There was no graduating grade school. We just went on to what was called junior high. Pre-graduation graduations are excuses for self-esteem rituals.
In Canada, high school used to go to grade 13, may still do it. The 13th grade was actually college prep, so kids who did not plan on going to college graduated from grade 12.
Job applicants began saying they ‘graduated grade 12,’ or they ‘graduated grade 13,’ which was true and fine. But it led to kids dropping out of school while ‘graduating grade 10,’ or ‘graduating grade 9.” The stigma attached to dropping out of school diminished leading to greater dropouts.
In the US, kids have graduation ceremonies for coming out of kindergarten, for Pete’s sake. Restore graduation to finishing high school and getting college degrees. Make the ceremony meaningful, valuable, and not an annual participation trophy.