Saturday's Most Active Threads

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 Those warning against lying suggest that doing so is fraud and that admissions could be rescinded.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.

Second was a thread posted in the "Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)" forum. Titled, "I thought BCC was a good school Should this 5th grade parent look elsewhere?", the original poster is concerned about reports of drug use at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. The poster wonders if all public high schools are the same or if some of the other nearby high schools might be better choices. To hear some of the posters tell it, bathrooms at BCC have basically been turned into opium dens and students can get contact highs simply walking down the hallway. Others claim that things have been blown out of proportion and that drug use occurs at all high schools with the situation at BCC not being especially different. The thread has the usual arguments comparing private schools to public schools with anecdotal reports proving whatever argument a poster wants to make. Some posters argue that drug use at BCC appears widespread simply due to the number of students at the school. Students who want to avoid drugs, these posters claim, are able to do so. It is interesting that the entire discussion is focused on drug use rather than any other aspect of school quality. Most notably, there is no discussion of academics. As can be expected from such threads, there is an appearance by at least one "superparent". These are parents whose kids are perfect — entirely due to the quality of the poster's parenting — and who atribute any shortcoming in a student to poor parenting. In the world of superparents, sending kids to drug-infested schools is okay because their parenting skills have imbued the kids with the ability to avoid the temptation of drugs. Other parents, such as the original poster, seem to prefer a strategy of not sending their children to drug-infested schools in the first place so there is less temptation about which to worry.

Third was a thread titled, "Flying SW with a kid too old for family boarding" and posted in the "Travel Discussion" forum. The original poster explains that her family always flys Southwest to her hometown. Now one of her three children has turned 8 years old. Southwest has a policy of allowing early boarding for kids six and under along with two adults each. She is worried about how her family will board. As some of those who respond explain, she still has two kids under six which would allow four adults to board with them. The 8 year old would just be considered an adult along with the original poster and her spouse. Other posters say that they have never had an issue with early boarding for their entire family even when some children were older. There is considerable discussion in this thread about Southwest's boarding policies. Some poster's enjoy the rough and tumble scrum of first-come, first-served (within classes) seating and cite this as a reason for choosing the airline. Others, who prefer assigned seating, say they avoid the airline due to its seating policies. Several posters claim that Southwest is particularly family friendly with seating policies that prioritize families. There is a strangely anti-family poster who haunts the thread, referring to parents as "people who breed" and who clearly resents any advantages that families receive. I've always welcomed non-parents to DCUM, but one would think that anyone using the site would have at least some tolerance for parents. DCUM is a strange choice for anyone with such hostility toward families. There is also a difference of opinion among posters about the practice of saving seats. Some posters consider this a normal and accepted way of ensuring that families can sit together while others feel that it violates their God-given right to sit in any seat they wish. Some posters go so far as to say they will intentionally sit in a saved seat.

Every so often I learn something new from a DCUM thread. That was the case with the final thread I'll cover today. Titled, "Doctors who went to Caribbean medical schools or DOs" and posted in the "Health and Medicine" forum, the original poster complains that she hasn't had good experiences with doctors that are DOs and who attended Caribbean medical schools. I was not familiar with the term "DO" and had to Google it. I now know that DO stands for Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and that "The osteopathic philosophy of medicine sees an interrelated unity in all systems of the body, with each working with the other to heal in times of illness." In contrast to the original poster, most of those responding have no issues with either graduates of Caribbean schools or DOs. Posters point out that Caribbean graduates still have to serve US residencies and pass the same licensing exams as MDs. One poster puts things succinctly saying, "board certified and where residency/fellowship completed ultimately more important". Some posters say that they prefer DOs and several posters praise graduates of Caribbean schools with whom they are familiar. On the other hand, a small number of posters agree with the original poster and say they try to avoid both DOs and Caribbean-trained doctors. Others separate the DO degree from the location of the school, placing a US-trained DO above a Caribbean-educated MD. A few posters view the topic within the wider context of the US healthcare system and attribute some of the perceived advantages of DOs to compensation structures rather than their degrees.