Summary

A 2020 graduate expresses mixed feelings of congratulation and resentment towards the Class of 2021 for their traditional graduation experiences, contrasting with the pandemic-altered graduation of 2020.

Abstract

In an open letter to the Class of 2021, a 2020 graduate acknowledges the challenges faced by the new graduates while also expressing a sense of bitterness over the stark differences in their respective graduation experiences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The writer extends congratulations to the Class of 2021 but also criticizes their portrayal of normalcy and happiness in graduation celebrations, which seems to belittle the struggles of the previous year. The letter reflects on the anticlimactic end to the writer's own college journey, which concluded with no formal ceremony and a sense of loss. Despite the joy for the Class of 2021's achievements, the writer admits to needing a break from the celebrations to focus on their own path forward.

Opinions

The writer feels that the Class of 2021's ability to have a more traditional graduation experience is both impressive and somewhat invalidating of the 2020 graduates' experience.
There is a sense of cynicism about the realities of post-college life, including the burdens of student loans and the likelihood of feeling undervalued at work.
The writer is critical of the portrayal of the online learning experience as a positive one, suggesting that it was far from the ideal college experience.
The letter conveys a strong sense of nostalgia and loss for the missed rites of passage, such as walking across the stage and celebrating with peers.
The writer believes that the Class of 2020 should be acknowledged for their unique challenges and the resilience they showed during their final college days.
Despite the underlying bitterness, the writer sincerely hopes for better years ahead for the Class of 2021 and acknowledges their accomplishments.

OPEN LETTERS

An Open Letter To The Class of 2021

The normalcy you’ve retained in graduating is overwhelming.

Dear Class of 2021,

Congratulations. You made it, either into another school, where student loans will continue to be the bane of your existence, or out into the real world. Here you will feel motivated to eventually begin work at a job that will likely never value you for what you’re worth(priceless, by the way) until you burn out and start a new career.

I know we’ve all had it rough; the only thing you learn at Zoom University is how to look up the answers to open-book exam questions in a timely fashion. Never say college didn’t prepare you for the real world.

Despite our shared experience of online learning, I have to ask you, Class of 2021, to stop. Stop posting your cute photos in your gowns and caps and nice clothes with all of your closest friends, family, and significant others. Hugging. Without masks. Almost as if a pandemic never happened.

Do you know what I did with my regalia? Nothing. I had none. We were three months into the Covid-19 pandemic, and it seemed like an unimportant waste of time. I did have a Drexel Alumni champagne glass that Drexel sent me to use so that I could forget that I had no graduation. It was the best possible use for my tuition dollars.

Stop pretending to be so perfectly happy. I would rather you post your graduation photos with the caption “ the last year sucked, but I graduated” instead of pretending like some of the best years of your life were years spent in your bedroom with your camera off, on mute, doing anything but attending class on your computer.

If anything, Class of 2021, I hope the last 4 years of your life have made you aware that better years are ahead.

I have not been able to open Instagram for 1 month now without seeing a “photo dump” from one of you accomplished humans accompanied by an endearing quote about the places you’ll go. Let me tell you where I’ve gone. To grad school, only to change career paths and move home. If that doesn’t make you excited to start life after college, I don’t know what will!

Frankly, you did not “persevere through a unique year in history unlike any other class before you,” as I have now heard 3 commencement speakers say at various, in-person graduations. Every time I hear that line I have the urge to get out that handy alumni champagne glass, a stark reminder that there have been much more weird graduation seasons than this one.

I finished college on a Tuesday afternoon, simply by closing my computer and promptly signing up for therapy to process the way the hardest 4 years of my life had just ended, with me sitting on my childhood bed.

I thought that the graduation season of bleak endings that dominated 2020 and sharply contrasted with the in-person graduations that you, Class of 2021, have experienced, would be a good cause to save the line about persevering through a unique year in history for the Class of 2020, even if we never got to hear it.

I missed the memo on that one.

While I appreciate that you are an amazing group of people, Class of 2021, who deserved more than having family watch from home or having only your university-wide graduation be in person, you all got the one thing that the Class of 2020 had been looking forward to for 4 years, only to have it snatched from under their noses in 3 months.

What would that be?

Getting to walk (possibly hungover) across a stage, shake some important hands, and receive your diploma so that you can proceed to have a photoshoot in the city you went to college in while you slowly have a heat stroke in your polyester gown because you earned the right to show off this accomplishment.

Even if all you had was a university-wide ceremony that featured many old white guys talking at you, you all got to be together. You shared the special day when you crossed the hallowed threshold from college-world into real-world. You took pictures together. You ate together. You partied together. You didn’t have to pretend things were normal, because they were close enough.

So please understand why I don’t like your journal entries on social media about all of the people who got you through college or your cap and gown photos with real people in them. Real people! Together, in public!

It’s not you; it’s me. I’m so happy for you, Class of 2021. Last year was so filled with sadness that I need a break from your joy so I can keep finding my own. I’m sure we’ll meet again.

Sincerely,

A Recovering 2020 Graduate