# Do high school girls give their sweethearts their high school rings? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986 "2017-03-25T05:27:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/21 "2017-03-26T12:41:39Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > High school was an important part of my life. It’s when I matured and began thinking like a man. Most of my personality and values were formed in high school. It may not be seen as fashionable but I I’d still want a high school ring. It’s a nice momento to remember that unique time in a person’s life. some of us would rather forget high school. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/22 "2017-03-26T12:50:36Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Class rings were popular in the 1970’s. The majority of seniors in my graduating class bought one. I don’t know about the 80’s or later. > > They can be ordered online now. I guess some students still buy them. They were quite popular in my school in the 1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/23 "2017-03-26T12:58:44Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The tradition of high school boys giving their girlfriends their class rings was curtailed, because the girls kept running back to stalled cars on the railroad tracks to fetch the rings. > > _What was it you were looking for that took your life that night? > They said they found my high school ring clutched in your fingers tight_ > > ☹ That ring was supposed to be around her neck. What had she done, tossed it into the glove compartment? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/24 "2017-03-26T16:07:21Z")
It must be a regional thing. By the 60s in our area they were considered a real throwback. No one I even slightly knew ever got one. One issue was that they had a short “lifespan”. The period from when you got one to when you graduated (for either high school or college) was so short that it wouldn’t see much use. After graduation it was something you put away and forgot about. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/25 "2017-03-26T23:15:16Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It must be a regional thing. By the 60s in our area they were considered a real throwback. No one I even slightly knew ever got one. > > One issue was that they had a short “lifespan”. The period from when you got one to when you graduated (for either high school or college) was so short that it wouldn’t see much use. After graduation it was something you put away and forgot about. In our area(s) few kids went on to college (1970s) compared to today. In my original region and my later region (northeast PA to southwest PA) you graduated HS and went into the mills, mines, some garage somewhere or something like that. For the girls you got married and pregnant (or vice-versa). Maybe 10-15% of us went on to college and maybe 70% of that actually graduated even with a 2 year degree. So around those places, it was that ring or nothing. I actually know a few people who are still wearing those rings now more than 50 years later; sorta a tiny bit sad when you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/26 "2017-03-26T23:22:00Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > They were quite popular in my school in the 1980s. I’m sure there was a lot of variation from school to school. I graduated High School in 1979, and although rings were offered, I’d estimate sales were less than 5% I don’t actually recall ever seeing one worn. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/27 "2017-03-26T23:30:40Z")
I am getting real used to the idea of “diminished expectations” but: To be wearing a HS ring 50 years later has got to be one the saddest sights. Springsteen did “Glory Days” about people who think of High School as their highest achievement. It is a good little rocker of a song - as long as you pay no attention to the lyrics. If you listen to the lyrics, it gets downright depressing. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/28 "2017-03-27T01:20:57Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > I am getting real used to the idea of “diminished expectations” but: > To be wearing a HS ring 50 years later has got to be one the saddest sights. > > Springsteen did “Glory Days” about people who think of High School as their highest achievement. > It is a good little rocker of a song - as long as you pay no attention to the lyrics. > If you listen to the lyrics, it gets downright depressing. I call them “Al Bundys.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/29 "2017-03-27T01:30:54Z")
So Jostens doesn’t do their thing for most of y’all? This was 2001-2002, and they definitely did the ring stuff with us. I have one. I like it, other than my stupid idea to get something in front of the stone. It has no logo or anything from my school, or any colors from it. It’s just a representation of who I was when I graduated, with my signature on the back. I never gave it to anyone, and do not know if that was still a thing. I know giving varsity jackets was a thing. But I mostly remember seeing girls’ rings on girls and guys’ rings on guys. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/30 "2017-03-27T01:32:51Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So Jostens doesn’t do their thing for most of y’all? This was 2001-2002, and they definitely did the ring stuff with us. oh, they came in and put their thing down. just wasn’t interested. I didn’t even want a yearbook, but my folks bought one without my knowledge. if they ever give it to me I’m tossing it on the grill and burning it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/31 "2017-03-27T11:38:01Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It must be a regional thing. By the 60s in our area they were considered a real throwback. No one I even slightly knew ever got one. Still very, very common in South Carolina in the early 1990s. (Of course, gold was “only” $350 an ounce back then. I’d think that skyrocketing gold prices are part of the reason for the drop in popularity.) ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/32 "2017-03-27T13:34:57Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I actually know a few people who are still wearing those rings now more than 50 years later; sorta a tiny bit sad when you think about it. Not necessarily, 50 years ago completing high school in an economically disadvantaged family (and even now in some cases) could be a quite an achievement (they could have been the first in their family to complete high school), so I can understand how someone would still feel very proud of that ring. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/33 "2017-03-27T15:59:50Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > The tradition of high school boys giving their girlfriends their class rings was curtailed, because the girls kept running back to stalled cars on the railroad tracks to fetch the rings. > > _What was it you were looking for that took your life that night? > They said they found my high school ring clutched in your fingers tight_ > > ☹ > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > That ring was supposed to be around her neck. What had she done, tossed it into the glove compartment? I was considering starting a thread on this song! It came up in rotation and I had never paid attention to the lyrics before. I think she ran into the train to die. She was kidnapped by the singer, being kept as a sex slave. Oh sure, he\* thought\* she loved him. But it was all in his head. She killed herself to get away. The ring just got knocked into her hand. The police never knew what was really going on. What a bizarre song. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/34 "2017-03-27T16:08:34Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m sure there was a lot of variation from school to school. I graduated High School in 1979, and although rings were offered, I’d estimate sales were less than 5% I don’t actually recall ever seeing one worn. Agreed - I’m sure there’s wide variability. I graduated from a high school in a rural, fairly conservative area where a lot of the kids had parents who graduated from the same school. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/35 "2017-03-27T16:11:05Z")
Class rings were still a thing in my school in the 1980’s. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/36 "2017-03-27T18:10:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I don’t want to spend a lot of time developing this cover unless it works from a guy’s viewpoint. Just do it in drag, it will be fine. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/37 "2017-03-27T19:14:08Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > I am getting real used to the idea of “diminished expectations” but: > To be wearing a HS ring 50 years later has got to be one the saddest sights. When I was in high school, probably in my sophomore or junior year (so, sometime around 1980 or 1981), the Jostens salesman came to my high school, and gave everyone order forms for high school class rings. I was interested in one, but my father (in what was probably a mixture of frugality and insight) noted: “You’re planning to go to college. You’ll never wear your high school ring again after that.” So, no HS class ring for me. I _did_ get a college class ring (a gift from my parents), which I really loved, and wore all the time for about a decade, but I lost it, and never replaced it. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/38 "2017-03-28T02:59:19Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I was considering starting a thread on this song! It came up in rotation and I had never paid attention to the lyrics before. > > I think she ran into the train to die. She was kidnapped by the singer, being kept as a sex slave. Oh sure, he\* thought\* she loved him. But it was all in his head. She killed herself to get away. The ring just got knocked into her hand. The police never knew what was really going on. > > What a bizarre song. I call them “Dead Teenager Songs”. Wiki prefers > **[Teenage tragedy song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_tragedy_song)** > > A teenage tragedy song is a style of ballad in popular music that peaked in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Examples of the style are also known as "tear jerkers", "death discs" or "splatter platters", among other colorful sobriquets coined by DJs that then passed into vernacular as the songs became popular. Often lamenting teenage death scenarios in melodramatic fashion, these songs were often sung from the viewpoint of the dead person's sweetheart, as in "Last Kiss" (1961), > By t... ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/39 "2017-03-29T04:51:41Z")
My high school boyfriend and I exchanged class rings. We each wore the other’s ring on a chain around our necks. We ended the relationship during our freshman year in college, but never gave back the rings. Just on the off chance that he would attend the 10 year reunion, I stuck his ring (yes, I still had it, I am the sentimental type) in my purse. He was there, and had brought mine as well. We had a nice moment catching up and giving back the rings. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2017, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986/40 "2017-03-29T05:51:27Z")
I don’t recall it being done when I was in school (early-mid 90s), but class rings were still popular. I still have mine – I haven’t worn it it in years, but it’s still in my jewelry box. I would’ve gotten a college ring, but I couldn’t afford it at the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-high-school-girls-give-their-sweethearts-their-high-school-rings/782986.md?page=3)