05
Saturday's Most Active Threads
The topics with the most engagement yesterday included lying about race on college applications, drug use at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, family boarding on Southwest, and doctors from Caribbean schools with DO degrees.
The most active thread yesterday that has not already been discused was titled, "How often do you think applicants lie about their race?" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. This is another in an almost endless series of race-obsessed college threads. The original poster, noting that race and ethnicity information on college applications is self-reported, wonders how often applicants lie about their race. The poster could collect just as accurate data by throwing a dart at a dart board. There is really no way to trust the responses posted in the thread, many of which appear to be agenda-driven or are second-hand and likely to be more of urban myths than fact. Many posters who clearly have no idea what the answer to the original poster's question might be, simply urge others to lie or warn against doing so. Justifications for lying include the posters' opinions that the current system is broken and that posters believe that lying on an application is not illegal. Those warning against lying suggest that doing so is fraud and that admissions could be rescinded. Some posters claim that lying is common while others point out that, if this were true, the reported number of minorities on campuses would be higher. I don't know whether topics such as this bring out the worst in people or simply bring out the worst people. Either way, these threads almost always end up reflecting poorly on our website.