Primary School Graduations, Mortarboards and Biretta's

I can't remember feeling anything but relief, when I left primary school after six long years, many years ago (and somehow, I believe most teachers were quite relieved to see me go...).

Things change though and I really enjoy seeing how much my own children enjoy going to school and the place the school takes up in their lives. They actually like going to school!

For my oldest daughter, Marshida, life is going to change after these Summer holidays. She'll be going to intermediate school, travelling by herself on the train, not needing her dad anymore to walk her to school every day...

Last night she had her official 'Graduation Party'; performances, speeches, lots of cake and also: wearing a mortarboard.

Here we see Linus Pauling, wearing a mortarboard at his 1922 graduation.

This black tasselled academic cap with a flat square top covered with cloth

is generally believed by scholars to have developed from the biretta,

a similar-looking hat worn by Roman catholic clergy. The biretta itself may have been a development of the Roman pileus quadratus, a type of skullcap with superposed square and tump and a reinvention of this type of cap is known as the Bishop Andrewes cap. The mortarboard may also have been influenced by practices in Islamic madrassas; when a student graduated, he wore a scull cap and a Koran placed on top of his head, tightened to the scull cap.

Originally, the mortarboard was reserved for holders of master degrees (the highest qualification in mediæval academia), but was later adopted by bachelors, undergraduates and now by primary school leavers.