Do you display your diplomas?

[Piggy Stu]

Me and my father have the same name so he hung my law degree on the wall at HIS house to impress guests who didn't know me

eventually my mum passed it to me in a box: I put it in the loft

More or less everyone I know works in law so displaying it would be as impressive as a certificate proving you have a skull

 

[Bill]

I’ve never once thought about displaying my degrees. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

I’d feel really awkward doing that.

 

[Nogoodnamesleft]

I don't, no. I don't really need to see it I guess.

One of my doctors has some really nice photos of some ocean scenes that are framed and hanging on his wall. We were talking about them one day and it turns out he took them - he's also a photography nut like me.

I've never noticed his degrees if he has them up. Not something I look for.

 

[Larry F]

I came to realize, hopefully not too late, that the display of diplomas is for the benefit of the student, who can see that their teacher is important in their field.

When I started university teaching, I was young enough that students naturally called me Larry. As I got older, they started in with addressing me as Dr. F. and Prof. F. I think that reinforced how important I was to their future careers. It's as if my stature indicates that I only take some of the most promising students in the field.

Anyone who has gone through the tenure process, will have it drilled into them the importance of national and international recognition. You learn how to present yourself in the best possible light. The key to doing that is to make sure your cv not only lists your accomplishments, but also tells the reader how important they are. Administrators and students alike want to know your standing in the field, increasing the reputation of the university. You learn how to present yourself in a good light without seeming to boast. Boasting is very bad. Instead, you try to present your accomplishments and their significance in a neutral, affectless manner. The trick is to lead the reader up to the point where they can easily determine for themselves the significance of your activities by seeing the company you're in.

Silly and cynical as it is, this kind of buffing of your image helps give your accomplishments an even stronger aura of respectability and recognition. Once I learned how to do this, it freed my ego enough to make it seem like a big game. Toward the end of my career, I could chuckle while energizing my credentials on the international stage. It's easier to tone things down than to build things up.

Here's a tip: front-load every sentence or paragraph by mentioning your most significant accomplishments right up front. I had a student who received a major award, but placed it in the middle of a paragraph in their cover letter. Make your sentences top heavy.

 

[Ignatius]

I think I know where mine is. I think….

 

[pixeljammer]

I think it's very funny.

My great-grandfather had a diamond ring. He wore it with the diamond turned inside his hand—not visible to other people, mostly. He loved it, but it was not "manly", so it was just for him. Somehow your wallet-diploma reminded me of that.

 

[pixeljammer]

I had a half-bath in my house wallpapered with rejection slips/letters when I was nineteen, and not a good writer. I thought I was Wry Guy. Now it seems amusing, yet sadly cringey. I would do it again, but my reasons would be different.

 

[pixeljammer]

My wife has a few of my military experience pictures on a wall in the living room with other family military pics.
She says "I should be proud of .....etc".
I just don't use the word proud in first person....I just say I'm pleased with my performance and behavior (in that context) and leave it there.

But....that's just me.

Have a great day everyone....

Isn't it weird how not being proud is a form of pride?

 

[JamesAM]

Mine and the wife’s are on the wall in our home office. We needed something to go on the wall in there, to be honest. It was that or a jerry west autographed sports illustrated cover and a Mickey Mouse animation cel. I don’t really count it as “displaying” because nobody comes over to see them.

I started dissertation research for a doctor of engineering (d.eng) this fall. If I make it out the other side (literally and figuratively), I guess it’ll go on the wall with the others, or heck, maybe I’ll put the jerry west autograph up.

 

[pixeljammer]

I’ve never once thought about displaying my degrees. This is the first I’ve heard of it.

I’d feel really awkward doing that.

What's your world like? Do you live somewhere not "American"? Do you work/exist in a situation where this isn't a thing? Not poking fun; genuinely interested.

 

[medownsouth]

+1 for nope.

 

[Engine Swap]

Nope, still in their cardboard mailers, stuck in a bookcase.

 

[getbent]

Isn't it weird how not being proud is a form of pride?

There are two kinds of pride, one is usually seen as a negative 'deadly sin' and one as a positive.

the first is false pride--> An exaggeratedly high or pretentious opinion of oneself, one's abilities, or one's circumstance that is not based on real achievement or success.

This is the one that lots of guys in the thread bristle against (rightly) although I think in most cases it wouldn't be 'false pride' to be proud of their achievements.

Pride in your work and pride in your habits and pride in your accomplishments if they were done in earnest and honestly are perfectly good to share and wear.

In support of this supposition, my dad and step dad both wore medals and ribbons signifying their accomplishments in the military when they were in uniform. Even an organization that would frown on false pride fully support providing signification to all of one's accomplishments so that folks might receive the nod they rightly deserve.

Most of the guys here have worked hard and accomplished a lot. There is no false pride in sharing it or displaying it, to think so is confusing the two prides.

I put mine up in part to celebrate the teams and people who helped me along the way and to celebrate the organizations who I was lucky enough to be accepted to and who trained and taught me. When people ask me about them, I love recalling the cool people who helped me. For some, those memories may not be positive... so, they aren't necessarily proud moments. My brother in law left college his freshman year... did the school of hard knocks. He retired 3 years ago and went back to school. He graduated last spring and while he chuckled a bit about it, he was so proud (and the college recognized his grit to come back and finish and had him speak at the graduation where he also had highest honors)

He put his diploma up in his living room and we all dig it.

and yeah, the not being proud is strange to me, but, okay. Some people think John Wayne was an actual cowboy and war hero.

 

[pixeljammer]

There are two kinds of pride, one is usually seen as a negative 'deadly sin' and one as a positive.

and yeah, the not being proud is strange to me, but, okay.

I wasn't knocking it, I was merely observing. Everyone has a different view of how pride works for them. That's why I said "form of pride".

 

[monkeybanana]

Oh no way that is way too pretentious.

Actually it's because I went to San Francisco State. If I had gone to Harvard I would put it up you bet!

 

[Alaska Mike]

I have my signed Steve Cropper and Eddy Merckx pictures on the wall. I have pictures of my family hanging up. I have pictures of me racing (skiing/cycling). I have various artwork and stuff up there too. Guitars, sure.

Diplomas? Nope. That was always just a means to an end, not the end itself. They’re filed away in case I ever need them, but they tell someone less about me than the other stuff that I choose to display.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Me and my father have the same name so he hung my law degree on the wall at HIS house to impress guests who didn't know me

eventually my mum passed it to me in a box: I put it in the loft

More or less everyone I know works in law so displaying it would be as impressive as a certificate proving you have a skull

I know how important that is from watching Michael Cutter on Law and Order, he cut a few corners in law school, and sure enough caught it up to him! HE should have known better! Jack McCoy was NOT happy with him!

 

[KyAnne]

no

 

[Toto'sDad]

There are two kinds of pride, one is usually seen as a negative 'deadly sin' and one as a positive.

the first is false pride--> An exaggeratedly high or pretentious opinion of oneself, one's abilities, or one's circumstance that is not based on real achievement or success.

This is the one that lots of guys in the thread bristle against (rightly) although I think in most cases it wouldn't be 'false pride' to be proud of their achievements.

Pride in your work and pride in your habits and pride in your accomplishments if they were done in earnest and honestly are perfectly good to share and wear.

In support of this supposition, my dad and step dad both wore medals and ribbons signifying their accomplishments in the military when they were in uniform. Even an organization that would frown on false pride fully support providing signification to all of one's accomplishments so that folks might receive the nod they rightly deserve.

Most of the guys here have worked hard and accomplished a lot. There is no false pride in sharing it or displaying it, to think so is confusing the two prides.



I put mine up in part to celebrate the teams and people who helped me along the way and to celebrate the organizations who I was lucky enough to be accepted to and who trained and taught me. When people ask me about them, I love recalling the cool people who helped me. For some, those memories may not be positive... so, they aren't necessarily proud moments. My brother in law left college his freshman year... did the school of hard knocks. He retired 3 years ago and went back to school. He graduated last spring and while he chuckled a bit about it, he was so proud (and the college recognized his grit to come back and finish and had him speak at the graduation where he also had highest honors)

He put his diploma up in his living room and we all dig it.

and yeah, the not being proud is strange to me, but, okay. Some people think John Wayne was an actual cowboy and war hero.

John wouldn't hate you for saying that.

 

[chulaivet1966]

Isn't it weird how not being proud is a form of pride?

Howdy pixeljammer....

I don't know....I've never thought about it in that way.

Have a great day all....