I am a sports fan of several professional teams but I never understood bad sportsmanship and never allowed it in my house or at events by my children. Personally, I think it says a whole lot about someone’s character. The same can be said about whole groups of persons representing a school.
As someone who has been to most of the Centennial conference schools to watch my daughter’s team, I agree most schools are the same. JHU is the outlier…and that’s not a good thing.
Yelling and cheering are one thing, but I too experienced JHU students making inappropriate, sexist, offensive comments about individual students. It was the most offensive student “support” at any D3 I’ve experienced (without a close second). If the comments I heard by JHU students became tagged online videos, none of them would ever get a job. It was bad.
Small sample size…but upsetting to experience.
In contrast to @LeastComplicated 's experience at JHU, I had the pleasure of attending the women’s soccer game at Messiah College with D22’s club soccer team and their parents Saturday evening. The event (against Carnegie Mellon) was very well attended by both men and women students and there was absolutely no rude behavior by anyone there. I realize this is not the type of school often mentioned on CC, and would probably not be suitable for non-Christian students, but it has a very good reputation here in South Central PA both for the character of the student body and for academics and career outcomes.
It has been reported that an Exeter student spit on an Andover student amidst rude and profane name calling also during sports competition. I guess it starts young, and being at an elite school doesn’t seem to matter.
We went to Gettysburg yesterday, which I thought would be a ‘meh’ school for my kid, but he really liked it. He wants something close to a city, he thought, but Gettysburg’s history and culture and our very friendly tour guide may have convinced him that sometimes a small town isn’t a bad thing.
maybe just our misconception!
Yes, I stated in my comment that my expectations were most likely unreasonable. But you would think that since parents devote so much time and energy to get their children academically prepared to gain admission to prestigious schools that they could devote some of that energy to character development also.
“I would urge you to rethink your assumption that students of such places are any more likely to conduct themselves appropriately than students at other institutions.
I would suggest that various leaders of government and industry have proven that point already.”
^This is probably why I was so upset at the behavior (and also why I should have known better). I’m just tired of people behaving badly in general lately. It was a beautiful fall day and I was in the mood to enjoy the game. Even the music played during halftime and in pauses during the game was inappropriate and DID contain profanity - one song was full of f-bombs, and another had lyrics something along the lines of “take that! B*tch!” (played right after JHU had scored). I swear, I think the human race is devolving at this point.
@doschicos Normally I’d be also be someone who’d appreciate any kind of support of female athletes. My daughter is a high school basketball player (and her team has had two dismal seasons in a row) and the gym is close to empty during the first three quarters of her games. Then during the last quarter, people start showing up for the boy’s game. But if the girls actually had a cheering section that got rude and ugly against the other team, I’d prefer an empty gym over that. I’m sick and tired of mean hateful people. I’d like to see and experience more kindness and respect for others instead of the opposite.
One more anecdote to drag out this comment and then I’ll quit. While I was writing these comments and reading the replies (which stated that this is the norm - that it happens everywhere) I remembered an instance where it wasn’t the norm, and ironically, someone made a hateful comment about it.
Many years ago, our son was a competitive gymnast. He was competing at an out of state meet in a city where we had some relatives, so we invited them to come and watch our son. When the relatives arrived, the younger boys were competing and their older teammates were cheering (in a positive manner) for them as they finished their routines. My BIL actually said this: “Who are those guys (referring to the older teammates who were not dressed in their uniforms yet)? Their boyfriends?” This was a guy who was a huge fan of college football, and I don’t know if he was making his opinion known that he felt that gymnastics was a sport for “sissies” or that he was was just confounded by the idea that males could cheer for a team with good sportsmanship and manners instead of the “in your face” attitude that most male sports fans have. Probably both.
OK, we can now resume our regular programming.
Interesting. I’ve been attending various Stanford sporting events since the kids were little and I have never heard anything bad uttered in the stands, except once. But it was from a group of Portland Pilots fans attending a soccer match.
I don’t know about what’s said on the field though. :))
Going to try to leverage this forum in reverse order: Visiting the following schools in the next few weeks - anyone want to tell us what we should be on the lookout for, avoid, be sure to check out, etc?
William & Mary
Richmond
Wake Forest
Elon
Tulane
gracias
@pantha33m Can’t speak to the rest but we loved William & Mary. Make sure you walk through the campus (it wasn’t clear if you were doing the formal tour). The first time we were there, visiting Williamsburg, we only drove around it and had a totally different impression. The interior academic core/quad is really beautiful. At the opposite end, there’s a nice walk to a riverside amphitheater. And of course, spend some time in Colonial Williamsburg directly next to the campus – students get season passes. In particular, the grounds of the old Governor’s Mansion are a nice walk… In terms of eating, the cafeteria on campus was nothing to get excited about. As a rule, we always try to experience the on campus dining but given you are right next to a bunch of restaurants you’d probably be better off there.
Only been to Wake Forest. But if your kid is interested in STEM you should visit Wake Downtown http://wakedowntown.wfu.edu . Otherwise the visitor center is a great start and the campus is beautiful. Take some time to walk the campus afterwards. Plus if they like sports, take a drive to the stadiums that are close by but off campus.
@pantha33m I recently wrote about Elon, Richmond and Wake on this thread. See if you can find it. All three are very beautiful schools. I suggest really looking at the students. Who looks happiest and most relaxed ? What vibe feels like a better fit for your child? Elon and Richmond seemed similar to us. Wake felt different. Please report back. I would love to hear your opinions.
We visited Washington and Lee, UVA and Richmond.
For S, Richmond went up–beautiful active campus, lots of students wandering around, good food and dorms, liked the way you don’t have to choose business or leadership (or any major) until Sophomore year, liked leadership school generally.
UVA went down. It was really busy and crowded. I thought it seemed fun, but overwhelming for S I guess. He also found students too preppy (don’t know why, but of these schools, all of which I think are quite preppy, this was the one that pushed him too far). The tour guide did not love dorms or food. It was really hot and not having AC in the freshman dorms was a bummer.
W&L I think went down, but he’s not sure how far down. Still might apply. Did not like that 50% of class gets in ED. Too small is biggest knock. He’s not looking at many LACs because he wants bigger, but I was hoping he’d like this more. Also unclear to us how having 75% of students in Greek life really works. I loved Lexington.
I visited Tulane in 2016 with D. She and her parents all absolutely loved it. Can’t get this kid to apply, but I would go to Tulane over Richmond myself, unless you want the leadership school.
@Booajo Great review. What did you like more about Tulane than Richmond (New Orleans aside). Thanks:)
Boston College for me. It had been at the top of my list, but I crossed it completely off after visiting. All of the buildings are made out of grey limestone which, in my opinion, gave the campus a very cold and uninviting feeling. Our tour guide was lackluster and seemed like he just rolled out of bed. The food in the dining hall was mediocre at best. The icing on the cake was the student who told me he was paying almost $70000 a year and had received no merit or financial aid…yikes!
Overall it just felt too “east coast preppy” for me. However, I must say that the library was simply incredible! Felt like I was in Hogwarts.
@pantha33m No visit to William & Mary is complete without a Smithfield ham sandwich at the Cheese Shop in Colonial Williamsburg!
@citymama9 Tulane felt like it was going to be a better intellectual match for my kid.
Plus, Richmond just feels too “new” to me. Everything felt a little unreal. I am unsure about where kids can walk to off campus–where do they get pizza or ice cream near UR? I could tell at Tulane. Public transportation a lot more obvious. I prefer gothic to red brick (silly but true.) And New Orleans in March was dreamy.
Lots of little things really.
I don’t think all schools have students who yell rude comments at the opposing teams. I’ve never heard one negative word at my daughter’s games, but I’ll admit there are rarely 100 students at her games. Yelling at the refs? Yes. Excess cheering for player (usually by a parent)? Yes.
I think it is a very good way to judge the students at a school.
Just to add, if one of my kids wants to go to Richmond I’ll have absolutely no issue with that. This one liked it a lot. They claim to be “up and coming” and that can be great.
I think it was a bit rude. I always ask my guests if there are any dietary restrictions when I invite them. Each of my daughters has friends who are vegan and other friends with celiac. I always have a box or two of gluten free mac and cheese in the cabinet and a box of gluten free pasta. There is always hummus in our house. How hard is it to add a green salad and a container of hummus to the table?