Thursday 31 July 2008

Late Post: Graduation Ceremony

whats the difference between a graduation ceremony @ The University of Jordan and a football match between Al Faisaly and Al Wehdat?

surprise, surprise .. they are exactly the same that i can tell that people can't tell the difference, expressing excitement, one way to fit all occasions.

A faculty that has 800 graduates in one academic year where every grad gets to invite five family members, here are some observations from that day being a grad in one, and an attendant in another;

you will find big Cheering banners with the graduate's name and even ones similar to elections campaigns where the whole extended family comes in a bus though the card says " don't bring kids with you [they might get lost] " along with drums and sometimes " a groom's Zaffeh"

in a football match, little boys would be roaming the stadium selling " Yallah CHIBS, Yallah BIBS , Yallah KANARYYY " outside the stadium saying " Yallah Hummos, Yallah Tormos, Yallah Fooool"

in Jordan University, the hot items would be " Zammouur Ballown Zammouur" and "yallah thalj thalj thalj"

before the graduation ceremony begins, if you took a glance at channel 7 stars, you will see big speakers with national songs// Omar Al Abdallat, only one song and only one was about graduation, one! you will find hyper people for no reason, seriously, no reason at all, they have to spray snow flakes on you if you sit near by, clap, scream, dance, start the horns and warm up the drums, lazem il nas ithayjen while their family champ is getting in the line in a steaming room.

then the shouting begins one more time along with mobiles to locate where is everybody as the graduate is walking to where he will be seated, people clap after the national anthem, confessing that i do sometimes. don't ask why.

no one listens, the graduates, the parents, everyone is simply there to wait for their son/daughter's name, make as much noise as they can and go home. how interesting! but what really really got me thinking is the hibernation mode people's minds get in when its a speech. i swear watching that, watching the crowd and listening to the speaker was something i wish i can picture in words. every word the dean said is predictable, there is nothing that is interesting in what he said, lots of stuffed words, i can say along its lines for the coming 20 years.

message conveyed to crowds + students = 0

I was at my sister's graduation ceremony together with a cousin who happened to be my sister's age and graduated from a law school in the U.K last semester, she was amazed at the sight of the stadium, she told me, in a graduation, a horn is not allowed, they clap after a certain number of graduates' names so it would be clear, the ceremony is very formal, the speech addresses the faculty members and appreciates their efforts and speaks to the grads, not the Queen of England!! in a way and in short they respect the institution they spent time learning at.

its a University and not Star Academy and definitely not a football match or some "da2ira 7ukumieh" for mass production!


the purpose of this post is pointing out observations of collective behavior and constructive criticism.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL :P What an exciting experience! But you know what? I am graduating next December. If I had stayed in Jordan, I would have gone to JU.I am not sure how good or bad it would have turned out. I guess such things make it unique :D

Congratulations to your sister :)

Tala said...

All the best with your studies Hala, graduating feels gr8, very few programs are good in JU, so you did the right thing, the ceremony was a very familiar image to a Jordanian celebration, it is fun seeing your people in thousands celebrating the way they know, bas kaman i would say it was "mrattab w na2is ishi" because of the unified approach of putting it and labeling it as a national event when its really not. a little bit of different content that is relevant and event/faculty specific other than speeches of praise would give more flavor and characterizes the output.

Anonymous said...

Hehehehe, that's why nobody I know attended their graduation there, 3ad I was thinking of breaking the rule of "kullo 7afartal e7na il mammy faffy ma binrou7" and attending my graduation , I'm having second thoughts now :d

Mabrouk, and as for your reply to Hala, academically wise JU is considered one of the best Arabic universities and the best in Jordan, what programs exactly do you think are not good?

Tala said...

it wasn't that bad,, maybe min hon la next summer, il 3alaqat il 3ammeh bil jam3a zabbatu il program or at least got the president of the university to attend, which is the least to say! don't you think the president of the university should attend 7atta law kanat il duf3a 10000 student, its his job right? or should we have a PhD level to see him. shayfeh, ana bas 3am ba7ki bil asasiyat. simple things that are missing.

programs?? i wont finish in this space, so i will keep it for a post, i have some interesting stories to tell you how i concluded that programs in JU mostly are bad.

Anonymous said...

Well, can't wait to read that :D

Devil's Mind said...

Hehe, thats part of why I don't like ceremonies and stuff. Actually, when I graduate, I probably will pass on any kind of ceremonies... Just as I passed going to my graduation ceremony in high school!

Tala said...

Zaid,

Well if you decided to go, I will make it to the graduation with a zammoor, a banner with your name, a cheering band, feel like being a parliament candidate for a day?

jk, well, for a student like you, you deserve a decent ceremony, your university should be proud of you! you won't regret it =)