While the traditions and trappings of it may change from country to country, the graduation ceremony is indeed universal. Yesterday was my college’s graduation, and while there were several differences between this ceremony and my own graduation ceremony, other parts of it reminded me just how universal it is as a rite of passage.
The most notable difference I saw was the one that I was happiest about. No Caps or Gowns! Like in America, the students and teachers were all dressed to the nines, but unlike us they did not do something as silly as then covering themselves up with a cheap polyester robe. This decision may have been functional as well as stylistic however, seeing as how it was 92 F in the shade that day. If the students had been wearing American graduation regalia there would have been several cases of heat stroke.
I also liked that the fact that the ceremony was much shorter than the typical commencement ceremony in the U.S. This was partly due to the size of the graduating class, but even taking that into account, things moved along at a nice clip. For one thing, only the students who received the top or “red” diploma from each class group went up individually to receive their diploma, otherwise the head of the department just read out their names and gave the diplomas out by class group. The lack of a valedictory speech also helped in cutting time. Instead of one long speech, three of the best students gave short speeches thanking their teachers, parents, and fellow students, and each of the three speeches was in one of the three official languages of Kazakhstan, either Kazak, Russian, and English.
You might wonder how, even if the grading system is a sham, the administration could fail to recognize a valedictorian, but the fact is that departments and even to some extent is class groups are rather autonomous. Students pick their “major” when they first arrive at the college and are then sorted into different course groups with whom they take all of their classes, even those classes outside their department. Furthermore, after their first and second year, students take fewer and fewer classes outside their specific department. These factors, alongside the endemic cheating, makes choosing a valedictorian an exercise in futility, although I am sure that the P.E. department wishes they did as the award would then be for sale.
The ceremony was not the only thing that was different about graduation at my college. Even the diplomas are different. Unlike in America where all diplomas look pretty much the same unless you look inside, in Kazakhstan you can tell who the high achievers were at a glance. The best students received literal red diplomas while everyone else received regular blue ones. I was pleased to see that my two best students got red diplomas, and I was also happy to see that they did not hand them out like they were happy meal toys. In fact, I only saw one student from the English department get a red diploma who I did not believe deserved it. She is a nice girl, but her English skills are mediocre at best. Apparently however, she tested very well. Another contributing factor no doubt was the fact that in Kazakhstan you lose your diploma rather than earn it. For example, at our college you can have no more than thirty fours in four years to get a red diploma. The student managed this because she was out of school for several weeks after suffering a miscarriage. The assignments and tests she missed were of course not counted against her, nor was she required to make them up. At end of the year, when all the tallying was done, she only had twenty-seven fours, and thus the school deemed her worthy to receive the red diploma.
Those differences aside, I could tell that my students were just as excited as I had been when I finished school. Just as I was, they were preparing to enter into the real world, a world made even realer by the fact that several were already bearing adult responsibilities like marriage and children. It was just like at Wake, though perhaps a tad bit more chaotic because there was no special parents' seating section and no security personnel.
That night my counterpart’s group 4D threw a big party at a restaurant. Despite it being very similar to the Kazak dinner parties I had been to before, I had a surprisingly good time. At first I ate with the other teachers who attended the party, but after they left go visit the other grad parties I hung out with the two of the young husbands. They are always a fun group to hang out with because they are the only local people I have met so far that I would refer to as my peers. We are all between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five, and even though they are married and have kids, they still have the sense of humor of a college student. Anyway, we had a great time, making toasts and chatting. We drank to the student’s success, danced a little, and then like all of the other twenty-something men in the city went outside to watch the Euro Cup match.
All in all, it was a great day, and I am sorry that it is over. None of those girls are my students anymore, and they were by far the best class I worked with. Still, I am happy because now they will be my colleagues, and hopefully they will be a part of a real effort to change and improve the education system of Kazakhstan. Also, this means that my summer vacation can officially begin!
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