<p>
Well said, Ctymomteacher.</p>
<p>Boy, someone really missed the point here! Stickers are fun! I like to buy tshirts at the colleges I visit, too. Parent2009, you MIGHT be on the wrong forum!
And what’s wrong with pride?
Some people don’t like to cr_p up their cars with stickers. I can understand that. I happen to like a few tastefully placed school stickers.</p>
<p>I agree, MOWC!
Mine says Caltech Mom. I’ve paid a lot of money for that sticker! :D</p>
<p>And here’s another story–on another car we had a Caltech “rainbow” sticker, and under the rainbow put the prep school sticker. I lost track of how many people stopped us in parking lots to ask us if we thought there was something at said school that helped S get into Caltech.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!</p>
<p>
HA indeed, wyogal. I’ve joked in the past that my college sticker on the back, and private HS plate on the front make my Honda a much costlier car than my neighbor’s Jag.</p>
<p>My parents didn’t initially approve of my choice in colleges though they in no way tried to stop me. They visited me at school a while back (with quiet skepticism) and saw what a great time I was having. By christmas break I spotted my college’s name on the family car clinging to the rear window. It was a good feeling, and it meant a lot. Definitely.</p>
<p>This caught my eye,</p>
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</p>
<p>and I just wanted to make note that in my (albeit limited) experience, generally those who are most judgmental of others are also the ones most worried about being judged themselves.</p>
<p>
I cannot think of any “need” for bumper stickers. And while I don’t yet have mine, as I said before, when I stick “Bates” on my rear window, it will be out of gratitude for its open-armed hosting of my S after Katrina and a desire to honor it and spread the word. Pride may be something I feel, but it is not my motivation. When the Tulane sticker goes up, it will not be because it is a braggable-brand-name better-than-yours school (it isn’t), but out of deep affection. That may seem odd; it even seems a little odd to me, but that is what I feel. And a desire, again, to spread the word that this particular school is alive, well and deserving of support. </p>
<p>parent2009, with all due respect, I often wonder what brings someone to impute base motives to someone else. Had you read many of the posts, you would have seen that bragging almost never has anything to do with it. Most on this thread have expressed loyalty, affection, and - yes - pride. Bragging and put down? That is in the eye of the (misguided) beholder.</p>
<p>
Grace might be something you want to focus on just a little bit more. The lack of grace in your posts and your uncalled-for judgment of anyone who chooses to honor a school is what has brought me to an - uncharacteristic for me - direct retort to you.</p>
<p>How thin is the line between loyalty, affection or gratitude and “bragging.” Do you consider it bragging when I post a Southern Maine Voc-Tech on my windshield?</p>
<p>Yeah, thank god for window clings. Else I may have required thousands of dollars’ worth of psychotherapy to repair my dysfunctional upbringing that began and ended with my parents wanting the best for me.</p>
<p>As for your sympathy, thanks but no thanks. Everyone has a different way of raising their kids and I’m certainly no one to give advice/criticism, but from a child’s perspective, sometimes a little open expression of love and support goes a long way.</p>
<p>parent 2009 - <em>that</em> point (in your #96) is well taken. Take a good look at some of your other posts, dispassionatley if you can, and you may understand the hailstorm of response.</p>
<p>You consider them boorish. Fine. Many people do. Fine.</p>
<p>Those who choose to use them have many different motives. Bragging and boorishness are rare among them. JMO.</p>
<p>Wow. p2009, I hereby nominate you for the too much football without a helmet award. Taking an unpopular position on CC is all well and good (speaking as one who knows), but still…</p>
<p>The thread’s title indicated it was more or less a “poll.” D’ya have one or don’t ya. If you want to argue that people with college decals on their cars are vulgar, vicarious braggarts, fine, you’ve made your point, others have responded. If you want to keep it up, start another thread.
I’m beginning to smell a ■■■■■…</p>
<p>parent2009- I thought you promised us many posts ago that you were leaving this thread!</p>
<p>
Well, if they do, they don’t seem to be posting on this thread. If you feel that people have over-reacted to your comments, maybe it’s because we are tired of being called braggarts and snobs just because our kids attend a particular college. In any case, let’s all just declare “Peace” and keep our decals intact!</p>
<p>
parent2009~</p>
<p>Please realize that YOU were the first to “take shots” at people whom you did not know. When you do that, you run the risk of offending them and having them reply in a negative or critical fashion. </p>
<p>I think the point has already been well-made that not everyone who sports decals/stickers/shirts/hats, etc. does it with the intention of being pretentious. It is FAR more pretentious to claim to have knowledge of the motivation of a large and varied group of individuals.</p>
<p>Earlier, you alluded to the fact that you may have chosen to post your “opinion” in the wrong place. I do believe that that is the ONLY point on which you and I share agreement.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
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</p>
<p>Folks also call out the qualities that they despise most in themselves. Now this is no shot at you… I’m not even really a part of this thread I just caught it going by and thought of a nice story related to it and a truce is more than suitable for my unreasonable homework load tonight… but really it’s an interesting thought that I’ve seen in action far more often than I would have ever expected: and it’s that those most concerned with/cynical about/critical of/adjective preposition the pretention exuded by people around them are often the same ones who, given the chance, would be the most haughty of them all. And it’s pretty overt to anyone but the person himself. :|</p>
<p>And the cliff-notes version of that: Pretentious folks don’t like pretension, the rest don’t really give a crap.</p>
<p>I apologize for the ■■■■■ remark. Perhaps your fixation is genuine.</p>
<p>driver - Touche!
pebbles - you have hit upon a truth of human nature; wise beyond your years.
sjmom - there is a Nobel Peace Prize in your future.</p>
<p>ok I am not an english major but I thought to be pretentious is to attempt to impress by affecting greater importance than is actually possessed.
So it would be pretentious to wear a MIT sweatshirt if I was actually attending university of backwater, but not if I was actually attending MIT.
Since I am paying for a Reed college education, i don’t think it is pretentious to slap a cling on my windshield indicating my affliation- after all I paid for it!</p>
<p>Just for that, I’m going to put another decal on. AND a refrigerator magnet.</p>
<p>This thread is getting scarier than the political ones, which I assiduously avoid. </p>
<p>Maybe I should go back to being one of the Overlooked and Unclassifieds…</p>
<p>… but first, parent2009 - there are a number of posters who have indicated that they don’t use or like decals. Some of them have even said they feel the decals are bragg-y. Why do you suppose none of them have joined in your defense? More important, why do you suppose none of them has engendered the response you have generated?</p>
<p>Congrats, pebbles, driver and jmmom!<br>
I just realized that I don’t have a sticker on my car from my law school! My bad.</p>