Most "pedigree"-oriented cities - Page 2

Nomad9 · #21 Posted **May 7, 2018, 12:56 AM**

The south is tribal but not “pedigree” oriented in the sense that most are discussing here. People identify with whether they’re ‘Bama vs. UGA fans or whatever, not whether you went to the right school or come from the right family. I’m sure there are pockets like that—NOLA being one I’ve heard of—but most of the big sunbelt cities are full of transient people in search of jobs/cheap housing.

skyscraperpage17 · #22 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomad9

The south is tribal but not “pedigree” oriented in the sense that most are discussing here. People identify with whether they’re ‘Bama vs. UGA fans or whatever, not whether you went to the right school or come from the right family. I’m sure there are pockets like that—NOLA being one I’ve heard of—but most of the big sunbelt cities are full of transient people in search of jobs/cheap housing.

Yes, what you say is more accurate.

Docere · #23 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:32 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by softee

Canadians don't seem to care too much about this sort of thing.

I agree, except maybe in Rosedale or something.

Shawn · #24 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:46 AM**

“In Boston they ask, how much does he know? In New York, how much is he worth? In Philadelphia, who were his parents?” - Mark Twain

In Boston (and let's be clear, this is coastal New England-wide, not just Boston), the pedigree which matters is where you went to school and what your degree is in. Family pedigree stopped mattering once the lowly Irish and Italians took over the show from the Brahmin old blood (fully transitioned around 1910). It's not like your average Bay Stater family can afford to send the kids to overnight at Phillips or Deerfield. These are the realms of Arab oil sheikh and Korean chaebol kids now.

New England has just always really emphasized educational attainment. This doesn't necessarily mean law and med school - it includes trades. The pervading mentality is simply "get as educated as possible in your field, because that's how you succeed."

Family names do not mean much (unless that name is Kennedy), and personal / family wealth means even less (especially if you're showy / West Coast-flashy about your money).

But you better have an education.

GlassCity · #25 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:46 AM**

It helps that in Canada the vast majority of our universities are public, including the best ones. This means that whether you went to a public secondary school (still the mainstream even for the upper-middle class) or a private one, you still end up sitting next to each other at McGill/UBC/UofT anyway.

pj3000 · #26 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:52 AM**

One’s family pedigree in the genteel South is most certainly a prominent aspect of the upper class there. The idea of a Southern “aristocracy” characterized the wealthy plantation life for over two centuries and remnants of that culture strongly exist to this day from South Carolina to Louisiana. Pedigree is every bit as prominent there, if not more so, as it is in blue blood New England. Girls as debutantes being introduced to society are still a major thing; dudes have first names like Jennings, but of course just go by Tuck because that’s what grandad Jennings Tucker Randolph IV went by.

And if your family’s history does not go back at least 150 years in the South, you’re damn sure not a Southerner, but you’ll be treated with hospitality while “visiting”.

BrownTown · #27 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:57 AM**

What college football team you support is a totally different than than what the OP is talking about. I'll agree that the South loves football and there's plenty of trash-talking between supporters of different schools, but that's totally different than the NorthEast's obsession with what college (or private high school) you went to.

Docere · #28 Posted **May 7, 2018, 1:59 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlassCity

It helps that in Canada the vast majority of our universities are public, including the best ones. This means that whether you went to a public secondary school (still the mainstream even for the upper-middle class) or a private one, you still end up sitting next to each other at McGill/UBC/UofT anyway.

Yes. Where you went to university matters relatively little in Canada for two reasons:

1.) As you say, the universities are all public and can't be as exclusive.

2.) The professional schools are all very competitive and relatively even quality. There's no equivalent of say, Florida Coastal Law School. Yes, a graduate of U of T law likely has somewhat better prospects than a Windsor law grad on Bay Street, but it's not as if the Bay Street firms more or less refuse to hire Windsor grads.

pdxtex · #29 Posted **May 7, 2018, 2:46 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pizzaguy

It's almost like political belief is a choice and the conservative victimhood complex is stupid and backwards.

political belief is obviously a choice but somewhere along the way, its also become a proxy for class.

montréaliste · #30 Posted **May 7, 2018, 3:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocman

You can always gauge the importance of the question “where are you from?” in a city by the competitiveness of their secondary schools. Just look at all the successful actors now coming from England, and an overwhelming number came out of public schools.

In NYC, there’s a fierce helicopter parent culture and the secondary schools to match, but university branding carries as much weight. You can be a fk-up at Harvard and still more likely to end up at a major NYC financial institution. the wedding announcements in the NYT is a children of good breeding name dropping galore.

As it goes, in rarified NYC conversations they ask you where you’re from. In LA they ask you what do you do. Different questions but very loaded.

Yes, I heard about this one dropout at Harvard who mastered the whole selfie thing to a Tee with a startup gig by mining Ivy Leaguers' data. Nobody cares about his diploma now except U.S. congressmen. For that guy, a major NYC Financial Institution was not where the real money is.

I know for a fact that a degree in Hamburgerology at Hamburger U in Chicago is a big deal in Daisy's Trailer Park on the Southside of Gary Indiana.

MonkeyRonin · #31 Posted **May 7, 2018, 3:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Docere

I agree, except maybe in Rosedale or something.

Even there, most Rosedale kids go to the the same public primary & secondary schools as everyone else. Anecdotal, but most of the people I've known or known of who went to private schools would probably fall into the aspirational immigrant & newly monied suburbanite demographic.

But either way, as GlassCity points out, we all end up in the same big public universities at the end of the day.

pdxtex · #32 Posted **May 7, 2018, 3:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by montréaliste

Yes, I heard about this one dropout at Harvard who mastered the whole selfie thing to a Tee with a startup gig by mining Ivy Leaguers' data. Nobody cares about his diploma now except U.S. congressmen. For that guy, a major NYC Financial Institution was not where the real money is.

I know for a fact that a degree in Hamburgerology at Hamburger U in Chicago is a big deal in Daisy's Trailer Park on the Southside of Gary Indiana.

do you know who gets trained there? managers and owner/operators. a single franchise averages 2.5 million in sales. my father in law ran a store in portland for 20 years. you dont have to like the food but they make alot of money.

10023 · #33 Posted **May 7, 2018, 4:10 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomad9

The south is tribal but not “pedigree” oriented in the sense that most are discussing here. People identify with whether they’re ‘Bama vs. UGA fans or whatever, not whether you went to the right school or come from the right family. I’m sure there are pockets like that—NOLA being one I’ve heard of—but most of the big sunbelt cities are full of transient people in search of jobs/cheap housing.

No, I’m talking about a completely different social set. The old money, not the petit bourgeoisie living in McMansions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj3000

One’s family pedigree in the genteel South is most certainly a prominent aspect of the upper class there. The idea of a Southern “aristocracy” characterized the wealthy plantation life for over two centuries and remnants of that culture strongly exist to this day from South Carolina to Louisiana. Pedigree is every bit as prominent there, if not more so, as it is in blue blood New England. Girls as debutantes being introduced to society are still a major thing; dudes have first names like Jennings, but of course just go by Tuck because that’s what grandad Jennings Tucker Randolph IV went by.

And if your family’s history does not go back at least 150 years in the South, you’re damn sure not a Southerner, but you’ll be treated with hospitality while “visiting”.

This.

10023 · #34 Posted **May 7, 2018, 4:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ocman

As it goes, in rarified NYC conversations they ask you where you’re from. In LA they ask you what do you do. Different questions but very loaded.

In my experience NYC is also about what to do. In LA everyone is an “actor”, so it has to be something else. I tend to like the Swingers version of “what kind of car do you drive?”.

niwell · #35 Posted **May 7, 2018, 4:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Even there, most Rosedale kids go to the the same public primary & secondary schools as everyone else. Anecdotal, but most of the people I've known or known of who went to private schools would probably fall into the aspirational immigrant & newly monied suburbanite demographic.

But either way, as GlassCity points out, we all end up in the same big public universities at the end of the day.

Yeah, Queen's is the stereotypical "private school" university but still public. And the best in Canada are still U of T and McGill.

Shawn · #36 Posted **May 7, 2018, 4:37 AM**

^--- And McGill carries some serious weight in the New England circles. McGill is on every Top 10 high schooler's short list.

U of T, not so much. But McGill . . . belongs in the same sentence as Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Cornell. I'd go so far as to put it a tier above Brown and Dartmouth.