Apparently, there’s a new microaggression on high school campuses: displaying your academic honors at graduation.
This year, students at Plano Senior High School in Texas will not be allowed to wear their National Honor Society stoles during their graduation ceremony because administrators fear that they might make other students feel excluded.
Membership to the National Honor Society is contingent upon a high GPA and the performance of community service. Students at nearby East and West Plano High Schools will be allowed to wear their white stoles, as well as any other club or organization regalia.
Other high schools across the country have also courted controversy with unusually stringent graduation policies. Nyree Holmes, a senior at Consumnes Oaks High School in California, was met by Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies after donning a traditional African Kente cloth during his graduation ceremony. Students wearing non-sanctioned cords and sneakers were not reprimanded, however.
In Arizona, a student who withdrew from school during his junior year in order to be treated for leukemia was barred from sitting with his class during graduation, even though he was just 2.5 credits short and due to graduate the following semester. Stephen Dwyer, who is the student body president at Dobson High School, appealed against his exclusion to no avail—the school district spokeswoman refused to make an exception in this case, citing district policy.
