As a culture, Americans don’t have a lot of social rituals left. Yet when we reach a major turning point in life, a ceremony is still in order. As often as not, the graduate or the bride or the mom-to-be at the baby shower will say she’s just going through with it for the family, but this unidentified, newly minted graduate’s expression seems to indicate otherwise.
Percentage of U.S. population 25 and older in 1910 that had graduated from high school: 13. Percentage in 1998: 83.
Longest-ever commencement address, according to Sen. Christopher Dodd’s speech to the University of Connecticut Class of 2000: 6 hours, at Harvard in the 19th Century.
Percentage of college freshmen in 1970 who had A averages in high school: 16. Percentage in 1998: 33.
Rank of high graduation rates among parents’ priorities in assessing the quality of a high school: 2. Rank of “children’s happiness”: 1.
