When I first announced to friends and family that I would be continuing my undergraduate work at California Baptist University, everyone congratulated me, wished me good luck and promptly teased me about “ring by spring.”
You are probably well aware of the “ring by spring” mantra. For those of you who don’t know, however, let me enlighten you. “Ring by spring” refers to the large quantity of students, primarily at a private religious institution, who start out their freshmen year single and end up either hitched or pre-hitched by the spring semester of their senior years.
Sounds fun, right? Maybe to some, but to me, not so much.
Now, I have many friends who have ended up in this position, and let me be the first to say that I am 100 percent for finding love and happiness during the four most exciting, exploratory years of a young person’s life.
If you came to school looking for your “Mrs.” degree, that is your prerogative. If you came to school with the intent of focusing on academics and additionally finding your soul mate, I applaud you.
But somewhere along the way, “ring by spring” stopped being a cute joke. What once was cute seems to have turned into a rather offensive stereotype meant to pressure young people.
We are being told to conform into an outdated form of spousal searching that honestly does not ring true for most people anymore.
It definitely does not ring true in this day and age where many are dropping thousands upon thousands of dollars in order to receive a higher education, not a free advertisement offered by your school to find a husband or a wife.
I, like many others, certainly didn’t choose to go to a private religious institution so that I could obtain my “Mrs.” degree.
It is time for everyone to start acknowledging that many students are serious about their education and not just looking to ring wedding bells. I should not have to redirect my motives in life to squeeze into the idea that because I am a young woman attending a school known for its high marriage rate, I only care about finding a spouse as soon as possible.
Maybe others should start talking up CBU for other reasons, like some of the amazing programs it has to offer its students. After all, this is a university, not Match.com.
