Should Schools Regulate Graduation Attire?

Graduation season is upon us! We’re starting to see high schoolers and college grads descending on scenic spots around Las Vegas to take portraits — sometimes with elaborate additions to their stoles, gowns, and mortar board graduation caps. In fact, decorating grad caps is a fairly recent tradition that Dr. Sheila Bock, a folklorist at UNLV has been studying. She and co-host Dayvid Figler talk about why the messages on grad caps (even the silly SpongeBob ones) are so significant, why cultural expression is particularly important for some communities at commencement, and whether graduation regalia can go too far. They also get into the debate over AB73, a bill being discussed right now, which would allow high schoolers the same graduation garb permissions that university students in Nevada currently have.

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