Amid the bevy of wonderful articles about how high school and college seniors, as well as those receiving advanced degrees, are adapting to their loss of graduation rituals, I want to acknowledge the loss experienced by educators. We, too, have ways of celebrating our students’ successful launching that are thwarted by the coronavirus (“Carroll lawmakers ask for modified outdoor graduations; health officer says executive orders prevent such a gathering,” May 19).
We care about them and cannot say goodbye in the old ways. Yes, we adapt by making video clips of ourselves offering sage advice that become part of a virtual graduation. We send congratulatory emails. However, for me, it is not the same, as I suspect it is not the same for many of my colleagues whether they teach graduate school or first grade.
I look forward to 2021 when I anticipate once again being together with the next group of graduates as they set sail.
Geoffrey L. Greif, Baltimore
The writer is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work.
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