Anonymous Op-Ed: Arrows Tied to an Anchor; A Critique of the GRHS Graduation Ceremony

Thursday, June 17th, beaming parents, bored siblings, and proud teachers presented the Class of 2021 with their diplomas and bid them adieu on their merry way into the monopoly we like to name, “life”. The ceremony consisted of several speakers stringing together a series of platitudes in an attempt to send their students or peers off in a memorable way. After the typical clichés, within the depths of the speeches, each valedictorian’s personal academic scores were read off, to try to commemorate their achievements, which came off truly gauche and in poor taste.

At one point a certain speaker wanted to congratulate and comment on the strength of the class in the pandemic, however in an attempt to do so, mentioned how the past few months were, “the hardest thing a 17-year-old could go through”. Said speech reeked of privilege, as did the overall ceremony, as a majority of the speakers were white men. While the town cannot hide its majority or disregard it, Glen Ridge can do a better job of highlighting those with perspective.

But stripped of its pomp and frills (or circumstance, I should say), the ceremony had no content which could open up the students’ minds to possibility and hope of the future- the goal of a graduation ceremony. The ceremony and this town once again has proven itself to be a microcosm of this country. The front-runners of town, the speakers, and the leaders are all white men who have just highlighted what is already known about this town. The decorum only further enunciated the superficialities and plastic encasing of this town, when truly in the depths of this town there is so much to celebrate.

For the future of GRHS graduation, one can hope for a ceremony with true content, not simply decorate the known obvious. We seek the inner truth of this town, which is much more than what was seen last Thursday. We as a town want to send off our seniors in the best way possible, but these things are limiting our shooting arrows from hitting their marks - this town ties an anchor to shooting arrows. There are many diverse voices in this town, simply seeking them out is all this town has to do. They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink, what do you think Glen Ridge?