Miss Manners: The increasing trend of exiting graduation ceremonies early

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Something apparently shifted between my son’s college graduation ceremony in 2019 and my daughter’s. While the audience at the 2019 ceremony remained in place for the entirety of the two-hour proceedings, this time, fewer than 10% of both the graduates and their attendees stayed to the end.

In fact, almost all of the honorees walked across the stage to receive their diplomas and then simply left instead of returning to their seats. This resulted in a likewise steady exodus of family and friends from the audience while other students were still being called to the stage.

Those of us still trying to enjoy the full ceremony -- and those whose graduates were at the end of the alphabet -- were forced to deal with people squeezing past our knees as they left the aisles. Am I completely behind the times that I was horrified at the mid-ceremony departures?

GENTLE READER: It always puzzles Miss Manners when those who object to rudeness accuse themselves -- however disingenuously -- of failure to keep up with progress. You are not required to follow progress that is headed downward into lack of consideration for others.

To treat a graduation ceremony as if it were a commercial transaction, where the graduates merely pick up their diplomas and leave, is an act of disrespect for their own classmates. It would be sad if the class had to be instructed beforehand not to do so.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

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