Hello all. Today at school a representative from Herff Jones came to sell class rings to us. I had always thought them kind of amusing - “Shut up, punk, or I’ll smack you on the back of the head with my class ring!” (YDKJ). But who started the class ring idea? They always seemed like the kind of thing worn by the jocks and bullies, but all my nerdy friends (in other words, all of my friends) are planning on getting them too. What on earth are they for - aren’t yearbooks and reunions enough reminder of high school? It seems to me like a waste of several hundred dollars that could go to my new car…
So whaddaya think?
“I like Florida; everything is in the eighties. The temperatures, the ages, and the IQs.”
– George Carlin
Hi, my name is Kathey, I’m 26, and… I’m still wearing my class ring < hangs head in shame >
I don’t know why I bought it, it just seemed like the thing to do at the time. I don’t know why I still wear it, except that after all these years (we got them our sophomore year, so it’s been 11 years now–ELEVEN?? Holy crispy crap, that’s over a decade ago! Whahoppen???) my right ring finger would feel naked without it. I’ve been trying to convince my husband to get me something nice to replace it, and I guess until he does it’s going to stay right where it is.
(Eleven years?? Eleven???)
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I never saw the point of high school or university class rings.
The only ring that I wear (at the moment) is my engineering iron ring. It took me four years to get it, and it is never going to be removed from my little finger.
The high school ring… well, only if your graduating class was '55.
College rings are half snobbery, half cameraderie. For an excellent example of both halves, go to any bar in Chicago in the summertime. Carefully listen to the background noise, if you can… tink, tink, tink… that’s the sound of three dozen Notre Dame rings clicking nervously on pint glasses. I swear they’re like cicaidas.
The only ring I wear at work is the engineering ring… like the Carhartt work jacket, it’s a subtle sign that you know what you’re doing.
Good question. I can’t fit into mine anymore, so I never wear it. I remember my parents also being kept in the junk jewelry box when I was a kid. But at least it has some purpose…I never did get the other crap they were always trying to sell you. School crest steins, extra tassles, paddles, mugs, etc. (I assume they still do that.) While we’re at it, why the graduation ceremony? It’s a waste of time and not a prerequsite to getting your diploma, so why does anyone bother. (Don’t get me started on “honors” classes!)
I think I was the only one in high school and almost the only one in college not to get one. Like you, money was hard to come by, and I wanted wheels. No regrets.
I never really understood the idea either. I didn’t buy one in high school or college because (a) they were pricey, and (b) I’m not the sentimental type. People who make a big deal out of such things irritate me.
I got mine because I wanted it. Also, because my parents paid for it. I didnt get mine in gold because I dont like it and didnt want something that would break the bank. It has the Philippine flag on one side, and the yin and yang on the other (the crystal is an India cut aquamarine stone). I dont wear it because its a tad too small for my ring finger. I was surprised at some of the prices for those rings. One had diamonds on the side and was the most expensive (i forget the price). Many of my friends bought $500 class rings (i bet they dont wear them anymore either).
Also, yes, they still sell the school crest steins, class “key” necklaces, extra tassels. I ordered that as a part of the package. I still have the ring, stein, and tassel. I’m not really very sentimental but it reminds me of a good time in mi life :).
I had a HS class ring…but I lost it about 6 months after I got it. It was one of the less expensive models, thank goodness.
My mom wears her college ring with great pride, though. She got married, worked, and raised kids the whole time she was in school. It took her twelve years to earn that ring. I hope she never takes it off.
I didn’t get a class ring, but I did get a keychain. What can I say? I collect keychains!
Although getting a ring today always seemed kind of silly, I think I understand why my grandparents all made such a big fuss over the idea. Their rings were a symbol of their school. Everybody got the same ring (well, one for girls and one for boys), and you automatically knew what school someone went to just by glancing at their ring. It’s a pride thing, and I think that if this was still the case (and I had graduated from the school I really wanted to go to), I would’ve gotten one for sure.
I didn’t buy a class ring and have never regretted it. My parents couldn’t afford it. I was working, making $3.25 an hour at the time, and I didn’t want to waste 100 hours of work for a ring that I knew I wouldn’t wear after high school. And face it, they’re not very attractive and they’re too big.
I have fond memories of girls who wore their boyfriend’s class rings by padding it with enough yarn to re-wrap King Tut. Or the girls that wore the monstrosities on a chain and practically battered themselves to death during gym class…
I, somehow, got swept up in the wave of “you must get a class ring” when I was in high school and got one. It’s actually rather nice looking, but I haven’t worn it since the first week of college. I took a look at it and said, man, this looks dorky.
My girlfriend wears her college class ring from her undergrad school, though. I don’t editorialize about it.
Don’t bother with the class ring, definite waste of moolah. I bought the cheapest one in high school (parents made me) and I never even wore it back then. I didn’t buy one for college.
I won an award at my company that included a gold ring that looks just like a class ring and I would never dream of wearing it. It just seems snobby to me and I realize that right or wrong, I do tend to make assumptions about people that wear class rings.
I’ll be careful not to get one, lest you make assumptions about me, StStella.
No class ring for me, especially after my mom (and others on this board) pointed out: WHAT ON EARTH would make you want to remember high school? I know I can’t wait to graduate… Although I guess it would go faster if I actually did homework (including World History, Chemistry and Geometry, plus a 3 page essay due tomorrow for English) in study hall instead of checking MPSIMS. :o
Oh well.
Does anyone support the idea of class rings, vehemently, thinking that school pride is important?? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone?..
“I like Florida; everything is in the eighties. The temperatures, the ages, and the IQs.”
– George Carlin
AMUSING JOKE ILLUSTRATING PRACTICALITY OF CLASS RINGS:
Two well-dressed men knock elbows in the bar car of the 5:56 commuter train to Larchmont; they’ve never met before. They strike up a conversation.
“So…I assume you’re a Harvard man,” says the first.
“Why, yes! How did you know?” says the second.
“Elementary…in the three minutes we’ve been conversing, you’ve managed to mention Harvard no less than seven times,” says the first.
“Hmmmm,” says the second. “And I deduce that you have a degree from Dartmouth.”
“Wonderful! However did you know?”
“Equally simple…I read your class ring while you were picking your nose.”
[Name of a particularly hated institution may be substituted for Dartmouth, which I picked at random. The second businessman should, of course, always be a Harvard grad]
I did get a high school ring and did wear it during my 11th and 12th grade years and the first couple of years of college.
I did not however, buy a college ring in that 1) I was now married and strapped for cash and 2) I was not that proud of my school.
I have just finished my masters and have decided not to get a class ring from that school either. It is a fine school but nothing impressive. Had I gotten a degree from GA Tech or somewhere I might have gotten one.
Well, I do have some fond memories of high school; there was a handful of teachers I got along with, whose classes I enjoyed, and when I look at my class ring and other school doo-hickeys, it’s them that I’m reminded of. When I got the ring, I felt proud, and like I’d finally done something to fit in. And it’s not a huge clunky thing with school emblems all over it; at $94.95, it was the least expensive ring in the entire catalog and, for a class ring, is very small and trim. The money I used came out of my savings, which was supposed to be for college, but by sophomore year I only had about $200 saved, so my parents quit kidding themselves and let me use the money
As my husband would say, I’m rationalizing
“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy
I bought a class ring in the feverish time of " I love my school" phase. Except that I hated most of my nitwitted class mates. I suppose it was a chance to feel that I belonged to something when I always felt like an outsider looking in.
I wore mine about a month after graduating. I was always told it could be turned in or upgraded to a college ring. Since I haven’t the sheepskin, I’ve always wondered if they check the credentials, as then I would say I graduated from Hahvahrd or some such other feather weight school.
