From: petertrei@gmail.com   
      
   On 9/29/2025 11:53 AM, Paul Dormer wrote:   
   > In article <10bbugh$e7c$1@reader2.panix.com>, kfl@KeithLynch.net (Keith F.   
   > Lynch) wrote:   
   >   
   >> Two weeks ago, I walked to my high school class reunion picnic at   
   >> Nottoway Park.  It was 50 years since my graduation.  About 50 of my   
   >> classmates (out of a total class size of about 500) were there.  Those   
   >> who remembered me were surprised to hear about my wrongful conviction   
   >> of 48 years ago.   
   >>   
   >> I had only been to one previous class reunion, the 20th anniversary.   
   >   
   > It's now 55 years since the end of my secondary education.  No graduation   
   > from English schools.  More a case of we don't want you here anymore,   
   > bugger off.  I did go back to visit my teachers after my final exams, but   
   > nothing formal.  There was a speech night some months later at which I   
   > got a prize, as did everyone else from my year.   
   >   
   > Lynne Murphy, who does the Separated by a Common Language blog did a post   
   > a while back about this.  Murphy is American by birth but has married an   
   > Englishman and teaches at a UK university.  She has a daughter and the   
   > pair of them went to US when the daughter left school.  She had great   
   > trouble explaining to relatives that the daughter had not graduated, as   
   > that is not a thing.  (You graduate from university.)   
      
   My high school (Millfield, an "English Public School" - ie, private   
   and expensive) didn't have a graduation ceremony either - you   
   could leave as soon as you finished your last A-Level.   
      
   My college (King's College London) did have a ceremony, but it was   
   held the next fall, when I was already in the States. My sister's   
   graduation from Cambridge did include a ceremony with some pomp and   
   circumstance, but Oxbridge is different...   
      
   The University of London has never reached out to me. Millfield   
   has an active alumni group, with multiple facebook private groups,   
   email lists and occasional regional get-togethers. I literally own   
   an 'Old School Tie', and the FB groups are used for networking and   
   nepotism, along with reminiscence and news. The school is legally   
   a charity, and does solicit donations from wealthy alumni.   
      
   pt   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)