Starting in autumn quarter, Ohio State will move its commencement from the Friday of finals week to the Sunday following it. As a result, graduating seniors will either take their final exams at the same time as everyone else – as opposed to a week ahead of time – or not be given them at all.
The University believes since the ceremony will actually be on the weekend instead of during the week, then more families will be able to attend the commencements of their loved ones. Also, OSU feels graduating seniors are too rushed with their classes and are not able to perform as well in their studies because they have less time than the average students.
While the university believes in its reasoning for this decision, OSU is not only wrong in this decision but in its delivery of the decision.
Graduating seniors need that next week to get their affairs in order. A graduating senior is different from a normal student in that they are leaving Ohio State to move on with their lives. Instead for the minority that stays on campus to go to graduate or professional school, the newest OSU alumni disperse away from the city to go to their new jobs.
While a student has to worry about finding a summer job and getting a place to live, a graduating senior must get ready for the rest of their lives. Instead of a summer job, graduates need to find a permanent job. They might be chosing the city they are going to live in the rest of their lives. Moving out into the real world is a difficult prospect for anybody, and giving concessions – like an extra week to straighten things out – to those having to manage this prospect is a good thing.
Plus, Friday is the better day to have commencement. Parents come into town to enjoy their children’s graduations and spend the rest of the weekend with them. Granted people who come to Friday’s commencement have to take work off, but most people attending Sunday commencement would take Monday off as opposed to Friday because no one would drive into town and leave the same day to get back to work on time – especially when it comes to a significant moment in a loved one’s life.
By getting rid of senior finals, the university have given more time for students to study for those finals. However, this extra time has been taken away from the instructors in these graduates’ course. Senior finals gave the professors more time to get the student’s grades in for their graduation. By moving the senior finals back to the same time as regular finals, the instructors have less time to evaluate a student’s performance in the class.
The day for commencement should have stayed right where it was – on Friday.
