Why do so many people put private school bumper stickers on their cars?

[Anonymous]

The PP said they would not have stopped had they not seen the sticker for their kid’s school. They would have driven right on by, like everyone else. Very tribal.

And they didn’t actually say which or what type of school.

[Anonymous]

I don’t care either way what people do: preschool, swim team, theater program, orthodontist, private or public. BUT My kid put our public school magnet on and it melted to my car! Never again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a numerous stickers/ magnets. It started with rec sports and swim team. Then HS and HS sports, now college.

I why people place professional sports, location names (e.g. OBX), or even political magnets on their cars.

FWIW- I have had multiple interactions with strangers due to the car magnets. DC was with some other students when they had a car accident on the way to school. Three parents, one current and two alumni parents stopped to offer assistance. A few months ago, a woman stopped to ask me some questions about the school, she had one on her car also that was given to her by her nephew. Nothing life altering, but it does signal a community. Any right now I am grateful to anything that builds a community.

This is a good point. A few mornings ago I was taking my daughter to school. It was one of the mornings it was raining pretty hard but I noticed a car with our school sticker on the side of the road and it looked like an accident had occurred. We noticed it was a student by themselves so we circled back to make sure everything was okay. They were pretty shaken up and seemed relieved to have another friendly supportive community member during that time. I remember my first accident in high school and it was important to be there. We were late to school that morning and it didn’t matter. The family later called and thanked us for being there in the moment. I can assure you we would not have stopped if we didn’t see the sticker.

So you wouldn’t have stopped if the student didn’t have a sticker? I find that quite disturbing.

Agree

I don’t find it disturbing at all. What made PP look and pay attention was noticing the sticker. Then she realized it was a student and doubled back. I applaud her for even stopping, whether because of the sticker or not. Many prey on people’s willingness to be good samaritans.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:In England people wear ties that signify what university they went to, please. The ties are also coded so only people who know know.

When I was a child, my dad wouldn’t let me put a school decal on our car, because he thought it looked like bragging. Now I let my kids, because who cares what triggers adult strangers with confidence issues.

Seriously. I really love when the posters show up acting like this is a US-only thing. Sure, maybe people in the UK don't use bumper stickers, but they sure as heck have ways of broadcasting their membership in the elite. You want to see elitism in education, try France! Basically every European country has a separate elite track for education and they have their subtle ways of telling everyone else they're in it.

This. We are just more direct and open about it as a culture (or tacky and ostentatious for those who sneer at the U.S. way). It's like the old money new money or city slicker country bumpkin dynamic. The elitism and exclusivity "I'm better than you" is universal, but just manifests differently. We are a car culture where much public interaction is on the roads, so there's that.

Compared to who? I see lots of brand names and logos outside the US. More than I see in the US. It's ok to wear the shirt, shoes, belts, pants, purses, scarves and hats but gee don't put a label on your car! I would say many more people outside the US are brand conscious even if they are wearing fakes.

Accoutrements like brand clothing, luxury goods, and car magnets are signs of a society with social mobility. People broadcast their status to signal to others who might not know just by looking at them. If everyday life is in a walkable urban society without a car, a car decal does no good. Coded language, posh accents, attire, and other trappings of wealth and superiority are required for those settings. Tomato Tomahto

+1

The Brits are probably the snobbiest culture on the planet.

But wealthy Brits all want to come to the US. MC folks in the US live like UMC folks in the UK. UC folks here are out of reach for most Brits. DH is UMC Brit, just as I come from a UMC American family - our lifestyles were not the same and he feels out of his depth in some of our social circles. It just is.

A sample of one isn’t representative. I’m a Brit and just spent the weekend in Portugal with three UMC Brit friends (one immigrated from the US) and none of them want to live in the US. But I’m not silly enough to assert a sample of four is any more meaningful than your sample of one.

I'm a PP, an American, and agree with most of what has been said thus far but I want to apologize to you Ms. or Mr. Brit on behalf of the PP who made the broad sweeping statement that about whole UC UMC my husband is Brit and feels poor in America spiel. Sheer lunacy. No wonder most of the world finds us either charmingly naive or blindingly offensive.

[Anonymous]

I feel like there are less magnets these days.

Remember the “my kid made honor roll” or “my kid beat up your honor roll kid”, all the Obama magnets, etc.

I don’t really care about someone’s P magnet. We live in McLean. For the longest time, I didn’t know the P magnet was for Potomac. I thought it was Penn or Princeton when I saw the Potomac spirit wear people wear.

I would wear my kid’s school spirit wear when I go to games. I have kids in public and private and support all their schools. Do not have any magnets on my car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a numerous stickers/ magnets. It started with rec sports and swim team. Then HS and HS sports, now college.

I why people place professional sports, location names (e.g. OBX), or even political magnets on their cars.

FWIW- I have had multiple interactions with strangers due to the car magnets. DC was with some other students when they had a car accident on the way to school. Three parents, one current and two alumni parents stopped to offer assistance. A few months ago, a woman stopped to ask me some questions about the school, she had one on her car also that was given to her by her nephew. Nothing life altering, but it does signal a community. Any right now I am grateful to anything that builds a community.

This is a good point. A few mornings ago I was taking my daughter to school. It was one of the mornings it was raining pretty hard but I noticed a car with our school sticker on the side of the road and it looked like an accident had occurred. We noticed it was a student by themselves so we circled back to make sure everything was okay. They were pretty shaken up and seemed relieved to have another friendly supportive community member during that time. I remember my first accident in high school and it was important to be there. We were late to school that morning and it didn’t matter. The family later called and thanked us for being there in the moment. I can assure you we would not have stopped if we didn’t see the sticker.

So you wouldn’t have stopped if the student didn’t have a sticker? I find that quite disturbing.

Sounds like something a performative Good Samaritan would do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like there are less magnets these days.

There are fewer magnets because most car panels are plastic now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't even imagine. Seems like nothing but a naked flex.

Some people like to brag. Why do you care and how does this affect you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't even imagine. Seems like nothing but a naked flex.

Some people like to brag. Why do you care and how does this affect you?

Why is the sky blue? What are leaves green?

Being curious about ones environment is not the same as caring too much or being affected by it.

[Anonymous]

I put the sticker on to remind me that I have kids and they go to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't even imagine. Seems like nothing but a naked flex.

Of go f*ck the right off. Newsflash. Plenty of public school parents put bumper stickers on their
cars too. Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a hobby, and let people live. (That would actually make a great bumper sticker…hmmm.)

I'm not losing any sleep over this - it's interesting to me that in an increasingly bifurcated economy with the haves and the have-nots that people who by and large live in good public school districts will slap stickers on their cars advertising their $40K+ per year private schools for (seemingly) no better reason than advertising. I couldn't even imagine doing such a thing.

Do people who do this think about these things and are unbothered by them? or do such concerns not even occur to them?

No. Such concerns don’t occur to me. I just know that I’m better than you and I the bumper sticker to remind you. Go Potomac!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't even imagine. Seems like nothing but a naked flex.

Of go f*ck the right off. Newsflash. Plenty of public school parents put bumper stickers on their
cars too. Get a grip.

Security!??! Well this is the private school forum and we dare not type profanities such as this, whether they are partially obfuscated or not. Who raised you? Wolves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a hobby, and let people live. (That would actually make a great bumper sticker…hmmm.)

I'm not losing any sleep over this - it's interesting to me that in an increasingly bifurcated economy with the haves and the have-nots that people who by and large live in good public school districts will slap stickers on their cars advertising their $40K+ per year private schools for (seemingly) no better reason than advertising. I couldn't even imagine doing such a thing.

Do people who do this think about these things and are unbothered by them? or do such concerns not even occur to them?

No. Such concerns don’t occur to me. I just know that I’m better than you and I the bumper sticker to remind you. Go Potomac!

Dang… this is kind of exactly what people were getting at in the Potomac parents thread this week 😅

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with school spirit, team spirit. Put whatever you want on your car; it’s your car! Go Saints! Go UVA! Go Capitals! oh, and I have a Washington nationals license plate!