With graduation coming up tomorrow night, I found myself wondering where the weird design for the caps came from. It doesn't seem to make any practical sense as a hat, with basically a fitted skullcap and a piece of cardboard. Is it symbolic? Does it represent anything? And how long have they been around?
I checked this out on Wikipedia recently after someone told me that in our country caps were only worn by women, as the flat top was a symbol of their degree being the 'ceiling' of their education. That didn't make any sense to me, as they were worn before women were allowed higher education, and in other parts of the world they're worn by both men and women. Wikipedia didn't even reference it as a common myth. So if anyone can shed light on where THAT interpretation may have come from also I'd appreciate it. I've read various theories.