New Zealand Kids Don’t Graduate. Here’s What They Do Instead.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The quality, the vibe, that makes New Zealand different from the U.S. Then, on a car ride along the vibrant Tasman coast, my mother-in-law hit it on the head.

Life is simpler.

Not as a euphemism for backward, far from it. Simpler as in less burdensome, less effort to keep up with the Joneses. Things just are. In an authentic, take-it-or-leave-it manner.

I wrote last week about my boys’ Last First Day of school. In less than a year, their senior year (or as it is called in New Zealand, Year 13) will be over. And after the final last day, they will not graduate high school. What New Zealand kids do instead reflects that simple, easier way of life here in the Land of the Long White Cloud (or at least on our end of it).

The vernacular says it all.

Kids leave school. They are called “Leavers.” If you live stateside, “leave” may sound like “dropout.” But not in New Zealand. Being a “Leaver” means you’ve completed all levels (years) of primary and secondary school.

One becomes a leaver of all levels, so to speak. This alliteration junkie kinda likes the sound of that.

Now kids can leave school early, choosing not to return for their final year(s) of high school. But they don’t get to be leavers because they’ve left early. It’s a little confusing, but that little “r” makes all the difference. But to clarify, these students are also NOT labeled “dropouts.” They’ve abided by the system in place and usually have a reason for not completing their education: they’ve chosen to move into a trade or another field that doesn’t require full Leaver status.

Which may make my fellow Americans uncomfortable.

Trades rank low on the status ladder in American society, which shouldn’t be. Tradespeople are the backbone of any nation, the largest democracy in the world included.

But I digress.

The simple process of leaving high school in New Zealand.

It’s not marked by pomp and circumstance. Literally or figuratively. No one plays the standard P and C fanfare, and there are no mortar boards or unbreathable gowns to maneuver.

There is however, a Senior Day with a slip-and-slide. Favorite teachers may find their cars encased in plastic wrap or their private offices unnavigable due to a hundred cups of water placed in the hallway. Hijinks ensue, while high-flying, toga-clad Leavers channel their inner Animal House, hoping to be identified as the culprits.

It’s all good, simple fun.

Then the fun turns serious…not at a huge bleacher-filled ceremony…but at an event called the Leavers’ Dinner. The meal is held in the school gymnasium, one with high, transomed windows and a creaky wooden stage at one end. Speeches are made. Everyone enjoys some good food. Then the students of honor, along with their proud families,

Leave. A step along life’s path taken.

A transition to the next thing, whatever that may be. No big parties in a rented tent or hall. No cap throwing. A band doesn’t accompany you out the door.

Very different from the high school graduations my husband and I know.

Is it too much?

Don’t get me wrong. I loved my high school graduation. I loved the formal processional, the cap throwing at the end…my childhood home filled with extended family and friends afterward.

But seeing the process done differently in a country less complicated and stressed out, I’m wondering if we send American kids the wrong message when we Graduate them. Yes, Graduate with a capital “G.”

I remember a nasty letdown after high school graduation. There had been a huge buildup to a big ceremony and an involved after-party, and then, BLAM. It was jarring next day when I started a full-time summer job. There was neither pomp nor circumstance in filing paperwork at an insurance company. But the paychecks would help fund the next big step: college.

Fortunately for me, the letdown didn’t last long. I didn’t otherwise like high school much. But for others the letdown lingered, and for some, it persists decades later. In America the high school experience is awarded apex-of-life status, and when that time ends, many of us feel lost. And that huge graduation celebration, that anointed Super Bowl of Life, kinda messes with the head.

So the simplicity of my kids leaving high school in New Zealand has struck a chord. And it will fit my boys well…neither is keen on the fanfare that goes along with an American-style high school graduation. But the message of becoming a “Leaver,” a seemingly toned-down name for one of life’s milestones, is still there. And maybe it comes through more clearly, without “Pomp and Circumstance” echoing through the gym’s rafters:

You’ve ticked an important box. But you are by no means done. You are moving forward and ahead.

Go get ’em.