[boniver]

I'd feel so bad if I was a student of this school. We got our first car when I was in 2nd year of college. I hope all the students got to take part in this 'celebration' and no one was left behind because they didn't have a flashy set of wheels to show up in.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

I stated what I felt when I looked at these images and optics seemed bad to me knowing the difficulties society is enduring under current tough times. Of course I can stay muted and wonder who am I to pass a comment! That is still an option.

Whoa, I sure don't understand the negativity. So, if my primary daily driver is a fancy car, do you want me to borrow a Maruti Alto for the "right optics"?

Also, I hope everyone realises that "fancy" can be relative. For every 1000 citizens of India, just about 40 own cars. Hence, for a majority of the balance 960, even a Hyundai Santro is a dream. The guy cycling on the street will make a similar comment to a line-up of Santros & S-Pressos, just as many BHPians did for the CIS.

When I see comments like these directed at people for no fault of theirs, I remember the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, better not to say anything at all".

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Even if it is a display of eliteness, this is a very practical way of having a graduation ceremony in the current scenario.

You can say that again. I sure hope the parents + kids had a great time, and were spared this negativity in the actual event.

To those bothered by the optics of the event, I'm including a couple of pictures of the kids in more humbler cars (from the same Facebook link in the opening post):












Focus on the Celerio:

[mazda4life]

Just out of curiosity , is this graduation parade for passing 12th or is it for a higher class ?

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

This is a very practical way of having a graduation ceremony in the current scenario. Kids have gotten very unique memories of a once in a lifetime day.

Oh totally agree! Kudos to the school that they managed to do something like this (in this time) instead of sending certificates by mail, or an online ceremony.

Originally Posted by Thilak29

More than celebration, this to me seems like blatant display of elite-ness.

I feel we overdo this humbleness aspect a bit too much. Someone sending his/her kids to CIS most probably would have a car at home. And if you see the cars lined up its not all luxury-liners. The kid in the Yaris looked equally happy as the one in the Mercedes. A concern of class-divide or elite-ness was not on display – at least from what I saw in the pictures.

Originally Posted by akhil_007

And what's with "Graduation". It's class 12 or maybe class 10. Not even a degree

I remember attending the first graduation ceremony when my girl was in K1

Originally Posted by libranof1987

I hope this is 12th

Should be, and in IB schools Year 12 students will be at least 18.

Originally Posted by boniver

I'd feel so bad if I was a student of this school. We got our first car when I was in 2nd year of college. I hope all the students got to take part in this 'celebration' and no one was left behind because they didn't have a flashy set of wheels to show up in.

As I mentioned above, all of those were not flashy wheels, and I guess you won’t be looked down for taking an Uber as well.

[Sreesh1009]

Originally Posted by Thilak29

More than celebration, this to me seems like blatant display of elite-ness.

Most of the kids who go to schools like CIS, Stonehill etc are usually kids of NRIs, kids of foreigners etc. Most of these people come under the salary bracket of 50L - 1CR+ (Per annum or per month (sometimes ). Hence the cars are a very common sight. Plus it's a proper international school in Bangalore, the fee must be a bomb.

The only concern is the kid with the Ducati! Hope he isn't riding underage.

[GrammarNazi]

IMO at the max, maybe some parents could've made it more about what interests their kids in terms of what they learnt in the institution (the core theme of a graduation ceremony) and less about how the parents invest into their interests. The seemingly flashy vehicle over-amplifies the perception of misplaced priorities.

If something did OR didn't feel right to one section of people, they needn't be shamed for it. Each persons perception of what they believe as a fair approximation of moral & true, may very well be valid in their context. People can spend their time & money into whatever interests them.

If this was a Team-BHP meet of cars with families tugged along, would seem to make sense as the highlight would be the members automotive interest. Notwithstanding the cost of car .

If this was in Kerala, and some students went to collect their certificates by sitting on an Elephant that their family has adopted, then many of us would've found it quite endearing. Notwithstanding the costs for adopting an elephant.

Understand the skepticism, but its just a matter of keeping plurality in viewpoints, IMO no big deal in the Indian cultural context either.

[dr.aviansh]

I DON’T SEE ANY POINT IN SUCH A GRADUATION CEREMONY. Yes, every student aspires to have a grad ceremony as it is remains their last memory of that institution and they deserve it because of the hard work they did.

Normally, if there are a 100 students graduating, the main stage ceremony would last for let’s just say 100 minutes. And it will be significantly more than that if they are in cars.

So, imagine the amount of pollution it would have caused when there were 100 cars idling. On one hand we talk about a ‘GREEN AND CLEAN EARTH’ and this seems a bit uncalled for.

Also, taking in count the huge amount of fuel which was wasted. Some cars have their windows rolled down. But I don’t expect anybody not using the AirCon in this scorching heat especially when their kids are wearing these black gowns.

As we’re moving towards the stages of Unlock, I’m sure that within 3 months maximum, auditoriums would have been allowed to function.

[vivek95]

Wealth earned and enjoyed by right means is totally fair. That said, this school just wanted to do it differently even when they could have very well conducted the ceremony in their school ground with appropriate social distancing. Overall, not a big deal or "interesting". To each his own though.

[AirbusCapt]

Let's get rid of the Nehruvian philosophy of always lamenting for the poor please. The school is an elite school, with all parents paying big fees. They all have cars and lots of them have good ones. So what? Just because we have 80 crore poor Indians, does it mean one shouldn't be rich? Or shouldn't flaunt money even though you have some? I think it is a cool way to celebrate a child's big day, makes it memorable for him/her.

[car love]

A little off topic here. Couple of years back i went to this school to make enquirers for admitting my friends child there. After awhile our heads were spinning listening to the expenses that would entail in admitting a child there. Having quickly decided its not for him we were about to leave when we saw a stall in the school selling Nike shoes for Rs. 1.2K. We all bought a pair. It was the best part of the trip to the school. The facilities etc are all top notch. The relationship between students and teachers is totally unbelievable for someone brought up in a traditional indian school environment like me and yes it is an elitist school.
Branding everybody as snobs though is not fair.

[pradeepkc]

Originally Posted by GTO

When I see comments like these directed at people for no fault of theirs, I remember the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, better not to say anything at all".

I honestly don't have a problem with the ceremony or the cars they are driving. But I live near one such school and I absolutely hate how the parents choke up the roads haphazardly just to drop their kids off. I agree with Tilak29 in some sense that it's about their attitude that some of them display that somehow have the more priority over public resources and it's okay to inconvenience the commuters for their perceived comfort. I would bet the percentage of kids who are driven in cars vs taking the school bus is much higher compared to most other schools.

There's more creative ways to celebrate graduation than a drive-by.

There's a quote "If you can't help, don't hurt"

[M A D over CARS]

I don't understand the negativity around this event. The annual fees of cis is 22l . So many of the kids are bound to be travelling in luxury cars.

Also this is a great way to hand out the graduation certificates and we should respect them for making such a creative way to hand out these certificates.

P.S. imagine the dismay of a 12th grader if he does not have a graduation ceremony in such a school. So this is a great way to hand out the certificates. Kudos to the school

[PrasunBannerjee]

Just as there are spends on prom nights where people spend on renting limos for entrances, I see a new industry in making, renting sanitized limos and luxury cars for the 'graduation drive through' ceremony. Extra rent for a roadster or panoramic sunroof. People having Honda City or Skoda Octavia might not mind renting a Bentley or Range Rover for couple of hours to arrive and graduate in style as these will be a once in a lifetime memory.

This is a startup idea in itself if the drive through ceremonies culture catch up as a post-Covid world situation. To those who might benefit from the idea execution, they can thank me later.

[itwasntme]

Kudos to CIS for doing this. Are we in a socialist country? Should we all buy the cheapest car that we can?

The 'optics' are good in my opinion. I hope my kids' schools do this when we are still waiting for the vaccine next year.

[Tassem]

All I see is a wonderful event that will leave a lot of beautiful memories in the kids' minds. Next year, this time, they will not remember the cars or what not, they will just go:

"Hey remember the time we had our drive through graduation? That was fun!"

It's a shame that some people just want to dissect every small thing and attach an agenda to it. It's perhaps time to introspect on the root cause of that unhappiness instead of projecting it outwards.