This Weekend's Most Active Threads

Today I'll review the most active threads over the weekend. The three most active threads were threads that I've already discussed and will, therefore, skip. That left a thread titled, "How many here had students that missed being NMSF and were Commended instead" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum as the first to be described. Probably some background is in order for this thread. The "National Merit Scholarship Program" or NMSF is an academic competition for scholarships based on students' Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) scores. Students whose scores are above a certain level but below the cut-off point required to continue in the competition are recognized as "Commended Students". There has been a recent controversy — one that was even the topic of a most active thread about which I've written — involving the recognition of Commended Students at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). I don't know that this thread is related to the TJ situation, but the original post which asks whether Commended Students included that recognition on their college applications, addresses one of the main points of the TJ debate. A major argument of those upset with TJ was that Commended Students were harmed by not being able to included this recognition on their college applications. Others argued that since Commended status was more like a participation trophy and signaled that students were not at the level needed to continue the NMSF competition, it was not worth being mentioned and might even have negative ramifications. I haven't read all of this thread, but it looks like it consists mostly of a repetition of these two arguments. Many of those responding said they did include the recognition and considered it an important indication of academic success. Others argued that the recognition was meaningless with one poster saying it was considered a source of shame.

The next thread was posted in the "VA Public Schools other than FCPS" forum, titled "Teacher shot at Newport News elementary school". As the title suggests, this thread discusses the shooting of an elementary school teacher by a six-year-old student. When posters complain about racism on DCUM, I imagine that they have threads like this one in mind. Without much known about the shooter other than age, posters filled in the blanks themselves and, in doing so, revealed their own prejudices. Posters quickly pointed to the demographic makeup of the student body, noting the high percentage of minorities. Predictions were made about the disciplinary practices of the school and the family life of the child. The implication that such a shooting would only be done by a poor minority student from a broken home ignores the reality of gun violence in the United States. As always, many posters reacted reflexively with the same arguments they always make. Those in support of gun control quickly blamed the availability of guns. Those arguments predictably fell on deaf ears among gun rights supporters. As has become depressingly normal, some posters blamed the COVID lockdowns. Also, depressingly normal for threads such as this is for posters to focus on the fact that the shooter was a boy with one writing, "OVERWHELMINGLY this is a male problem". That might be true, but other countries seem to have a large number of males but not have the same amount of gun violence as the US. Perhaps that is not the most relevant factor?

Third is a thread titled, "Is Bullis worth $50,000 - $ 55,000" and posted in the "Private/Independent Schools". Bullis is a private school located in Potomac, Maryland. The original poster asks for feedback from current parents regarding the academics at Bullis, suggesting the school might be overpriced. If you have spent anytime at all in DCUM's private school forum, you will be aware that most of the schools have dedicated fans and even more dedicated haters. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders could really use an entry to describe those who cannot get over their obsessions with certain private schools. I can sympathize with Bullis supporters a bit because not only has Bullis attracted its share of haters, it more often is the subject of what might described simply as contempt by those who don't consider it to be among the top schools. In many ways, Bullis is the Rodney Dangerfield of the forum and "don't get no respect". The school's positive qualities are pointed out by current and past parents of Bullis students and efforts are made to combat misinformation being spread by detractors. The "worth" of something is really in the eye of the beholder and, while nobody can conclusively answer the original poster about whether the school is worth the tuition fee, arguments are made both in support and in opposition to the notion. Some posters grudgingly admit that Bullis demonstrates a laudable college admit record while others rush to find excuses to minimize its graduates' achievements.

What DCUM really lacks is enough threads containing fights between Stay at Home Moms (SaHMs) and Work out of the Home (WoHMs). Lucky for us, the last thread I'll review today was titled, "Explain to me the financial risk of SAH if partner is a high earner" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. To his or her credit, the original poster didn't intend to ignite such a battle. The original poster didn't even mention gender in the post or title. The question was simply about the financial risk that a stay at home parent might incur. In the original poster's estimation, due to the working parent's income, the risk was minimal. Many of those responding, nearly all of whom made the assumption that the original poster is a woman, attempted to disabuse the original poster of this notion. Using their own or friends' as examples, these posters described how a stay at home parent leading a comfortable life might easily find themself in financial distress. Others provided advice on how to minimize risk or outlined conditions under which such risk would be acceptable. Inevitably, the thread turned into a debate about the pros and cons of stay at home parents with both proponents and detractors completely ignoring the topic of the thread to make their case. But cautionary tales of women being left near destitute while their wealthy ex-husbands cavalierly carried on their opulent lifestyles steered the discussion back on course.