Tuesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "S/O How do you justify having an affair?" and posted in the "Relationship Discussion (non-explicit)" forum. This thread was started amid a horde of similar threads about cheating. As a result, many of those responding assumed the original poster was the author of those other threads and berated her, in many cases assuming that she was a victim of a cheating spouse. However, it appears that the original poster is just someone who likes to start threads willy-nilly and for some reason wanted to put her own spin on the topic rather than join one of the similar threads. The original poster's approach is based on a lot of assumptions that may or may not be correct and her stated goal is simply to know how those who cheat can live with themselves. Very few of the responses address that rather narrow issue. Rather than describing how they live with themselves. posters explain the reasons for the affair. In many cases, this is lack of sex with their spouse and, hence, much of the discussion turns to arguing about the normal frequency of sex between married couples and what constitutes "enough". Affairs are probably the most frequently addressed topic in the forum and nobody should expect anything new to come from a thread such as this. If you are interested in seeing every single debate point ever made on the topic in one place, this thread might be a good candidate given its 24 page length. This thread, like others before it, is full of posters recounting their own experiences of being cheated on.

Next was a thread originally posted in the "Private/Independent Schools" forum but which I moved to the "College and University Discussion" forum once I saw it this morning. The thread is titled, "Can a kid who is not an URM, or recruited athlete or legacy get into an Ivy from a DC private?". The original poster is referring to three of the so-called "hooks" that give students an advantage in college admissions. I give the original poster for including hooks that often affect white students as generally threads such this only concentrate on URM status and the thread turns into a racist hatefest. For the most part, this thread seems to have avoided doing so. A quick read of this thread suggests that it is almost impossible for an unhooked student from a DC private school to be accepted to an Ivy League university. This leads to an off-topic tangent in which the suggestion that such students would be better off in public schools is debated and then the merits and problems of public schools are argued. In addition, some posters claim that simply having legacy stutus is not a sufficient hook anymore and that a student must be a legacy VIP or legacy mega donor. I don't know about the rest of you, but threads such as this frustrate me because they suggest that for many parents, quality of education is a secondary, if that, factor in choosing schools. Many parents appear to pay for private school because they see it as a pathway to top universities which, in turn, are desired, not for their quality of education, but for their status and the doors that they open. What threads such as this demonstrate is the disappointment that occurs when these expectations fail to pan out. If only a school's reputation were based its graduates' contributions to humanity rather than Ivy League acceptances. Of course, there would be parents asking how many figures annually does a contribution to humanity pay?

The third thread that I'll discuss was titled, "Middle school magnets - criteria-based" and posted in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. The original poster provides a considerable amount of information regarding selection criteria for magnet middle schools. I don't completely understand this topic and don't have the interest or energy to learn about it. But, my probably wrong understanding is that schools are evaluated on their percentage of free and reduced meal students (FARMS) and schools with higher FARMS percentages have lower standardized test score requirements to be eligible for magnent middle schools. I haven't read this thread entirely but what I have read suggests a distinct lack of the vitriol that generally surrounds this and similar topics. Instead, there are some long and detailed posts that are well beyond my level of interest that delve into multiple facets of the magnet middle school situaiton in MCPS. Posters are really getting into the weeds and for those who are serious about this topic, the thread is probably quite worthwhile. Among the topics discussed is the best way to address the needs of gifted students, the impact of FARMS students on magnet middle schools, and the appropriate distribution of resources in education. Unfortunately, later on the thread devolves into debates about specific schools which is not as helpful and does engender a lot of negative back and forth.

The final thread that I will discuss today was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. Titled, "Sorority recruitment", the original poster says that her daughter will be attending a small liberal arts college and thinks that joining a sorority will be a good way to make friends. The original poster seeks assurance that her daughter will not be shut out and fail to be invited to join any sororities. Posters are quick to respond that in their experiences, everyone will receive an invite if they follow the proper procedures. The original poster thanked them for the feedback. But, inexplicably, just three days after starting the thread, the original poster started responding with posts very critical of the sorority selection process. She says that her daughter and her daughter's friends were only offered opportunties at the "loser" sorority and, in one post implies that her daughter did not join while in another post says she did join the "loser" option. On the face of it, this poster asked for reassurance that the process would work a certain way, was told that it would, and then is upset that it worked that way. Since this doesn't make a lot of sense to me, I am a bit baffled as to the original poster's motives. Certainly, if the original poster was simply trolling with a desire to provoke an anti-sorority thread, she could have done a much better job. On the other hand, a much better job was not necessary because the thread deteriorated into a fight about sororities even without additional assistance by the original poster. Much of the thread is a complete waste of time, to the extent that I gave up reading it very early.