by Tracy Gassel

Created on: March 22, 2009

The History of graduating adorning a cap and gown

The earliest eduction institutes were not like the ones we are used to today. The earliest centers for scholarship and research; before schools, colleges and universities, were religious monasteries. Therefore it's only natural that the attire worn at the earliest education institutes closely resembled the robes and regalia worn by the priests and monks that inhabited the religious institutions that predated the academic ones.

During the earliest of formal education, robes and head-ware were your everyday attire and not just reserved for special occasions, although some of the institutes that were established in ancient times still prescribe robes for their dress code; but nowadays the majority reserve them solely for special occasions. During the sixties protesters argued that robes were to stuffy and even made enough noise that for a time some universities made graduation day no dress code. Can you imagine graduating in shorts and a tank top?Yeah me neither, thankfully since then the majority overall opinion on the cap and gown saga has shifted. Instead of it symbolizing establishment, like the flower children preached, It instead is more of a symbol of academic achievement and celebrating what's to come.

Today in colleges all over you will see robes still being worn regularly, officials wear more elaborate robes with various colors determining rank and or status, previously set forth by said institution. In ancient times the color of robe you wore was a symbol of your rank or class, undergraduates would be dressed differently and so would noblemanall the way to commoners in black robes. Modern day society mimics this in a way, if you consider some of the most powerful positions require you to wear a robe.

The cap's shape has varied throughout the years but the one we are most familiar with today was made around the sixteenth century. The debate is why the hat is square, some think that since it originated in the sixteenth century and at that time a square hat was called a biretta and it had a mortarboard appearance, so this hat was made to represent a master workman's mortarboard, others think it was named after the biretta hat but because it first became popular at oxford and that is the shape of their campus. Still others think the answer is most obvious, it is in the shape of a book and by placing it on your head you look scholarly.

The old practice of bestowing the tassel of each student has lost it's momentum in recent years , mainly for the ever growing size of graduating classes and shear time constraints. However students like to put pins or decorations on them that indicate school colors, staus in certain honor societies or other academic achievements. A litte helpful hint for graduates: If you don't want to lose your cap or those momento's in an end of ceremony cap toss I suggest writing your name on a piece of tape with a sharpie and let it dry completely and place it on the inside of your cap (when you pull the tape off there is no damage to the cap).

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