No more Honor Cords, Stoles etc at future FCPS Graduations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Robinson doesn’t take anything away. It explicitly says on their website no flowers or leis, but there are always one or two kids with them. Same with non school sanctioned cords and medals.

They're are at least 5-10 kids with leis at my kids HS. Western PWC. Not obviously Hawaiian.

Well maybe they identify as Hawaiian. You don’t know.

+I had a Polynesian friend in HS in semi-rural MD. Her mom gifted her friend group leis to wear at graduation. They were a lovely gesture on her part, and we were allowed to wear them. Late 90s.

[Anonymous]

Why is graduating high school even considered a thing?

[Anonymous]

This is really sad. Our kids work so hard and they deserve recognition. My sons are now adults and loved FCPS. I feel bad for the youth today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really sad. Our kids work so hard and they deserve recognition. My sons are now adults and loved FCPS. I feel bad for the youth today.

+1. My daughter worked really hard for every achievement; she truly earned every accolade proudly worn at graduation on Tuesday.

Plus, the deck is stacked against girls trying to get into college, as admissions are harder for girls vs. the boys.

And now FCPS actively wants to diminish all her hard-earned achievements?? WTAF

[Anonymous]

The deck for good grades in HS is stacked against boys, as their normal brain develop has executive functioning lagging several years behind girls'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I was at McLean High School’s graduation yesterday and the program recognized honor grads and those in honor societies (albeit in 4 pt font size so who could read it). Not sure about what’s happening next year. Just let the kids wear their cords and stoles (as long as from the county-approved list)

That seems to contradict the poster who claimed that Reid stopped allowing graduation programs to note honor graduates in 2024.

Has there even been confirmation yet that they aren't going to allow kids to wear cords and stoles in the future, or are the usual suspects just hyper-ventilating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The deck for good grades in HS is stacked against boys, as their normal brain develop has executive functioning lagging several years behind girls'.

My son has straight As. He wants to wear his earned cords and stoles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was at McLean High School’s graduation yesterday and the program recognized honor grads and those in honor societies (albeit in 4 pt font size so who could read it). Not sure about what’s happening next year. Just let the kids wear their cords and stoles (as long as from the county-approved list)

That seems to contradict the poster who claimed that Reid stopped allowing graduation programs to note honor graduates in 2024.

Has there even been confirmation yet that they aren't going to allow kids to wear cords and stoles in the future, or are the usual suspects just hyper-ventilating?

WSHS had the honor graduates stand up for recognition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was at McLean High School’s graduation yesterday and the program recognized honor grads and those in honor societies (albeit in 4 pt font size so who could read it). Not sure about what’s happening next year. Just let the kids wear their cords and stoles (as long as from the county-approved list)

That seems to contradict the poster who claimed that Reid stopped allowing graduation programs to note honor graduates in 2024.

Has there even been confirmation yet that they aren't going to allow kids to wear cords and stoles in the future, or are the usual suspects just hyper-ventilating?

Might just be hyperventilating. Could be that other schools haven’t announced it yet because it isn’t currently relevant, but I’ve definitely not heard anything at my school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is really sad. Our kids work so hard and they deserve recognition. My sons are now adults and loved FCPS. I feel bad for the youth today.

+1. My daughter worked really hard for every achievement; she truly earned every accolade proudly worn at graduation on Tuesday.

Plus, the deck is stacked against girls trying to get into college, as admissions are harder for girls vs. the boys.

And now FCPS actively wants to diminish all her hard-earned achievements?? WTAF

The underlined is completely incorrect ans inaccurate.

Colleges are now solidly, overwhelmingly female. Many universities are approaching 60% female. The SAT scoring was revised a decade or two ago specifically to raise female scores.

College admisdion is absolutely designed to favor our daughters and to hold back our sons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was at McLean High School’s graduation yesterday and the program recognized honor grads and those in honor societies (albeit in 4 pt font size so who could read it). Not sure about what’s happening next year. Just let the kids wear their cords and stoles (as long as from the county-approved list)

That seems to contradict the poster who claimed that Reid stopped allowing graduation programs to note honor graduates in 2024.

Has there even been confirmation yet that they aren't going to allow kids to wear cords and stoles in the future, or are the usual suspects just hyper-ventilating?

WSHS had the honor graduates stand up for recognition.

But WSHS removed the honor grad acknowledgement from the program. They used to star the honor grad and NHS students, as recently as a few years ago, and no longer do that. A parent complained very publicly anout honor grad recognition a few years back, and lo and behold, those honor grad recognitions were removed. It might be a coincidence, but...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I was at McLean High School’s graduation yesterday and the program recognized honor grads and those in honor societies (albeit in 4 pt font size so who could read it). Not sure about what’s happening next year. Just let the kids wear their cords and stoles (as long as from the county-approved list)

That seems to contradict the poster who claimed that Reid stopped allowing graduation programs to note honor graduates in 2024.

Has there even been confirmation yet that they aren't going to allow kids to wear cords and stoles in the future, or are the usual suspects just hyper-ventilating?

WSHS had the honor graduates stand up for recognition.

But WSHS removed the honor grad acknowledgement from the program. They used to star the honor grad and NHS students, as recently as a few years ago, and no longer do that. A parent complained very publicly anout honor grad recognition a few years back, and lo and behold, those honor grad recognitions were removed. It might be a coincidence, but...

PP here. Oh, I see- you literally meant the program as in the physical piece of paper. I thought you meant the overall graduation ceremony.

Hmm. I have a 2026 graduate who was NHS and an honor graduate and a 2028 who will be unadorned. I can't imagine complaining about the honor graduate recognition for kids who worked very hard to maintain that GPA!

[Anonymous]

It’s hard work to consistently get excellent grades. All of these kids deserve to be recognized at graduation. They earned those cords

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really sad. Our kids work so hard and they deserve recognition. My sons are now adults and loved FCPS. I feel bad for the youth today.

No one stops parents from throwing as big a party as they'd like for their kid, at which the graduate can wear whatever they want.

The whining is astounding.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IMO cords are dumb. I went to MIT and it didn't allow anything. In a crazy rat race we don't need even more mini races that don't matter.

+1

It used to be that we made a very big deal out of post-graduate degrees, a big deal out of college graduation, and a minor deal out of high school graduation.

Now, we make a huge deal out of high school graduation (even throwing parties that cost $10K or more), and we expect promotion ceremonies and major school awards at the end of preschool, kindergarten, sixth grade, and eighth grade.

It has gotten way out of hand.

So what? People can celebrate how they want to.

Fine, you can celebrate how you choose. But expecting the schools to host major awards and promotion ceremonies, give trophies for having a pulse, and allow for obscene displays of grandiosity at graduation is out of hand.

So now an NHS stole and a service cord are “obscene displays of grandiosity”? You sound insane.

Of course those two alone are not obscene, but a kid wearing 12-20 cords plus 4-6 medals, which they purchased online, is obscene.

You must be from Maryland or Loudoyn, or perhaps California.

FCPS (Fairfax County, Virginia) does not allow cords that students purchase on Amazon. Those get thrown in the trash or taken back to the high schools when the admin checks in the students for graduation.

FCPS (again, Fairfax County Virginia, NOT maryland or Loudoun or whatever state where you are from) is very strict about only allowing cords on the approved list.

No student will be able to get 20 cords. It just is not possible.

Those of you from other districts should not be commenting here.

I'm from FCPS. No one checked cords at any of my kids' graduations, and there were definitely kids with 12+ cords.

My neighbor bragged about buying cords and medals on Amazon for both of her kids. No one checked any of their cords and medals.

What achool?

I am highly skeptical of your post

I teach at an FCPS school. No one takes away fake/amazon cords. Kids wear whatever they want.

The adult and alternative high schools graduating at the end of the week? Of course. Let them buy cords on Amazon. Who cares.

Who else is left after today?

Lake Braddock, Robinson, Herndon and Madison?

I am pretty sure Lake Braddock and Robinson limit cords to the approved. I would imagine that Madison does as well.

I can't speak to Herndon as I don't know any kids from there.

Robinsons graduation was cord/stole/medal crazy. The kids literally clanked around as they walked and had to hold medals to their chest to silence them as they walked.

The program lists 3 medals (4.0+ gpa, department award recipient, IB diploma candidate), 1 stole (nhs), and a whopping 25 cords.

Cords:
ATL portfolio completion
College partnership program with a certain gpa
College partnership program participant
Multilingual proficiency (testing out of ESOL)
English honor society
German honor society
Thespian honor society
Latin honor society
Math honor society
Art honor society
Business honor society
Geospatial technology honor society
Social studies honor society
Science honor society
Spanish honor society
Eagle Scout
Girl Scout (cord for being a scout, pins for silver/gold awards)
Entering military service after graduation
Being from a military family
Student equity ambassador
Service learning
DECA member
FBLA member
Mental health support club member
Key club member

Plus kids had a lot of ethnic/national stoles (lots of Bolivia ones and Pan-African ones), pins from various achievements throughout high school like band achievements or sports accomplishments, stoles for various branches of the military, some that just said “class of 2026” in Robinson’s blue/gold colors, braided ribbon leis, and one kid who had a lei made of cash.

I really don’t give a hoot if kids wear it all or not, but it’s waaaaaaaay more than the short “official” list someone posted a while back.