Readership, as I ate my delicious sammich today at lunch, I realized something about college apparel. And then, in an amazing attack of serendipity, I realized something ELSE about college apparel. I was so excited, I had to tell you!
My first realization was centered around the fact that people have this strange habit of wearing college apparel from colleges that they've never attended (even while currently attending a different college). I just don't get it.
Now, it's far from me to tell anybody what to wear or anything like that, and please don't take what I'm about to say as me doing so, but when it comes to this sort of thing, the litmus test (for me, anyway) is a little something I like to call the "ridiculous answer" test. To clarify, that means that if someone were to ask you a question regarding the college apparel you were wearing (for example, "Oh, nice sweater. You go to Yale?"), and your only TRUTHFUL answer (and that's important!) would be some variation of "no" followed by something ridiculous (for example, "Nope, I take online courses at the University of Phoenix. I just like the colors. Matches my Best Buy uniform.") then you SHOULD NOT BE WEARING THAT COLLEGE APPAREL.
In my mind, there are only four scenarios where it would be okay for you to wear college apparel for a college that you don't attend. One, if your parent(s) and/or sibling(s) currently attend or used to attend that school, it's cool to wear that school's shit. Two, if this school is in some sort of college sports competition (including but not limited to the NCAA basketball tournament) - AND IS NOT AGAINST YOUR ACTUAL COLLEGE OF RESIDENCE - it's cool to wear their shit to show support as a fan. Three, if the apparel in question was free. However, I would still (personally) frown upon the wearing of said apparel in public, and would probably ask you "wtf," but if you told me it was free I'd probably be like "oh okay." Four, if you're in high school and have yet to receive acceptance and rejection letters from prospective colleges, you can wear whatever college shit you want. I think you'd look like an idiot, but technically since you could end up at any one of them, it'd be legit on paper.
Otherwise, what the fuck.
Whew.
Secondly, I realized that the whole point of wearing college apparel for your own college is the fact that you have pride in your school. Quick disclaimer: I know that a college education, no matter what institution it's from, is miles better than a high school diploma or GED equivalent, and that the people who graduate from community college or online colleges aren't any less accomplished or intelligent than people who graduate from Yale and Harvard. I'm pretty sure my mom graduated from a community college for her undergrad shit, and she's a fucking genius.
That said, let's face it, there are some schools that you should not have pride in attending. These include, but are not limited to, Stone Academy, the Sawyer School, ITT Tech, and any and all online-only universities. Wearing a DeVry University sweatshirt in public equates to you saying something along the lines of "Look at me, I got into DeVry!"
Must've been really hard for you, huh? All you had to do was open the fuckin' door.
Stay classy
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
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As a St. John's student who frequently supports the universities of Xavier and Earlham? (See, don't even know where the second college is. The sweatshirt is super comfy though, and it was free. I'm an avid supporter of free clothes.) So I have to disagree. I feel like St. John's is an overpriced equivalent to an online university. You apply, you get in and they give you a small scholarship, you pay thousands upon thousands of dollars for an extremely mediocre education. But again, that's just me.
ReplyDeletePS. showing my true college effort, I stilllll haven't done the CogLab. Just bullshit like the others or is it harder haha?
ReplyDeleteWell obviously if it's free then that's a given. I thought that would be obvious to those who are aware of my Poor-Rican-ness, but I guess not. I am definitely an avid supporter of free clothes, and free stuff in general, so I'll edit that in. St. John's is hella overpriced, and if my track record with Psych professors is any indication, the education is pretty lame too.
ReplyDeleteAs for the CogLab,I did the actual experiment (and felt like a retard, but I think that was the point?), but I haven't done the write up yet. And probably won't until around 5. The experiment itself wasn't bad, but interpreting all the data and making some kind of logical conclusion seems like it's gonna suck. I was looking at it at around 3 this morning half-asleep though, so it's possible that it's quite easy.