I suppose we’ll have to agree to disagree. I want to see joy and reason in what I do, in where I have been, and in what I have been apart of. Sure, any school could have helped shape me into who I am today. But as of this life, that school was the University of Oregon, and I’m rather happy about it.

I’m proud of my school for being just that, my school. It’s where my friends go and it’s also the place where I have met some awesome instructors.

But I won’t pretend that I wouldn’t have got a similar experience at the next university a town over and it’s by that logic that I don’t see the need for school pride, I guess, the need for an “ivy league” of schools (even though I know USC isn’t an ivy league).

I think love for a school comes from attending that school, and from having a positive experience there. I ran away from school pride with unmatched speed, but it did not take long for my complete adoration of my instructors, my friends, and the campus community to overtake me and my emotions and fall for the school.

You don’t have to have school pride. But if you are not proud of where you went, how can you expect anyone else to be? I would never look down on someone based on the college they attended, nor would I want to be judged for where I went. I did not engage in banter with “rivals” because I found that distasteful for my value system. That does not mean I appreciated my school any less. If anything, I think it shows I appreciated it more.

Anyways, I’m not trying to put anybody down and certainly not trying to hamper your love for your school, but I feel like school pride is something that is forced upon us by society and the schools that we go to. Who cares what university you really go to? I don’t and I certainly would show no more respect to somebody who had graduated from USC than say a state university.