Should I go to pinning?

[DeepBreath]

Hey all,

I am debating if whether or not I should go its about $150 to attend and only 4 fam members can come. So either my bro, grandma or bf cant go from the 3 cuz my parents are definitely going. and i absolutely feel as though my school is hasn't been encouraging throughout the program. faculty members will be pinning us.

the pins are going to be ugly...

I have many acquaintances but dont really care to go.

I feel like I answered my own question but what do you guys suggest?

I'd guess that there's a difference in attitude regarding pinning between the "calling" nurses and the "pragmatist" nurses. The former apparently feel that nursing is far more than simply a vocation and it's quite understandable why pinning is meaningful to them. The latter tend to view nursing as just another career option out of many choices and would no more choose to be pinned as an accountant or school teacher than they would as a nurse.

It's a personal choice, one for which there is no right or wrong answer, just what works for the individual.

[Muser69]

I went to mine, but I didn't buy a ridiculously priced pin, so they only pretended to pin me. I remember thinking it was dumb the whole time. I hate the Nightengale Oath we had to recite. I think it's outdated and belittling to modern nursing. It was at a banquet hall and the food was awful. Everyone in my family was bored out of their mind's.

Our class refused to recite the nightingale oath in 1972. Oh I miss the days of protest and anarchy.

[Oh'Ello, BSN, RN]

I'd guess that there's a difference in attitude regarding pinning between the "calling" nurses and the "pragmatist" nurses. The former apparently feel that nursing is far more than simply a vocation and it's quite understandable why pinning is meaningful to them. The latter tend to view nursing as just another career option out of many choices and would no more choose to be pinned as an accountant or school teacher than they would as a nurse.

It's a personal choice, one for which there is no right or wrong answer, just what works for the individual.

Wow, I could not disagree with this more. I certainly feel that I am called to nursing, moreso now that I've started doing it than when I was just entering school.

I, similarly to the OP, felt completely unsupported and down right disrespected by the faculty (and some of the students) at my school at times. Not attending my pinning/graduation is not a measure of my value or view of nursing, I simply did not want to have to sit and listen to speeches ad nauseum of how wonderful its been to have us as students and champion our successes when they had previously done nothing to make those sentiments evident while we were actually in the program.

I enjoyed a swanky dinner with my real supporters in lieu of a boring, sweltering, white-gowned parade that most of my fellow students were underwhelmed by anyway.

[DeepBreath]

I'd guess that there's a difference in attitude regarding pinning between the "calling" nurses and the "pragmatist" nurses. The former apparently feel that nursing is far more than simply a vocation and it's quite understandable why pinning is meaningful to them. The latter tend to view nursing as just another career option out of many choices and would no more choose to be pinned as an accountant or school teacher than they would as a nurse.

It's a personal choice, one for which there is no right or wrong answer, just what works for the individual.

So i am confused do you identify yourself with the pragmatist nurse? Because on an earlier post you stated you only went b/c your director of nursing wanted you guys to go and it was political

[DeepBreath]

I disagree, with your post. Its not that black and white. Just become one doesnt want to attend pinning ceremony it doesnt necessarily mean they dont feel a calling into nursing. Maybe they dont identify their achievements with an outdated oath and a minute pin.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

Seems to me like you've already decided, but for some reason you need an online nursing board to cheer you on for your decision not to go.

Okay, so don't go to pinning. Do what is best for you and what makes you happy.

[GrumpyRN, NP]

I hate the Nightengale Oath we had to recite. I think it's outdated and belittling to modern nursing.

Seriously? Do you guys actually have to say this? I had to 'google' it because I had never heard of it.

I think I would have laughed in their faces if they had asked me to say this nonsense.

Also, what is this about "pinning"? Does someone stick a pin onto you? When I qualified in the 1980's I received a badge from my training school with my certificate, but nobody stuck it on me.

When I went back to school to get my degree I did go to the graduation ceremony but mainly so that my mother could see one of her children graduate and she could do the garden party afterwards.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

spend that 150$ on your student loans.

[grandpaj]

I went to pinning, but it was free aside from the $40 we paid for the pins. I skipped the school's commencement ceremony, and I haven't regretted doing so.

However, if I'd had to pay $150 to attend pinning, I'd probably have skipped the hassle. You'll get your degree either way, so how important to you is the pinning ceremony on an emotional level?

So i am confused do you identify yourself with the pragmatist nurse? Because on an earlier post you stated you only went b/c your director of nursing wanted you guys to go and it was political

I completely identify as a pragmatist nurse. I went to my pinning only for pragmatic reasons... I didn't want to create any possible disadvantages for myself in job hunting and angering the head of my program over something so silly as the pinning ceremony would have been foolish.

Being the pragmatic guy I am, I immediately volunteered to be on the pinning committee and to handle the pin orders. For my efforts, I was awarded a free pin and I was able to aggressively lobby for keeping the costs down and the fluffiness to tolerable minimum.

I disagree, with your post. Its not that black and white.

Hence my use of the word "tend" and my comment about it being an individual choice with no right or wrong answer.

I've been rightly accused of many things but never of being binary in my views or opinions.