BEMIDJI, Minn. — Two years ago at my son's graduation from Michigan Tech University, I blogged about some of the disruptive behavior that occurred during what I considered a momentous occasion in an individual's life — everything from people talking loudly to each other to loud shouts and screaming during the ceremony to standing up and blocking other people's view (during their individual's moment of fame). Four of my kids graduated from high school, and three of them graduated from college, so I feel I am pretty qualified to speak about the subject with five graduation ceremonies under my belt in the last five years at three different institutions.

So it was with great interest that I picked up on an article in the St. Cloud Times last week headlined "Noisy and Disruptive Behavior May Lead to Changes in Apollo, Tech Graduations." (These are St. Cloud's two public high schools.) Apparently, after Apollo High School's graduation St. Cloud Superintendent Steve Jordahl was so upset that he made opening comments at Friday's Tech High School ceremony regarding what conduct he expected.

The list of problems included the usual culprits: people using cell phones, people moving around during the ceremony, people coming late, people leaving early — and, of course, the shouting out and screaming during the announcement of names. The feeling of the staff is that the graduations took on more the decorum of a sporting event than a ceremony.

The administration thought it had taken some proactive action on this problem based upon the past few years. Two years ago it moved the graduation ceremony from the 6,000-seat National Hockey Center to the smaller basketball gymnasium at St. Cloud State University. Letters were even mailed out to parents explaining conduct expectations.

Considering that the article generated 155 comments, it is clear that people have strong feelings toward this. I talked to one of my sons, whose point of view was in the minority among the responses. His take is that this is the students' day, they are not doing anything criminal, and it is their right to celebrate all their hard work. His spin — this event is for the students, not necessarily for the parents. The majority of the comments, though, were that the conduct had become "disruptive, rude and disrespectful" in every way.

My opinion is that there is blame to be spread around to both students/parents and the administration. Anyone that has been to a recent graduation ceremony knows they can be 1) long and 2) boring. Sound systems are poor, speakers are dry, and they go on FOREVER. It's no wonder people come late and leave early. (I have to mention again that at my son's MTU graduation they even had the concession stands open in the arena, selling nachos and popcorn. No wonder people act like it's a sporting event!)

I did think the St. Cloud administration had some good recommendations. 1) Limit admission to four tickets per graduate. (Many colleges are like this, and we don't have to invite the entire extended family to fill a section to scream). 2) "Dim the lights" when presentations are made to limit the crowd from walking around and being disruptive. Also, use a spotlight to "zero in" on the single graduate being presented his/her diploma. 3) By having a smaller crowd with limited seating, the events could be brought back to the school campus, creating a smaller, more comfortable venue. Some of the other suggestions, such as banning photography and having more security guards, sound a bit drastic. Maybe limiting photography would be a better approach. (Again, at Michigan Tech University, they allowed all sorts of photography and there were never fewer than 50 people in front of the stage at any given time during the diploma ceremony fighting and elbowing to get that one shot of their kid — not a good scene).

Feel free to express your opinions the the Comment section on a recent graduation ceremony you attended. I would be interested in others' opinions. Bottom line: I am sorry to say the St. Cloud article confirms what I have felt in recent times; it would be nice if there were a bit more decorum to what really is a ceremony. I hope my granddaughter's kindergarten ceremony isn't anything like this!!

Mike Beard, who works in retail management, is currently chairman of the board of the Bemidji Area Chamber of Commerce. He writes a regular blog for the Bemidji Pioneer, from which MinnPost adapted this article.