Tell an opinion you have that is in the strong minority

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I wish American society didn't put athletes and those in the entertainment industry on pedestals.

Oh, I completely agree. And don't think they deserve to make the sickening amounts of money they make. Our priorities are completely out of whack.

And on the other end of the spectrum, I think college athlete who pull in major money for universities should be able to make some sort of profit.

Fuck no. The athlete worship in this country is insane. WHO CARES if you can throw a ball, you're not saving lives.

NFL should not be a tax-exempt organization. We should cap players' salaries.

Aside from a free ride and some campus celebrity, unless a player makes it to the pros, college football players at big name schools are used and spit out by the schools. Winning teams make millions of dollars each season for schools without having to pay players.

[Anonymous]

I prefer the lifestyle in other developed countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc) over the lifestyle in the US. The idea that the U.S. is the greatest county on earth is a joke. It would only be great for those who are considerably wealthy.

[Anonymous]

I think Thomas Jefferson HS for S & T is over rated. Sure, they kids do well, but they are the highest performing kids in Northern VA. You leave them in the base schools, and they would be doing just as well.

FWIW, I feel the same way about the Ivy League....

[Anonymous]

Sorry Larla got into TJ

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think private tuition for college is only worth it if your kid can get into a top 10 (maybe top 15) school; if they can get into an ivy or Stanford, Chicago/Caltech/MIT or the like -- I can consider parents doing everything possible to make it happen.

But what I really don't get is the parents (who are not independently wealthy) killing themselves to make sure that their princess can go to her dream school -- Boston U or Babson or Middlebury or whatever. I say if you can't make the cut for the top 10, go to your in-state school. The education offered is no different and the name on the resume just doesn't mean anything once you get below a certain level. If you're an engineer from MIT or a finance grad from Wharton/UPenn -- that stands out in some circles and often for life; but your typical person and hiring manager cannot tell you whether a chemistry degree from Maryland is any better or worse than one from Boston U.

Now if the parents are independently wealthy -- do whatever you want. I just don't see killing myself or letting a kid take out HUGE loans bc they can imagine themselves on a certain campus -- I guarantee they'll be fine on some other, cheaper campus as well.

100% agree. Every word. No kid of mine is going to Davidson or University of Richmond. NFW.

+1. Add to this -- I also wouldn't pay out of state tuition to go to a state school in another state because a program is marginally better. If we're still living in Maryland by the time DCs are 18, they are going to UMD. I don't particularly care if Penn State or Rutgers has an undergrad business school or engineering school or whatever ranked 10 places higher than UMD and frankly I don't think hiring managers care either because they don't keep rankings memorized; I think they look at a resume they see -- ok -- big northeastern state school, how well did applicant do there. Now if they can get themselves into a Wharton undergrad or Sloan (MIT) business school then that's a different ballgame and I'll do what I can to make it happen bc those schools do open doors to different kinds of jobs at higher salaries and offer different types of mobility over the years -- I've seen it time and time again. Same thing with fields like engineering -- Caltech, MIT etc. are show stoppers -- otherwise state school like everyone else.

+2. The hand-wringing I've seen on this forum about DCs potentially attending a state school is ludicrous.

I don't wring my hands about it, but while my state university wasn't on the order of today's tuition, it wasn't cheap, either. It's not like back in the day when you could work and cover the costs of tuition plus a simple apartment with a roommate.

I really do NOT want my children to go to school in VA. I think there is great value in seeing a different areas of the world. Plus VA seems exceptionally backwards. Only school that is borderline ok is W&M.

I would hope that they have at least the same level of education I did - or better - but I know that it's much tougher to get into top schools these days.

I went to W&M and I deeply regret it. I started out at a large public school that was ranked higher but didn't like the atmosphere, so I transferred. W&M is academically challenging and known to be grade-deflating, vs other schools that more readily give out good grades. Many people outside of the world of academia and especially the DMV area don't know of William and Mary. Nobody knows of it abroad. I barely graduated with a 3.0 (I had a 3.7 at UCLA). I don't think my grades are good enough to do something post grad at highly ranked schools abroad because I transferred there. They won't know about W&M's reputation for being tough on grades, so they will just think I didn't work very hard. Not the case. Not all schools are created equal.

A friend of mine went to W&M. She got a 2.9 something GPA, which apparently isn't that bad there. She wanted to go to grad school AT W&M, and they wouldn't take her because the department had a minimum acceptable undergrad GPA of 3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I went to W&M and I deeply regret it. I started out at a large public school that was ranked higher but didn't like the atmosphere, so I transferred. W&M is academically challenging and known to be grade-deflating, vs other schools that more readily give out good grades. Many people outside of the world of academia and especially the DMV area don't know of William and Mary. Nobody knows of it abroad. I barely graduated with a 3.0 (I had a 3.7 at UCLA). I don't think my grades are good enough to do something post grad at highly ranked schools abroad because I transferred there. They won't know about W&M's reputation for being tough on grades, so they will just think I didn't work very hard. Not the case. Not all schools are created equal.

My sister also went to W&M and regrets it. She had just under a 3.0 gpa. She worked for 5 years after graduation, three of which were in Asia and then applied to graduate schools. She was accepted into a graduate program at U Penn under a 2 semester probationary period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I prefer the lifestyle in other developed countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc) over the lifestyle in the US. The idea that the U.S. is the greatest county on earth is a joke. It would only be great for those who are considerably wealthy.

I agree. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be born in Scandinavia.

And this is coming from someone with 2 degrees in American Government.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I prefer the lifestyle in other developed countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc) over the lifestyle in the US. The idea that the U.S. is the greatest county on earth is a joke. It would only be great for those who are considerably wealthy.

I agree. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to be born in Scandinavia.

And this is coming from someone with 2 degrees in American Government.

The US is certainly not the greatest country according to dozens of metrics. But look at a list of the most populous countries. They're a mess. Look at a list of the countries with the highest standards of living and human development indices etc. They're small.

It seems inevitable that huge populations and huge economies breeds corruption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAHDs are lazy slobs who watch porn at nap time.

Ha, I would say the opposite. My husband was a SAHD for a few weeks between contract gigs. Holy shit- the house was clean, dinner was made, our son had his run of the museums. I find SAHDs to be better suited for job because they are not obsessed with playing into a gender role or being marginalized. They just like keeping shit organized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SAHDs are lazy slobs who watch porn at nap time.

Ha, I would say the opposite. My husband was a SAHD for a few weeks between contract gigs. Holy shit- the house was clean, dinner was made, our son had his run of the museums. I find SAHDs to be better suited for job because they are not obsessed with playing into a gender role or being marginalized. They just like keeping shit organized.

People who judge families with SAHDs are stupid, old fashioned, and not worth talking to.

[Anonymous]

I am the PP who had a SAHD husband, and I will add- that I honestly do not give a shit if he did watch porn during nap time. I doubt he did, but hey whatevs. It is likely better than messing around on DCUM!

[Anonymous]

In order to be a conservative, you have to believe that other people don't matter -- at least, not like you matter.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I think most/all fat women are bitter and defensive and make for terrible employees. I have turned down jobs because there are too many overweight/middle aged women in the chain of command.

Yup. Would never hire fatty or smoker.

Oprah is so upset she can not work for you

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I believe most poor people are poor because they are lazy.

I'm a teacher. Tell that to my legal immigrant Latino parents of the kids in my class. They work three jobs just to put clothes on their children's backs. Give it a break.

I'm a teacher too and my Spanish speaking parents are some of the hardest workers I know. The parents of the white and black students are not though. They do not work yet somehow have the money for all kinds of expensive things (cell phones, Xbox, tattoos, etc). They won't come to parent teacher conferences and they complain when their kids have homework. They will however scream at their kids and the staff too. I feel sad that these kids have parents like these.

[Anonymous]

I think the idea of disinfecting with vinegar and baking soda is a joke. I prefer disinfectants like bleach and Lysol to really clean.