[quote}The benefit I have is that I seem to care less and less what other people think. Not sure if that is age or just me. But on this front, as well as others, I am going to do what I think is best for my kids. And I truly, from the bottom of my heart, sincerely don’t give a hoot whether you think it is a good idea or a dumb one that I let my kid go to school far away.
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This is the right approach for pretty much everything. Many people tend to care what others think about how they live their own lives, raise their kids, etc. far too much for various reasons. Big driver for much of social media even existing.
There is a flip side to the reaction issue though. Reactions described here definitely happen. Often based on jealousy no doubt. But often times there is an expecation of some type of reaction. And if that reaction doesn’t happen, its a problem. I work with a lot of people with undergrad or grad degrees (some both) from Ivies. Many of them are expecting a reaction when they mention an Ivy. Some type of “Oh Wow!!” “How incredible.” “Can I kiss your ring” reaction. And if they don’t get it, some are bothered by that. They will sometimes assume you didn’t hear them. Or maybe you don’t know what a big thing an Ivy is. Will bring it up multiple times later in the conversation hoping to get the desired reaction eventually. Sometimes they get thrown off in the conversation by the lack of a reaction. It can be amazing (and somewhat entertaining) to watch.
My wife has a very good friend who went to Harvard. So did her husband. And her father in law. And one of her kids. Harvard comes up in virtually every conversation I have ever had with the woman. Despite knowing my wife well for more than 15 years, she still to this day will say in a conversation with my wife “You know I went to Harvard, right?” We have something of a running joke in our family when her name comes up in a dicussion, someone will say “You know, I just learned something for the first time recently. Mrs. X went to Harvard.” Rest of us act surprised, having not known that and how amazing and incredible it is and how lucky we are to know her and that she even talks with us. We do the same thing with some things that other people repeated announce to the world.
I come across many fewer people who went to boarding school. Just not as common around these parts. Though high school doesn’t typically come up in conversations so there may be people I meet who did but just don’t know. But in those few cases, the reaction thing is still the same. More common for them to think you just never heard of where they went (and in reality its true as name recognition is much less).
And some of the people who react the worst to not getting a big reaction from going to an Ivy are those who claim to hate the reaction. With some of the “I went to college in Boston” being the worst.