Wednesday's Most Active Threads

The two most active threads yesterday were both threads that I discussed in yesterday's blog post, the one about about broke men on online dating and the one about the soccer club merger (still no official announcement). I will skip those two and start with a thread titled, "Talk me off a ledge" and posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum. The original poster says that her daughter has been offered a full scholarship to East Stroudsburg University and even though she has been accepted by more prestigious universities — though without aid — she is considering accepting the scholarship. The original poster does not appear to be very impressed by the university and cannot find any information about its outcomes for pre-health (e.g. pre-med) studies which her daughter plans to pursue. The original poster is worried that choosing this school will limit her daughter's chances for graduate school and professional opportunities. She asks that others help her gain some perspective. This is a situation over which the college admissions fantasy league players salivate because they can not only game out undergraduate admissions, but graduate admissions as well. Most of them simply requested more information about other schools that accepted the student. A number of posters suggested giving the school a chance and possibly transferring later. Quite a few other posters thought that East Stroudsburg might be an ideal choice. The original poster's daughter could hopefully stand out as a big fish in a small pond, earn a high grade point average, and be a great candidate for medical school. Moreover, not paying for undergraduate studies will leave money for graduate school. Later in the thread, the original poster says that anyone who reads the college forum generally would understand her concerns. This alludes to the fixation most of the forum's posters have on top universities. There seems to be a conviction among many of the forum's posters that failing to attend a school within the top 50 is a sign of failure. Another concern about East Stroudsburg that some posters had was not about the academics, but rather the social aspects of the school. These posters thought that the relatively small non-commuter student body and the perceived caliber of students that attend could have a significant impact compared to the atmosphere at other schools. Several posters strongly rejected the idea of attending a school such as ESU. For the most part these posters did not explain their reasoning, perhaps believing the explanation was self-evident, but they were very adement that paying for another university would be better than attending ESU for free.

The next most active thread was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum and titled "IVF embryos are people too". The title alludes to a ruling by the Supreme Court of Alabama that embryos are legally "minor children". Therefore, embryos that are produced by in vitro fertilization (IVF) are legally equivalent to minor children creating considerable legal exposure to anyone who handles such embryos. As a result, many hospitals and clinics in Alabama have suspended all IVF activities. In his concurrence, the Court's Chief Justice specifically referenced the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and other religious sources. He specifically mentioned the "theologically based view of the sanctity of life" that he believes is recognized in Alabama. As a result, much of the discussion in this thread revolves around religion. Many posters see this move as an impingement on women's rights, specifically a woman's right to have a child. Combined with prohibitions on abortion and feared attacks on contraception, posters warn that women are in danger of completely losing control of their fertility. As so often happens in this kind of thread, there is an immediate attempt to cast blame. Obviously the main culprit is Alabama's Supreme Court, but posters cast a much wider net than that. Republicans generally are seen as leading the attacks on women and Catholics also receive considerable criticism, though Catholic posters are divided on the issue of IVF. Among the posters who are Democrats there is an apparent eagerness to engage in a circular firing squad with some posters immediately blaming "Gen-Z" or those opposed to President Joe Biden due to his policy regarding Israel's devastation of Gaza. But, as others point out, this decision will likely significantly impact Republican constituencies. Due to its expense, IVF tends to be exclusive to the relatively wealthy. Moreover, IVF is popular among religious, often White, conservatives who place considerable value on families and children. It is likely that many Republican voters are just now learning that they will not be able to have the children for which they were hoping. Wider discussion in the thread focused so the implications of the Court's ruling with regard to women's health more generally. If an embryo must be treated as a minor child, there are many scenarios in which doctors may have to choose between preserving an embryo and saving the life of a woman. It is possible, indeed likely, that medical procedures beyond IVF will be curtailed.

Next was a thread titled, "SWW - when do notices go out about interviews?" and posted in the "DC Public and Public Charter Schools" forum. The title refers to the School Without Walls, a selective city-wide public high school in the District of Columbia. Students must follow a multi-step application process to apply to the school which includes an interview. The original poster is asking if others have received notices of when their interviews will be scheduled. But before anyone could report having an interview scheduled, several posters responded that their kids with 4.0 grade point averages had been notified that they were not being invited to an interview, meaning they had been effectively rejected by the school. This started a round of complaints that academic achievement was no longer being considered as part of the application. However, several posters responded that their kids who were invited for interviews also had 4.0 GPAs. The were, however, posters who reported that their kids with less than 4.0, but still high GPAs, were invited for interviews. Some posters posted the school's rubric for scoring applicants, highlighting the importance of teachers' recommendations. As one poster put it, "if a 4.0 kid lost 1 point from each teacher they now have the same score as a 3.8 with full marks from recs". SWW used to have an entrance exam but that was discontinued. Many posters argued for the return of the exam because they consider the current process to be too subjective. Several posters complained about the emphasis placed on letters of recommendation, often written by overworked teachers with a large number of recommendations to write. Combined with rampant accusations of grade inflation, many posters lack faith in any element of the application process. Because of the exam issue, several posters began discussing recent trends among colleges involving standardized tests. Considerable attention has been paid to Dartmouth's reversal of its test optional policy. It is a little strange to see parents of middle school students having the same discussions that I have been summarizing from threads in the college forum, but here we are. I am struck by the similarity of discussions such as these to discussions involving abortion or, as in the previous thread, IVF. Just as there is no agreed upon answer to when life begins, there is no agreed upon method of establishing a student's academic ability. Despite the assurance with which some people provide answers concerning these topics, there will always be those who, with equal assurance, disagree.

The last thread that I will discuss today was posted in the "Religion" forum and titled, "What’s going on with the theocratic intrusion in our laws?" The original poster referenced the Supreme Court of Alabama ruling on embryos to complain about the intrusion of religion into our political and legal systems. The poster also called me "Steve" which is kind of funny because people have called me that all my life. I am just as likely to answer to "Steve" as to "Jeff". At the time this poster started this thread, there were two existing threads about the IVF controversy. The poster could have joined either of those which both had plenty of discussion about religion, but I sometimes feel that posters would rather start their own threads in hope that their voice will have a wider reach than if they just posted in an existing thread. Ironically, despite this thread being in the religion forum, I believe that it had fewer posts about religion than either of the two other threads. Most of the discussion was political. Moreover, as unlikely as it might seem, the discussion was probably more vitriolic than either of the other threads, and neither of them were slouches in that regard. Basically, this thread didn't offer anything over what I've already discussed in the IVF thread above. In many ways it was worse than that one. I eventually locked the thread both due to its political nature and due to the fact that it was a dumpster fire.