What's your stance on Alma Mater Vanity Plates?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the practice of displaying alma mater vanity plates and stickers on vehicles, exploring whether this behavior is seen as pretentious or a reasonable expression of pride. Participants consider the implications of such displays in relation to personal identity and social perceptions, with references to various educational institutions.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants view the display of alma mater stickers and plates as a sign of pride, suggesting it promotes the school to prospective students.
  • Others argue that such displays can come off as pretentious, particularly depending on the institution represented.
  • A participant mentions the potential for negative reactions, such as vandalism, when displaying alma mater identifiers in competitive university environments.
  • One participant humorously suggests a juxtaposition of expensive alma mater plates on an old, rusty truck to highlight the contrast between perceived privilege and financial reality.
  • Concerns are raised about the authenticity of individuals wearing merchandise from prestigious schools, questioning whether they actually attended those institutions.
  • Some participants share personal anecdotes about their own educational backgrounds and the perceptions of others regarding their degrees.
  • There is a clarification of the term "alma mater," with participants explaining its meaning and origin.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a mix of opinions, with no clear consensus on whether displaying alma mater identifiers is pretentious or a valid expression of pride. The discussion remains unresolved with competing views on the topic.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the implications of displaying alma mater identifiers, and there are varying interpretations of what constitutes pretentiousness in this context.

sean1234
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I am curious as to your thoughts about people who post stickers on the back of their cars or change the license plate frame to announce to the world where they went to college. In some cases you can learn much of a stangers background as they have two or three and one specifies mba or JD or whatever. So is this practice overly pretentious or simply reasonable pride? Does it matter if it says Stanford or X State school when you see one in how you regard it? Personally when I see this I often lean more to pretention. :rolleyes:
 
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I think it just shows pride. Also, the additional cost of the vanity plate is donated to your alma mater. And, in reality, it's less about bragging where you went to school and more about advertising the school to other prospective students. Unfortunately, I work at universities (both the current one and the one I'm moving to) that compete against my alma mater in sports, so it would be imprudent to put such tags on my car if I don't want it keyed in the parking lot! :eek:
 
Moonbear said:
Unfortunately, I work at universities (both the current one and the one I'm moving to) that compete against my alma mater in sports, so it would be imprudent to put such tags on my car if I don't want it keyed in the parking lot! :eek:
Aw c'mon, Moonbear, take one for the team! :-p
Hey, why don't we have PF vanity plates? :lightbulb:
 
If you live in Michigan and went to any uni here, you can get a state issued license plate with your alma mater as the back ground image.
 
i don't see it as pretentious really...even if the car is a lexus. completing college is hard work, even when you do have financial support. why not brag about it?
 
Kerrie said:
i don't see it as pretentious really...even if the car is a lexus. completing college is hard work, even when you do have financial support. why not brag about it?

Ooh, that gave me such a fun idea! Get those alma mater plates (especially if you attended an expensive private school), stick them on an old, rusty pick-up truck, and make sure your "Still Paying off Student Loans: Will work for Food" cardboard sign is visible in the back at all times. :smile:
 
i've never seen vanity plates around town, but i see lots of shirts, etc & not all of them from the local university. i always wonder if people wearing stanford, harvard, etc merchandise actually went to school at those places. i think that more than anything else when i see someone flashing a school's merchandise.

re: pretention some people actually don't believe me at first when i tell them I've got a degree, mainly because i don't talk about it or math very much. i think it's more because i work on a farm & at a restaurant where mostly "ordinary" people work.
 
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fourier jr said:
i've never seen vanity plates around town, but i see lots of shirts, etc & not all of them from the local university. i always wonder if people wearing stanford, harvard, etc merchandise actually went to school at those places. i think that more than anything else when i see someone flashing a school's merchandise.

re: pretention some people actually don't believe me at first when i tell them I've got a degree, mainly because i don't talk about it or math very much. i think it's more because i work on a farm & at a restaurant where mostly "ordinary" people work.
Nah, wearing the shirt doesn't mean you went to school there. I have shirts from schools that friends and relatives attended, some people just like a college football team, so have their stuff (my step brother who never went to college has college shirts for that reason), and then there's the shirt I have just because I was out in California for a conference and it unexpectedly got cold and rainy one day, so I ducked into the bookstore and bought a sweatshirt to stay warm. When I was in my senior year of high school, the "thing" to do was to buy shirts from the schools you visited, so everyone had an assortment of college shirts. Actually, the funny thing is I never owned one from my OWN college until I was about to graduate and realized I didn't have one and wanted one.
 
Am I the only one who can't figure out ehat 'alma mater' is?
 
  • #10
yomamma said:
Am I the only one who can't figure out ehat 'alma mater' is?
it's a school that you graduated from
 
  • #11
Moonbear said:
Ooh, that gave me such a fun idea! Get those alma mater plates (especially if you attended an expensive private school), stick them on an old, rusty pick-up truck, and make sure your "Still Paying off Student Loans: Will work for Food" cardboard sign is visible in the back at all times. :smile:

that would be a hoot, but then i doubt the ivy league schools would find it funny.
:smile:
 
  • #12
yomamma said:
Am I the only one who can't figure out what 'alma mater' is?

It's latin for "nourishing mother."
 

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