If you win an Oscar, make sure in your speech that you talk about how great the other nominees are. Valedictorians might think about this when writing their speeches as well.
“Alternatively, seeing that all the seniors from your low-income neighborhood are wearing the T-shirt of the local community college or no college shirt at all, while those from more affluent neighborhoods are wearing shirts from your flagship state university or from pricey private colleges, could reinforce the feeling that for kids in your neighborhood, the options are very limited.”
Alternatively, seeing the talented seniors from your low-income neighborhood overcome the barriers and end up wearing the T-shirt of an Ivy League or other high-end school instead of the usual local community college or no college shirt at all could reinforce the realization that for kids in your neighborhood, with talent and focused hard work, the options are not as limited as you might have thought.
The big college admissions achiever this year at our local HS is a smart Hispanic girl from a low income neighborhood. She got into every school to which she applied. Last I heard she had narrowed it down to mulling over offers from Harvard and Stanford. I don’t know which one she finally picked. Too bad the school doesn’t have a college day tradition. It might have pleased and inspired the other kids from her neighborhood to see her on campus on the big day decked out in either Stanford cardinal or Harvard crimson.
@Marian. Thanks to the excellent mentoring/ counseling for our low income students this year they are going to great places including UPENN, Northwestern, Emory Vanderbilt and Brandeis. As well as Knox, Lawrence Grinnel, Pitt and Bradley. A few are going to CC. None at state flagship. That too expensive.
@Awesomekidsmom, I’m surprised you are surprised by the ban. It’s not the only place that has something like that in effect. We, the parents, were sent a letter in December asking us and our children to show sensitivity to classmates who might be disappointed in the results of their college applications, asking us and our kids not to talk about acceptances or ask about acceptances, and to refrain from wearing college gear. This is a competitive school where many students try for tippy top tier lottery schools and where there are sometimes unexpected results.
My own surprise is that so many people don’t see the impact this could have on those who aren’t happy or successful with the outcome of this crazy, pressured year. As I said, they’ll all get there, and that includes the kids who have to take a different path to get there, but I don’t see why the display is necessary at this point. Sure, it may not have any long term effect but it feels crappy to some right now. And what does it cost the ones who are excited by their college choice? I’m glad it isn’t done at D’s school. She’s very happy with her choice and her friends are happy for her. Really, that’s enough.
What does it take away from the kids who did get admitted? Really? My daughter didn’t win a lot of prizes or awards, but one of her happiest days in high school was wearing her t-shirt to school the day after she signed her letter of intent to go college. One of my happiest days was her NLI signing ceremony, where those playing sports in high school had a big celebration, lots of swag, balloons and decorated cakes, a short speech, a little praise from their coaches. They earned the celebration and the right to brag. Where there kids who were unhappy they didn’t get offers to play in college? Probably.
My other daughter happily wore her sweatshirt all spring. She didn’t have a lot of support for her choice, but every once in a while someone would ask her about the school and she could have a conversation about it and feel a little pride in her choice.
My question is why do they have to have 1 day where they all wear their gear? Would be better if kids wore their accepted college gear either anytime after acceptance or anytime after may 1st. This way, you don’t have the 95% of kiddos wearing their college gear while 5% do not have any gear. It’s great for kids to be proud or brag about their college, but the sight of all students wearing their gear all at once with a few kids excluded is kind of sad.
How about if some kid is going to be upset that everybody is going to wear their college gear on one specific day out of the school year that that kid just cut that day? Heck, they are seniors, a lot of them have checked out already anyway.
@YoHoYoHo, I think that’s a better approach.
If schools are creating a situation that’s so humiliating for some students that they feel the need to break the law to avoid it, then perhaps the schools should reconsider whether they really need to create that situation.
At graduation, some kids had honors cords, medals, stoles while others had nothing. Has the school created an embarrassing environment for all those kids who didn’t get an invitation to NHS, math honors, engineering magnet? Do some kids wish they were in the top 20 with special recognition and not in the next 10 or 20 spots in rank with no special recognition? I’m sure they do. My daughter commented that she could have had more cords if she’d joined the NHHS and paid the $5 for the cord, but 5 minutes later was over that disappointment. Neither of my kids had a lot of hardware around their necks. The girl who was Sal actually clinked on her way up the stage she had so many medals, while the Val had only a few.
I think the schools are as interested in bragging about college acceptances as the students. They want everyone - community, parents, other students -to know that they were successful in getting the students into colleges.
This is a very astute observation, I think.
In fact, the schools may be more interested than the students. Those who are happy with their admissions/financial aid results are well aware that others were not so fortunate and may feel that bragging is inappropriate.
At least at our school, and likely at most, this is not some requirement from the school. It is organized by the students. The teachers, however, may enjoy seeing where the kids they had in previous years are going if they pass them in the hall. Don’t think the school gains bragging points by t-shirt day. Does it make a difference if it is not “official”?
I don’t support bragging, but also don’t think that where a kid is going to college is bragging - it is a fact. Now, if the kid had a shirt that says going to xyz school and lists the other elite schools that admitted him but he chose not to attend.
What if the students at your school organized a day when everyone wore a shirt that announced their body weight.
That’s a fact, too. But we can understand why this might not be a great idea, right?
Very silly, but also nothing that most students would participate in so rather irrelevant. Clearly, the kids like the tradition or it would have stopped long ago.
41 This is our school. The two big acceptances went to kids from low income families who were both smart and accomplished despite many obstacles. One kid had initially been shunted away from AP course because of his quietness and his ethnicity. I like that wearing the shirts can be a message to underclassmen about what they can achieve.
I understand some kids are disappointed. I am sympathetic, but time to move on. Hey, sometimes you lose the big game, too, and that news is all over the newspapers.
Our school is very diverse economically. At graduation, there are always a good number of kids who go in the service. Their plans are announced and there is much cheering.
No. My school’s lame.
I never heard of such a thing before I started reading CC.
I am fully in support of anyone in school wearing t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, whatever, of any accredited school, regardless of whether they ever might attend that school. Even more so for seniors wearing gear from the colleges they have committed to. Freshman wants to wear a HYP shirt? Rock on!
I am fully OPPOSED to a school formally organizing such a bragging show for everyone to be subjected to on the same day.
I finished HS with no set plans for career or school, and would have wanted to crawl into a hole and die if there had been a day when everyone was expected to dress up in bright college gear. It sounds horrible, because everyone is forced to participate, even vicariously, merely by being in school. It’s like the atheist having to stand through a prayer at a public school graduation; you can’t really be part of the school and class without going, but you are being singled out for your “otherness.” You either stay home and don’t get to participate, or you have the shame of everyone seeing you singled out.
We just had college day at my school today, one week after decision day. All the seniors wear shirts of the school they are planning on attending, and teachers get decked out in gear from their alma maters. The librarians run a bulletin in the hallway where they hang up photographs of seniors with their acceptance letters to college or the military, so those pictures are all taken on college day when everyone is dressed up in their gear.
We have a day like this. However, really only kids that got into top 30 schools participate. It’s unfortunately morphed into a “you’re going to Umass Amherst? That’s nice; I’m going to Williams/Harvard/MIT, and I need to make sure everyone within a fifty foot radius of me is aware at all times”. It’s unfortunate, because this sort of thing should be happy and exciting for the class.
I’m doing a gap year, and it was even more awkward for me (since teachers often ask kids not wearing shirts where they’re going anyway). One substitute teacher asked me what I was doing next year; when I told her, she gave me an uncomfortable smile and said “rejected everywhere, huh? That’s a bummer.”
Yikes. That was an uncomfortable day.
My son’s school does a College Day. Not only do students wear something from the school that they will attend in the fall, but the underclassmen are invited to wear the shirt of the school that they hope to attend. Teachers can wear shirts from their schools or their kids’ schools (I have two, college-aged sons.)
My son chose not to participate a year ago. A few weeks before College Day, one of his classmates made a very hurtful remark about the school my son chose to attend. He did not want to encourage any more such behavior, although he is quite happy with his decision to attend this particular school … and on a full tuition ride, too.
Some people just do not get it, he said. BTW, his guidance counselor, along with one of his favorite AP teachers, each got t-shirts from my son’s school as a thank-you for all that they did for him. And yes, they do wear them.