{"id":167,"date":"2019-03-17T06:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-03-17T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999942544"},"modified":"2019-03-17T06:00:52","modified_gmt":"2019-03-17T13:00:52","slug":"sorry-dad-but-no-golden-robe-for-this-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/sorry-dad-but-no-golden-robe-for-this-graduation","title":{"rendered":"Sorry, Dad, but no golden robe for this graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"

People Post is a space for opinion pieces, letters to the editor and guest submissions from members of the Long Beach community. The following is an op-ed submitted by Yesenia Pacheco, a Polytechnic High School student who is also in the journalism club, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the\u00a0<\/i>Long Beach Post.<\/em><\/p>\n

With graduation rapidly approaching, seniors and their parents are starting to plan out their celebrations. It might even feel as if some parents are more excited than their own kids.<\/p>\n

The pressure to meet your parents\u2019 expectations is, I assume, a lifelong struggle. I am not yet prepared for the anxiety I will receive walking across the stage, and the confusion on my family\u2019s faces when wondering why my cap and gown is green.<\/p>\n

My aunt Marie attended Poly, so naturally I had to as well. There is a framed photo of my family hero glued onto my grandmother\u2019s wall. It\u2019s there that she taunts me, smiling in her pure gold cap and gown. I\u2019ve stared at that picture my whole life, waiting for mine to be glued up next to it.<\/p>\n

This, of course, will not happen, since receiving a golden cap and gown is not easy. It\u2019s a way to praise the perfect attendance\u20134.0\u2013cookie-cutter scholars while the the rest of us normal folk rock the standard green. The tradition has been around for decades and is definitely seen as a status symbol. I look at a golden gown and think, \u201cthat is a person who left a legacy at Poly.\u201d It is something many people strive for and when I realized I wasn\u2019t going to follow in my aunt\u2019s footsteps, I felt like a complete failure. I am still going to graduate, but I still feel like I\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The stress in the pursuit of gold. Graphic by Michael Lozano.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, those students do deserve it. They\u2019ve given their all and sacrificed a lot to be on top, but you know what\u2019s a great reward for that? Going to your dream university and having a successful career. I mean, that\u2019s what they do it for, not to make a fashion statement.<\/p>\n

Graduating high school should feel like a high achievement, but it won\u2019t be all balloons and confetti when my dad\u2019s lecturing me all night about how if I only applied myself, I\u2019d be draped in medals and awards.<\/p>\n

I am not a straight \u201cA\u201d student. I\u2019m not even a straight \u201cB\u201d student. But I have been on the honor roll since freshman year. I have been an asset to my school in more ways than an average student: From being a part of the school\u2019s newspaper publication via writing, editing, and distribution to filming videos about each pathway for the school website. I truly believe that I bleed green and gold, yet they refuse to acknowledge my achievements.<\/p>\n

I consider myself to be a good, hardworking student and see myself as a scholar but I know that those feelings will change immediately as I walk across the stage. I\u2019m not the only one who feels like they\u2019ve received the short end of the stick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts other students down, even when they are trying their best,\u201d says Poly senior Julian Speed. Speed feels that he put a lot of effort into his high school career and is disappointed that he will receive no recognition on graduation day.<\/p>\n

Other students acknowledge the stress involved in trying to achieve such an honor. My classmate, Leslie Cheth,\u00a0believes that the color of our caps and gowns only creates pressure in how we believe people will see us. \u201cIt [shouldn\u2019t] really affect people, we\u2019re all graduating the same way,\u201d she says. \u201cIt only affects how their parents and people look at them, how they see themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that I\u2019m among the very few who will care about the color of my attire. I know that my dad loves and supports me, even if I\u2019m not the smartest person in my class. Of course nobody will outright call me stupid \u2014 it\u2019ll be all in my head, like I know it is now. The worst part is that I\u2019ve been working really hard all four years and I just wasn\u2019t good enough. Not good enough for a color.<\/p>\n

If we are all \u201cscholars and champions\u201d \u2014 the phrase literally painted on the side of the 400 building \u2014 maybe the school should start treating us all like that. Instead of promoting elitism, can\u2019t we all just celebrate together, so my dad won\u2019t be ashamed of me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am not yet prepared for the anxiety I will receive walking across the stage, and the confusion on my family\u2019s faces when wondering why my cap and gown is green.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":65697,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[135],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-people-post","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/208"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}