We spend thirty minutes, four out of five days a school week, listening to speeches in Centennial Hall. The audience spends one of those thirty minutes immersed in applause. Traditionally, we show our appreciation by clapping loudly, the length of the applause signifying how the audience felt about the speech. However, beginning this year, the audience began to stand up for a standing ovation for some speeches, but why? 

A standing ovation for a speaker normally signifies either high praise for the performance or audience desire for an encore. One person initiates the standing, and the rest usually follow. But does everyone actually feel the need to stand? Probably not. According to an article from Language Humanities, a minimal portion of the audience must start the standing ovation to get others to willingly stand. In fact, most of the time, standing ovations do not fully display everyone's feelings of the performance. In public, people are likely to go with the crowd for approval, casting their own opinions aside. This comes from the theory of group pressure, making audience members afraid of moral judgment from others if they don’t stand up. In fact, it is very rare that a full standing ovation is due to recognition of the performers’ abilities, rather the peer pressure felt in the room. The article also states that audience members are more likely to stand up if they see others that are close in age or dress alike to them stand, in desire to be in accordance with the rest of the crowd.

After interviewing the Bryn Mawr students and faculty, a clear distinction between the various perceptions of standing ovations in convocation arose. Student Chloe Miranda ‘22 says that when she has given a standing ovation, “It was mainly if I could visually see, or thought was worth it, it felt like their voice and that they put in a lot of time and effort into it”. Chloe states that not all standing ovations she has given were performance based, a good speech would cause her to stand up as well. Student Lily Snouffer ‘22 seems to have a similar point of view, stating that she gave a standing ovation on her own accord, if the speech contained “good writing and clearly displayed effort”, as well as if the “message of the speech resonated” with her. In students, the repeated pattern seems to be that they recognize a speech for its effort or relatability, but the faculty of our school have a different perspective to share.

However, both students share that they have often felt pressured by others to stand. Lily states that “the ones that get standing ovations are mostly sharing traumatic events where they were brave, which doesn’t mean that the quality of the actual speech goes up.” Ms. Summers states that the reason everyone stands is due to a “well intentioned desire for unity,” and that is specifically presented when one is more vulnerable on stage. Both Chloe and Lily still believe standing ovations should be given when appropriate. 

According to math teacher Ms. Arrogancia, a teacher at Bryn Mawr for twenty years, this is the first year she has witnessed standing ovations, as before it has “always been addressed as something we don’t do”. Perhaps the sudden change this year is attributed to COVID, since being out of Centennial Hall for so long may have led to the loss of proper convocation etiquette, ponders Ms. Arrogancia. Ms. Arrogancia states that, “I did stand up early on because I felt the pressure of everyone standing, it felt uncomfortable, the philosophy didn’t align with that of our school”. The philosophy she refers to is the idea that since convocation is simply a requirement, there should be no standing ovations. In fact, Ms. Arrogancia makes an interesting analogy. She compares the idea of standing ovations to taking a course, and the students who get A’s are “flashed”, versus the students who don’t are not. Ms. Arrogancia feels that “to celebrate the speech, it is exceptional to give a longer, louder applause, and ask thoughtful questions, and can congratulate the speaker after convocation.”

In fact, both Ms. Arrogancia and English teacher Ms. Summers agree that standing ovations are inequitable and a display of favoritism, therefore not benefitting all students. Further, Ms. Summers states she has already told her advisees that she will not stand up, not because she doesn’t support them, but rather that she does not believe in its necessity. She describes that applause is more “authentic”, and that the frequency of standing ovations should slowly start declining as we as a community should decide to abolish them.

These days, standing ovations are becoming more and more frequent in convocations that they are becoming the goal for all seniors.