Ugh, I'd be so BEC about this. I don't even know if my H could get me to go, lol. This reminds me of the "Penn not Penn State" shirts I used to see around. How rude is that?!
The first time I met a group of his college friends, one of them came up to me and said, "So, you work with [H]? How do you like being a paralegal?"
I think certain schools are more obnoxious/douchey than others....from my experience Duke, Princeton & USC fall into that category as well as others. I wouldn't think too much about it. Though I went to a blah state school for undergrad & I had no school spirit so there is that. Later DH & I both went to UMich which has some obnoxious fans but it has so many bandwaggoners who never set foot on its campus that it's just not the same...lol.
One of the popular cheers at my (private, expensive, highly ranked) undergrad was to shake your keys at the opposing team (generally a public school) and say, "that's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!" which always felt super gross to me because I was on work-study and most of the student body was extremely wealthy.
That's all I've got.
Yeah this reminds me of the "safety school" chants that some of the elite schools do. Someone said up thread that "no one believes this stuff" but I don't think that is quite true. I think there are a ton of people out there who really do walk around feeling superior because they went to HYP whatever. That might be the privilege aspect that OP was asking about. It does exist and it is gross.
Post by estrellita on Sept 28, 2015 16:01:36 GMT -5
I went to a state school so people weren't rich really, but still mostly middle class white people. I had lots of fun in college and enjoy heckling rival schools (especially our hockey rivals) but it's only really in specific instances. We wouldn't have an entire parade dedicated to how much we dislike another school. That's weird IMO. Also I haven't read the whole thread, sorry if everyone is off track by now
Post by shortstax on Sept 28, 2015 16:03:52 GMT -5
I went to a public school that had a lot of school spirit but it was cultivated more in a "you're part of the Miami family" way as opposed to being rooted in athletics.
Last year we went to my 10 year reunion weekend and it was awesome! DH and I roomed in the dorms across the hall from my best friend and her H, each reunion class rents out a bar uptown for the class to gather there on friday night, then Sat. night there was a cookout with open bar. A group from the class of 1954 ended up sitting at our table and they were ADORABLE and telling crazy stories of their youth.
I hope I remember that many good tales when I'm that old.
Post by rugbywife on Sept 28, 2015 16:06:26 GMT -5
As a Canadian, I should probably point out that our choice of schools isn't usually based on cost. Most schools are fairly closely priced (NS being highest, Que being lowest). The snob factor has nothing to do with cost.
Post by gibbinator on Sept 28, 2015 16:10:30 GMT -5
I'm grew up in the poor category, paid my way through university with scholarships, bursaries and jobs. We didn't really have school spirit at my university because there weren't any nearby and we didn't have much for sports. But hoooo boy, did we have residence wars. People get proud of weird stuff.
I guess school rivalry doesn't inherently smack of privilege to me, but it depends how "low blow" it gets and whether it's across strata. I also heard the "you'll all work for us one day" chant at my school and I agree it's not cool.
I do think a lot of it is douchey but it's kind of intentional. Or maybe I'm giving too much credit for self awareness.
My DD tried to wear a University of Washington t-shirt today, with a Washington State University sweatshirt. I'm not loyal to either school but even I knew that was a bad idea.
Im not big on school pride, but I'll admit I'm a total bandwagon fan now that I live in a college town.
Oh man. I love love loved my college. Made lifelong friends and had a great time at our 10-year reunion, which I attended at 7 months pregnant. I don't think we are douchey, though? otowngirl
I think I am the wrong person to talk to about this. I have school spirit out the wazoo, and my school fight song is about a rival school that we no longer play against. We plan our fall weekends around the football schedule.
I LOVED college, and am still friends with many people I met there.
I tell myself it's because I was so hot and young, it was hard to believe I was a lawyer.
But really, no. Just douchey.
Since this is a thread about privilege, I'll jump in and say that all of this paralegal talk, from "there's nothing wrong with being one" (one of my linguistic pet peeves since it seems to imply someone DID think there was something wrong) to the hot talk is making me feel a little squicky.
One of the popular cheers at my (private, expensive, highly ranked) undergrad was to shake your keys at the opposing team (generally a public school) and say, "that's alright, that's okay, you're going to work for us someday!" which always felt super gross to me because I was on work-study and most of the student body was extremely wealthy.
That's all I've got.
To make you feel better (or both of us worse), my school had the same chant. We had a serious inferiority complex when it came to sports as we pretty much are only in the SEC in football to keep the GPAs up (or so rumor had it).
My undergrad wasn't huge into school spirit, but we did have a local rival.
I remember seeing a shirt around my campus during homecoming once that asked the question: "Why didn't Jesus go to Rival University?" The answer on the back: "Because he couldn't find three wise men or a virgin there."
We didn't put down other seven sisters schools, but kids across the street definitely looked down on us.
I don't think I'd go so far as class wars though. They're not being assholes to people who couldn't get into (or pay for) Princeton, they're being assholes to people who might otherwise have gone there but chose not to.
Really?
I feel the Seven Sisters had their own hierarchy and their own archrivalries in terms of college spirit, Smith-Wellesley being the foremost. But Smith-MoHo was only slightly better. It's in good fun and I don't think I'd have issues with what the OP went through since I grew up in a huge college town where athletics are so big and trash talking other schools happened a lot. It seems relatively normal, to me, to have that kind of school pride.
I don't believe it has as much to do with white male privilege as it has to do with school spirit itself.
I mean, we laughed at the Simpsons episode that talked about the stereotypes of each school, but I don't think we (being my friends/classmates at Barnard) felt like we were "better" than another school. Maybe because we had a very different vibe than smith/Wellesley. Maybe the more alike the schools are, the more the rivalry?
This probably belongs in a confessions thread. But I picked my university because my ex-boyfriend went there and I wanted to win him back. Total fail on my behalf. At least I met DH there?
This probably belongs in a confessions thread. But I picked my university because my ex-boyfriend went there and I wanted to win him back. Total fail on my behalf. At least I met DH there?
I'm not blaming you for being annoyed at the privilege you must have witnessed at that event but the alumni at my husband's markedly less elite university has a cheer about an opposing hockey team sucking. It's just one of those stupid college rituals to hate on other colleges I think.
Did your DH go to a school near where you live? Because I was coming in to say this exact thing about my undergrad Alma mater, and now I wonder if I went to the same school or if it's a common hockey cheer, lol.
The biggest tool I have ever met went to Penn State. Among other things, he requested the school song at SOMEONE ELSE's wedding (who did not go to that school) and pounded drinks during it in the middle of the dance floor. Did I mention he graduated 15 years before said wedding?
Sorry, that was random. It was two years ago and it still annoys me!
We definitely had a heated rivalry with other Seven Sisters schools athletically, but not to the extent of derogatory cheers about them or anything. More like we really wanted to win those meets in a way that we didn't feel when we competed against other schools.
I mean, we laughed at the Simpsons episode that talked about the stereotypes of each school, but I don't think we (being my friends/classmates at Barnard) felt like we were "better" than another school. Maybe because we had a very different vibe than smith/Wellesley. Maybe the more alike the schools are, the more the rivalry?
Maybe. Smith and Wellesley's rivalry is pretty intense, for small liberal arts schools. We all had friends at the other school (I went to Smith), but we'd still trash talk.
I think Barnard and Bryn Mawr largely avoided it simply by being further away from the cluster.
And yeah, that Simpsons episode's stereotypes were funny. XD
I am probably biased because my brother worked there, I interviewed there and I have a college friend who worked there too, but it seems like a nice place. It's definitely preppy & privelaged, but idk about "douchey".
I'm not blaming you for being annoyed at the privilege you must have witnessed at that event but the alumni at my husband's markedly less elite university has a cheer about an opposing hockey team sucking. It's just one of those stupid college rituals to hate on other colleges I think.
Did your DH go to a school near where you live? Because I was coming in to say this exact thing about my undergrad Alma mater, and now I wonder if I went to the same school or if it's a common hockey cheer, lol.
Yes across the river! How funny you went there too. Must have had your pick of nerdy boys.
We didn't put down other seven sisters schools, but kids across the street definitely looked down on us.
I don't think I'd go so far as class wars though. They're not being assholes to people who couldn't get into (or pay for) Princeton, they're being assholes to people who might otherwise have gone there but chose not to.
The biggest tool I have ever met went to Penn State. Among other things, he requested the school song at SOMEONE ELSE's wedding (who did not go to that school) and pounded drinks during it in the middle of the dance floor. Did I mention he graduated 15 years before said wedding?
Sorry, that was random. It was two years ago and it still annoys me!
The biggest tools in the WORLD went to Penn State.
There are so many schools I find obnoxious af: Penn State, Duke, Texas A&M, UVA, there are probably more. Oh god, or when someone is like fucking 50 years old, and they're all, "We're just two Virginia Hoos!" NO YOU AREN'T. YOU ARE OLD AND LAME. FUCK. God damn, it's a campus, not grounds. You're a freshman, not a first year. FUCK OFF, UVA! Thomas Jefferson was an old racist rapist!!!!!!!
Wow, you hate UVA like @natariru hates Portugal, huh?
(FWIW, I did not go to UVA and do not have a particularly strong opinion on it either way. You are free to hate it if you want )
Guess where he went to law school? I enjoyed their reunion, though. It made me want to move to Austin.
Yeah, I guess the rivalry isn't really as bothersome to me as the obnoxious school spirit, so maybe I would feel that way about any similar event. I just remember looking around at all these rich white people and thinking, "my, my, aren't we particularly proud of ourselves? I wonder how proud you'd feel if you weren't a legacy and didn't have $2000 worth of Kaplan or whatever it was back in the 90s under your belt." I realize this is not altogether fair, I was just overwhelmed. There were so many of them, and so much orange and black. They dress up every 5 years. There are themes!
Ugh, I'd be so BEC about this. I don't even know if my H could get me to go, lol. This reminds me of the "Penn not Penn State" shirts I used to see around. How rude is that?!
Eta: And how schools like Duke and Harvard chant "safety school" at schools like UMass or UNC. I know it's supposed to be in fun it it seems kind of obnoxious to me.
When I was in college the big chant at the rivals for hockey was "safety school" but the schools were of similar tier/caliber.