What is the most prevalent private school bumper sticker in DC Metro Area?

[Anonymous]

I don't see anything wrong with bumper stickers. I've seen bumper stickers proclaiming support for football, basketball, Obama, McCain, churches, synagogues, preschools, public schools, private schools, etc. I don't think of it as bragging. It's just a way to show support for a particular community.

And why would anyone care if someone has a bumper sticker anyway? To each his/her own--plus all those bumper stickers make for interesting reading, when I'm stuck in atrocious traffic on the Beltway...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually find the "my child is an honor role student at . . ." more tolerable than stickers for fancy private schools because they tend to be from public schools, and from what i can see, more remote, public school districts at that. These parents more often than not come from more modest backgrounds than most of us here and are genuinely proud of their kids, not the school. I wouldn't put such a sticker on my car, but I don't begrudge them. Now my children attend what I just referred to as fancy private schools and I would never even consider a sticker on my car. Its just bragging and to me very different.

Translation: Isn't that nice that my gardener, Jorge, is so proud of his kid making the honor roll in some sad little "remote" public school in PG Co. I mean, I don't need to brag. It's different b/c, well, I already win at life and we all know that.

[Anonymous]

Hilarious and totally accurate interpretation, pp.

[Anonymous]

Whether a bumper sticker is bragging depends on which school's name is on the bumper sticker. For top schools, it's bragging and "it's just not done."

[Anonymous]

I'm glad we're all in smug agreement that public school "honor roll" stickers are "tacky" but that it would be wrong to ascribe motives for it (I'm not the poster who is being satirized, FWIW).

In particular, you all are right to ignore the posts suggesting that the honor roll stickers are about achievement while the private school stickers are about status.

Really, even bringing this sort of interpretation up displays a Marie Antoinette attitude that we're all way too sophisticated to have. Not to mention the flip side of PP's post which ascribes less pure motives to the private school stckers! Ugh, let's ignore her.

Now, if only I could figure out why I see so many Sidwell and NCS stickers around. And this despite it's being "just not done"!

[Anonymous]

"There simply are no stickers for 'Top 3' schools. I don't know what you're talking about.

Other 'non-elite' private school families use stickers to brag. And who cares about *why* those peasants in PG county do what they do? Achievement, schmachievement.

Signed,

Marie Antoinette"

(who actually wasn't as bad as some make her out to be, but that's another story.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad we're all in smug agreement that public school "honor roll" stickers are "tacky" but that it would be wrong to ascribe motives for it (I'm not the poster who is being satirized, FWIW).

In particular, you all are right to ignore the posts suggesting that the honor roll stickers are about achievement while the private school stickers are about status.

Really, even bringing this sort of interpretation up displays a Marie Antoinette attitude that we're all way too sophisticated to have. Not to mention the flip side of PP's post which ascribes less pure motives to the private school stckers! Ugh, let's ignore her.

Now, if only I could figure out why I see so many Sidwell and NCS stickers around. And this despite it's being "just not done"!

You were a catty, mean girl in school, I bet.

[Anonymous]

ugh...Even though they allegedly aren't done, I see a fair amount of stickerage when I'm driving around DC...I live in PG and we played sports against a team from Upper NW...You could see the disdain on their faces as they drove in in their Volvo SUVs with the St. Albans stickers. "Lock the doors honey, we're playing against the offspring of people driving base model toyotas with honor roll stickers on the back."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad we're all in smug agreement that public school "honor roll" stickers are "tacky" but that it would be wrong to ascribe motives for it (I'm not the poster who is being satirized, FWIW).

In particular, you all are right to ignore the posts suggesting that the honor roll stickers are about achievement while the private school stickers are about status.

Really, even bringing this sort of interpretation up displays a Marie Antoinette attitude that we're all way too sophisticated to have. Not to mention the flip side of PP's post which ascribes less pure motives to the private school stckers! Ugh, let's ignore her.

Now, if only I could figure out why I see so many Sidwell and NCS stickers around. And this despite it's being "just not done"!

I'm the PP whose argument you incorrectly describe as one that "ascribes less pure motives to the private school stckers [sic]!" In fact I make no mention of public-school stickers. My point was limited to the topic of this thread -- private school stickers -- and I make no explicit or implicit comparison to public-school stickers.

[Anonymous]

I have a St. Albans bulldog sticker on my car, and I could give a crap what you people think about it. My son put the sticker there. So it's staying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ugh...Even though they allegedly aren't done, I see a fair amount of stickerage when I'm driving around DC...I live in PG and we played sports against a team from Upper NW...You could see the disdain on their faces as they drove in in their Volvo SUVs with the St. Albans stickers. "Lock the doors honey, we're playing against the offspring of people driving base model toyotas with honor roll stickers on the back."

You don't know St. Albans if you don't know that a large percentage of the cars in the drop-off-pick-up line are base-model Toyotas! Probably you are thinking of the stereotype of the St. Albans parent/student -- so wrong as sterotypes usually are.

[Anonymous]

I'm still trying to figure out why some folks here think the "honors student" stickers are worse than the private school stickers. At least the first is about your kid's academic success, while the second could be interpreted as being somewhat (if not entirely) about the parents' status or money. (especially for those non-existent but ubiquitous stickers from top tier schools!)

Can any of you who mocked the "honor roll" stickers explain this to me?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm the PP whose argument you incorrectly describe as one that "ascribes less pure motives to the private school stckers [sic]!" In fact I make no mention of public-school stickers. My point was limited to the topic of this thread -- private school stickers -- and I make no explicit or implicit comparison to public-school stickers.

That sound you hear is me slapping my wrist, although a bit half-heartedly. I admit that I didn't give you the benefit of the doubt. But I think you didn't give the PP you mocked the benefit of the doubt, either. She has a point, even though she expressed it in a condescending way, when she says the honor roll stickers are put by parents who are "proud" of their kids' achievements. Heaping scorn on this motive (I agree she shouldn't have put it in the context of PG landscapers!) didn't sit right with me.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't put a school sticker on my car for the same reasons I wont' wear clothing or accessories with designer logos. Too gauche.

[Anonymous]

School stickers = Coach sneakers. TACKKKKAAAAY!