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An American Graduation



Last week I attended the graduation of my youngest daughter at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the most degreed member of our family (Harvard, B.A. in History of Science 1995, Peace Corp Service in People's Republic of Mongolia, 1996-1998, Johns Hopkins University B.S. in Nursing 2000, Johns Hopkins University Master in Public Health, 2003, and Johns Hopkins University Ph.D. in International Public Health, 2007). For most American middle class, college education for their children is the second most important financial goal, next to retirement saving, in their lives. The reason is that in the US, financial assistances for college education are mostly need based while that of graduate education are merit based. The middle class is often in the unenviable position that they are not poor enough to qualify for scholarship and assistance but not rich enough so that college expense is not an issue. For example in my own case, more than 23 years after my first child finished college, I am still paying back the loan I borrowed for my three children's college tuition and living expense and will continue to pay for another 12 years. However, speaking for my children and to their credit, their three master and two ph.d degrees did not cost me one cent since they all had scholarships and worked part time during their graduate studies.



In any case, realizing the investment of the parents, universities puts on quite a show during graduation for the benefit of the families of students. In the case of my daughter last week, the ceremonies lasted over three days. First day there was the award ceremony for outstanding accomplishments by students and faculty. These awards are funded by various generous donors with the awards carrying their names. In addition to the awards given , a very full buffet dinner reception to which all the awardees and their families were invited. For the second day all the recipients of graduate degrees (masters and ph.ds) of the school of public health gathered in a beautiful auditorium (see picture attached) to receive their diploma and ph.d hoods. The third day in an outdoor public ceremony was the so-called commencement exercise where distinguished speaker was invited to speak and formally completed the graduation (see another attached photo.). All the ph.d recipients had their names and thesis titles printed in the program booklet and individually called on to receive their diplomas.









The Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins is considered the best in the US and possibly the world. Students from all over the world come to study here. As a result the school has a large international student body particularly from Asia and Africa where the needs for public health are great and training facilities are few. Many families traveled long distances to come to see the graduation of their sons and daughters from all over the world. The gathering is most diverse as well as the formal costumes worn by the participants. It was a very festive three days.

Inevitably, my thoughts turn to my own graduations (B.S. M.I.T 1953, Ph.D Harvard 1961). I rushed through my undergraduate education in three years and had to complete some courses in the summer of 1953. Thus, attending the graduation exercise for my B.S. was out of the question. In 1961, although I finished in the Spring of 1961 and had an appointment to teach at Harvard beginning Sept. 1961, the summer of 1961 was open. The special Harvard ph.d gown and hood cost the today equivalent of 50.00  US dollars to rent and 350 dollars to buy. (It is crimson red and really stands out in an academic procession of black robes). Many  students from mainland China nowadays buy them as a necessary expense to show off to their parents and families who comes all the way from Taiwan or mainland. But 46 years ago, foreign Chinese students like me operate on the refugee mentality. My wife and I were in dire financial straits. We had essentially negative net worth and family debt to repay. Two weeks of extra pay for a summer job in California was most important. So we skipped the graduation ceremony for my ph.d entirely and left Cambridge for California early. My mother was working as a seamstress in New York supporting herself. Although she would have been proud to attend the ceremony I am sure, she never expressed any regrets (a child often only realizes the sacrifices of his parents long after he himself becomes one). In any case, I have always said "happiness is a positive derivative". Life has been good to me and my family in the US. The sign of the derivative has been positive 95% of the time in the intervening 46 years; and their integral make me feel very "rich" indeed. Participating in my daughter's graduation last week made up for what I have missed.



"If you plant for one year, plant rice.

If you plant for ten years, plant a fruit tree

If you plant for a hundred years, educate your children"

十 年 树 木 ，百 年 树 人

Father, mother, and Daughter

Ph.D diploma ceremony

graduation exercise