Monday's Most Active Threads

Today I'll look at the yesterday's most active threads. The leader continues to be the transgender athletes thread that I've already discussed and which has been the most active topic for several days now. I'll skip that and look at a thread titled, "I feel bad for low-income/first-gen students at elite schools" which was posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. One theme that is frequently apparent in the college forum, as well as some of the school forums, is that efforts to increase diversity of schools result in less qualified students taking the places of those who are more deserving. This thread is another of that genre with the original poster taking a rather unique angle. Instead of merely criticizing the performance of low-income and first generation students — most of whom are likely racial or ethnic minorities — the original poster expresses sorrow for them. The original poster provides data compiled by the The Daily Princetonian — the student newspaper of Princeton University — from a survey of graduating students. Based on that data, the original poster finds that low-income and first generation students (those who are the first generation in their family to attend college) lag behind their peers in several metrics. The original poster wonders why Princeton is seeing such discrepancies if education is supposed to be the great equalizer. Some posters point out that low-income and first generation students still face significant disadvantages — for instance low-income students may have to work while their wealthier peers participate in free internships. Others point out that the gaps are not really that large and, moreover, the opportunties for these students likely exceed what would have been available to them if they had attended less prestigious colleges. But, as can be expected, there are posters who claim that this is evidence that universities are admitting unqualified students for ideological reasons. One poster suggested that the original poster was feeling sorry for these students for the wrong reasons, pointing out that these students often doen't get much support from home because nobody understands their experience and at school they are painfully aware that they are not part of the "elite". As such, their experience can be isolating. Later the thread devolves into a lot of discusion about the quality of k-12 education provided to low-income students and how that allegedly leaves them unqualified for college.

Next was a thread in the "Elementary School-Aged Kids" forum titled "Unfriendly Classmate". The original poster explains that her 8-year-old daughter waits at a bus stop where another girl of the same age also catches the bus. The other girl does not acknowledge the original poster's daughter or respond to her daughters entreaties. This is upsetting to the original poster's daughter who has concluded that the other girl just doesn't like her. Ironically, the other girl's mother is very vocal about children at their school not being friendly. The original poster asks whether she should say something to the other mother. Almost all posters advise against talking to the other mother about this, predicting that nothing good would come from it. A number of posters suggest that the other girl may have special needs or some other condition and leads to interacting with others to be a challenge. Quite a few posters tell the original poster that her daughter will have to learn to deal with mean and/or rude people and this is just such a case. One rather strange response that I often see in threads of this sort is an insistance that "No other kid owes your child friendship". It doesn't appear that the original poster was expecting a friendship, but merely basic politeness. Most of the debate in this thread is between posters who think that it is reasonable to expect others to simply be polite and those who reflexively assume that someone who is not polite has special or something else that makes this not their fault. A number of posters weigh-in to say that their children are painfully shy and don't always acknowledge others. Some defend this practice as the child's right while others describe efforts to assist their child in overcoming their shyness. There are a few bewildering responses that actually put blame on the original poster and her child. They either seem to believe that rudeness is so common that it is not worth mentioning and criticize the original poster for posting about it or think the other girl is signalling that she wants to be left alone and that the original poster and her daughter are rude to ignore that desire. Some posters contend that the original poster needs to address her child overreaction, despite it not being clear that the child has overreacted at all. Not that anyone asked me, but I think it would be entirely appropriate for the original poster to take the other mother aside the next time she complains about their school's unfriendly children and describe the bus stop interactions. Maybe she could learn how her daughter might be able to interact with the other child more successfully.

Yesterday was National Decision Day on which most colleges expected accepted students to commit to attending. As such, we may be getting to the end of the string of college acceptance threads that have been dominating these blog posts. Maybe as a lost hurrah, or maybe not, was a thread titled, "Your seniors....where did they decide to go? (No stats please)" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. The original poster is interested in the state in which posters live and which college or university their child chose. The thread was apparently meant to simply be a list of colleges and locations without much discussion and, for the most part, posters stuck to that formula. As such, there is not a lot for me to say about the thread. Lot's of colleges get mentioned, several multiple times. But, as one poster noticed, the thread is mostly bereft of Ivy League schools. Cornell and Yale each get a mention, but those with Ivy acceptances are apparently celebrating elsewhere. Congratulations to all the students and their parents.

Showing that posters are not willing to let the topic of college admissions drop, the last thread at which I'll look is another from the "College and University Discussion" forum. This one, titled, "Steps to fix the race to 3% admission rate". The title alludes to the the acceptance rate of top schools getting lower each year as increasingly more students apply to them. The original poster in this case mostly addresses how to reduce the number of applications. Proposing that all schools be required to use the Common App and that limits be placed on the number of applications that can be submitted. After the limit, the original poster proposes a fee be charged that can be used to support community colleges. At least from the responses I've read, which admittedly are not a lot, the original poster's ideas don't receive much support. Some posters ignore the limits on applications and, instead, propose eliminating test optional policies and superscoring (the process of taking the best combined score of multiple admissions exams). Almost every suggestion is questioned by those wondering under which authority it could be implemented and who would enforce it. Several posters question whether there is even a problem that needs addressing based on their understanding that colleges and universities are actually happy with the current situation. A number of posters point out that their private schools already place limits on the number of applications their students are allowed to submit. While some parents seem convinced that this demonstrates the seriousness of the students' choices, others attribute it to the schools being lazy. One idea suggested by the original poster that does get some support is her proposal that schools be regularly updated on the number of institutions to which an applicant has applied. Several posters believe that this will allow admissions staff to determine who is serious about their school and who is not. For the most part, this thread is a lit of individual poster's grievances with the current admissions process. They want to keep the things that will benefit their kids and get rid of the things that don't. As such, many of the post rehash the same things discussed in countless other threads. The only new trend I've noticed is one or more poster being increasingly vocal that wealth and privilege should benefit their kids and that they are sick and tired of those with less wealth and privilege getting accepted to top schools. They are even angry at the media for publicizing such achievements.