Graduation Gowns & Academic Regalia

When we think about graduation in general, we often think about high school graduation. In the United States, the high school graduation is the most celebrated. We imagine graduates marching in to the tune of “Pomp and Circumstance,” listening to speeches by the school officials, the Valedictorian and the Salutatorian, receiving their diplomas and tossing their caps in the air with glee. To most of us, graduation ceremonies are happy affairs.

Despite the joy at the occasion, graduations tend to be serious and solemn occasions. This has not changed since medieval times, when graduation ceremonies first began taking place.

Graduation ceremonies commemorate achieving a higher level of learning. Scholars throughout the ages have been attending graduation ceremonies. In old England, graduation ceremonies were somber affairs with religious significance. First the Catholic Church and then the Anglican Church had a great influence over the education of young men in England. The robes worn during graduation as well as much of the graduation attire reflect the influence of the church. Priests in Catholic and Anglican churches today wear robes and garments similar to those graduating from universities and colleges.

In the United States, graduation commencements were based upon English traditions. In the later part of the 19th century, the American Council on Education dictated certain attire that should be worn during graduation. Unlike Europeans, who wear a hood during graduation, hoods were regulated to the college graduation level and high school and grammar school students wore a flat cap with a tassel and a robe that closed in the front. This is still true today.

Years ago, graduation attire was all black. In recent years, however, schools are choosing to have the robes in the school colors for high school and grammar school graduations. College graduation robes are often one color with other colors designating different honors or degrees.

In the 1960s, rebellion was rife throughout the United States and was particularly apparent on college and high school campuses. Many schools dispensed with wearing graduation attire and others became even stricter about what was to be worn under the graduation gowns. Tradition dictates that dressy attire be worn under a graduation gown, not casual clothing. In the 1960s and part of the 1970s, rebellion took the form of wearing bathing suits and other inappropriate apparel under the graduation gown.

The graduation ceremony today is not much different from that of 100 years ago. While there is less emphasis today in the United States on the grammar school graduation, it is still commemorated, the students are still given a diploma and there is usually a celebration. High school graduations are celebrated throughout the country every May and June in the United States, as they were many years ago, despite the fact that many more high school graduates go on to college than ever before.

College and postgraduate graduations are generally a bit more low-key than their high school and grammar school counterparts are. As people get older, there tends to be more sobrieties in the ceremony. Although graduation has always been a happy occasion, throughout the ages it has been marked with a very serious ceremony that continues to this day.