On graduation

I graduated from school a long time ago "at the dawn of social media" but what did graduation mean?

First off, most people misuse the verb "to graduate" in English. They will say something like:

I graduated high school! I hope to graduate university in four years!

They miss out on the word "from", as in "graduate from". Graduation involves a process of moving from one place to another. It should not mean something that comes out of nowhere but a journey that one should make with conscious effort.

The word "graduate" has its origins from the Latin graduo ("I graduate"), but graduo itself stems from gradus which means "step" (as in a "step up"). Yet, from gradus, we also get the word "gradual". In a sense, graduation should entail a process like a ramp rather than like a staircase. Thus, students actually graduate starting on their first day of school! Over time, they do reach a "checkpoint": the graduation ceremony. So, they graduate from school.

In the modern Western world, that arbitrary line that they cross becomes an "ending" for most students. To them, they mostly see it as the border between two "countries of time" and the ceremony is like some customs checkpoint. To them, they see it as migrating from a country of learning to a country of non-learning. They rarely see the graduation ceremony as a mere mile marker or city limits signpost. Oh no, more of the journey persists, far and well into the horizon.

When one graduates, they don't finish: they continue!