Class Rings - To Buy or Not to Buy???
My son brought home the paperwork for his high school graduation ring the other day. I was certainly excited to go through the paperwork and thankfully he wanted to order one. Although I must say, the prices have gone up a lot since my parents bought me mine! We spent a few minutes choosing the details of the ring. I filled out the paperwork and gave my son the deposit and we were set. A few days later the ring company was at the school, and my son ordered his ring. That was the extent of the ring topic for my family. Now, for what I found strange. I received a call from a parent of a child in my son's school. She asked me if I had heard anything about the class rings. Of course I responded that my son had brought home the paperwork a few days before and that he had placed the order that day. Apparently her child told her that he did not know anything about ordering a ring and that there were not any announcements. She heard the same story from parents of her child's friends.
The strange thing was, I had seen the announcement on the school's website and so being the curious person that I am, I asked my son if anything was said at school. He told me that they made announcements every day in homeroom and again at lunch. The students were told where to pick up the forms and the dates and times that the ring company would be at the school to accept orders. Hmmmm....did those other kids not want their high school rings? This made me more curious. While I was glad that my son and his friends wanted a ring, I wondered why the other kids did not even feel the need to mention it to their parents. Apparently the other kids they hang out with deemed getting a class ring as stupid and not cool. So, following the bandwagon instead of making an independent choice, they neglected to mention the class ring to their respective parents. Their parents however wanted them to buy the ring, so they told them to pick up the paperwork. The next day, I received another phone call, because the children had only brought home the order forms and none of the instructions. Was this yet another attempt to foil ordering the ring? Their parents were adamant and asked me to fax over the information that their children neglected to bring home. So, like it or not, the kids were ordering rings....that is of course if they actually took the order form to school.....
Truthfully, I may have been disappointed if my son did not order a high school class ring, but if he had just told me he did not want it, I would have understood and I would have saved some money to boot. Why did these kids neglect to even tell their parents? The truth would have come out sooner or later; there is a ring ceremony in the spring.
I remember when I was in high school, it was exciting to get your class ring. Is this tradition something that is fading away? Is it becoming uncool to wear class rings? I wonder....
I look forward to seeing my son's ring. I am pretty sure he will wear it until he graduates high school and if he doesn't wear it after that, at least he will have a nice memento of his high school years. I am glad that he did not feel any pressure from friends not to order the ring. It is an individual choice, and certainly not something to be pressured about. What do you think?
