Is There a Real Reason Behind Graduates Throwing Their Caps?

Graduations are a sort of rite of passage. It is a ceremony that celebrates ones moving from one portion of their lives to another. This is regardless of the graduation being from pre-school to kindergarten or from high school to college. There are many traditions involved in graduations. Some have varied significance such as the moving of the graduation cap's tassel from one side to the other or the crossing of the hands to receive the diploma or degree and one hand and shake the member of the faculty's hands who is passing those important documents out. One such tradition is the cap toss. For many years, graduates have celebrated successfully passes classes and ending an academic milestone in their lives. However, many people do not know where the tradition actually started.

The tradition of the graduation cap toss began with the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. The first instance of the cap toss occurred in 1912. The reason for the change was that it was the first year that in which upon the seamen being commissioned as officers, they were actually given their officers hats. They had been midshipmen up until that point. They no longer had the need for the midshipmen's caps, so they tossed them into the air. This tradition then caught on with other colleges, universities, and even high school graduates.

Many times people wonder how graduates find their own hats after a hat toss. For some graduates they write their names in the insides of the hats so that they can find them after the ceremony is complete. For others they actually do not toss their hats very high, so they can retrieve it once it falls. The act of graduates tossing their graduation caps into the air makes a gorgeous picture to capture a lasting moment, but is it in the best interest of the graduates or their guests?In recent years, schools have started to refrain from letting the graduating class throw their caps in the air as an organized form of celebration. The reason for this is on account of the fear that someone will be hurt. The size of graduating classes has increased throughout the years making it a little more difficult to have so many people throwing hats all over the place.

Just as this tradition started, some brilliant graduate will eventually come up with a safer way to show graduation attendants that they are happy to be done with the portion of their lives that many have come to celebrate.

Sources:
Graduation Hat Toss
http://www.usna-parents.org/resources/firstie.htm#hat