Friday's Most Active Threads

I've repeatedly written in these posts that I hate generational labels which I consider to be useless designations that obscure more than they reveal. Therefore, I was not at all happy this morning to discover that yesterday's most active thread, posted in the "Off-Topic" forum, was titled "GenX". The title may as well have been "Let's troll Jeff". The original poster asks why writers skip GenX when writing about generations. The first response is partially correct, saying "People are dumb", but a fuller answer would be "generational labels are dumb and anyone who writes about them is intellectually lazy and should be expected to miss things." Obviously I am not going to put much energy into reading this thread, but the posts that I did read suggest that people who consider themselves to be Gen X are used to being ignored and, frankly, they don't care. Actually, they like it that way. Like almost all threads involving generational labels, this one appears to mostly consist of fights between boomers and millennials, which sort of proves the original poster's point. The few other posts I forced myself to read generally focus on the experiences of a small number of individuals and assume that reflects the upbringing of the entire generation. It doesn't, which is why these labels are meaningless.

The second most active thread yesterday was titled, "Family Mission Trip" and posted in the "Religion" forum. The original poster asks if anyone is familiar with Christian mission trips in which her family can participate over the summer. The initial responses are pretty hostile to the idea of mission trips in general and to children participating in them in particular. Several posters recommend volunteering to help with local charties instead. While the original poster was interested in trips abroad, several recommendations for opportunities in poor communities within the United States were provided. The dilemma that the original poster seems to be facing is that liability rules have prevented her children from participating in volunteer opportunities locally, so she was hoping that international programs would be more flexible. However, those replying are skeptical that elementary school-aged children have any skills or knowledge to offer foreign communities. Many posters criticized the original poster's motives and values.

The third most active thread yesterday was posted in the "Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)" forum and titled, "Enough already". School teachers have never really been held in particularly high esteem among DCUM posters and the Covid-inspired school closures exponentially increased the criticism leveled at them. But, if there were ever a thread that could rally support for teachers, it is this one. The original poster's son's high school biology teacher apparently just announced that she is quitting. The original poster clearly demonstrates the weird mix disdain and reliance that DCUM posters often hold toward teachers. On the one hand, the original poster says her son loved the teacher, but on the other, the original poster writes condescendingly of the teacher, saying that she is probably "going to go back to mommy and daddy". The original poster says that she does not think that teachers should be allowed to quit halfway through the school year. As can be expected from such a post, those responding almost all side with the teacher, with some saying that additional teacher resignations should be expected. We have had countless threads discussing the difficulties facing teachers these days, so many of the same points made in those threads are repeated here. Posters spent two years castigating teachers as lazy, incompetent, losers. Now posters — perhaps even the same ones — are angry that teachers have had enough and are leaving the profession. For her part, the original poster doesn't appear to have returned to the thread. Perhaps DCUM should not allow posters who start threads to quit them?

The final thread at which I'll look was another school-related topic, this one from the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. Titled, "MCPS High School 7:45am for teens is to early", the original poster says her family is considering moving from DC to Maryland but is concerned about the early start time of MCPS high schools. Posters seem to hold surprisingly strong opinions on this topic. As best I can tell, there are two main camps. The first justifies the early start times based on practical reasons such as the need of parents to commute into DC after getting their kids off to school and the convenience of having high schoolers home in order to babysit for younger kids. Moreover, scheduling busses requires staggered start times. These folks are convinced that students adjust to the schedule. The second group believes that high schoolers' circadian clocks are more compatible with a later start time and that early start times are unproductive and potentially unhealthy. Those in favor of later start times trot out scientific studies and and health organization recommendations to support their case, but those favoring the early start times don't appear to be persuaded. At any rate, this thread is moving at such a pace that you will have to get up early  in order to stay on top of it.