I was thinking about my graduation again this morning and I think it's fair to say that the School of Education were almost more pleased with our graduation than we were.

In universities, there's a pecking order. Medicine, law, business and the "hard sciences" are near the top because they're the ones who bring in the big money and issue the "best degrees" (i.e. doctorates). Education is usually near the bottom because they, well, don't.

So when my 2 friends and I graduated, I think there was a sense of communal pride in the fact that they'd produced 3 doctorates. When we had the hooding, I half suspected they were thinking "Look, we can produce them too," which is sweet.