorus was quickly and quietly scrapped.
If the song wasn’t appropriate, why didn’t the school just make them pick a different one?
We never got to see the town’s faces staring back at us in confusion as we proclaimed how important it was to be “mysterious as the dark side of the moon.”
Don’t get me wrong, I think singing at a graduation like this is a little silly, but I don’t see how or why the school wouldn’t have put some restrictions on the song selection. They must have known this would backfire.
Oh well, read through what the top commenters have to say about the story.
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Rick Roll the school.
At least this was a funny choice.
This commenter thinks they should sing the song anyway.
Now this would have been funny.
If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a feud that starts between neighbors after one reports an illegal drainage issue and the other can’t let it go.
Why would they want graduation to last even longer?
The school should have known that this was going to backfire. Honestly, out of all the songs out there, they picked a very mild one that wasn’t inappropriate at all.
It is one thing to have the choir kids sing at graduation, but to try to make the whole class do it does seem silly.
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