commencement services celebration or funeral?

I think that to arrest people for cheering for his or her graduate is stupid!allow more time for each student and let people give a brief cheer!when my son graduated in 1977 my family and all the people he worked with would have been arrested!we all stood up and cheered!and to not allow a person in because they are wearing jeans is stupid also. arent we in America?Why are more and more of our freedoms being taken away!I say let people celebrate at graduations!Ms Pat McCurry

You are warned by the announcer, and by the written program, to be silent as the names are read, and what the consequences will be. There is ample opportunity to applaud after all the names are read. It is really that simple.

I didn't read or hear anything about the fact that there were arrests last year and, I think, the year before. Also missing in the story is context. Attending the ceremonies at Winthrop, how many schools with how many parents were able to respect the rules out of consideration for others? Thousands, I would guess, against six idiots.

Rush Limbaugh opened his radio program with the story yesterday. He was being a jack-ass about it, I suppose because it was a chance for him to mindlessly rip public education. But he accidentally made a good point, as he facetiously wondered what we would do about noisy parents at a pep rally.

Graduation IS NOT a pep rally. That is the point! Celebrate loud and long, wherever you like, after the ceremony. But keep in mind that if it gets out of hand, you can be arrested for that as well. Get it?

High School graduation is about the achievement of three parties: the school, the parents and, most importantly, the child. Teachers see it every year, parents often experience it with other family members, but it is an extra special occasion for the students because, for them, it only happens once in a lifetime. This coming of age event is a huge part of our culture and it should be a dignified, mature ceremony.

One suggestion, though, would be to remove the disrespectful and ask them to leave the premises. Arrest them only if they resist.

Graduations are not NASCAR events - they are time honored celebrations - dress up, show up, and don't act up! If you can't do that then you were not brought up right!

Yes, every student deserves a cheer...after all of the names are read. Without the rule it would become a popularity contest to see who gets the most hooting and screaming after each name is read.